Free: How today's smartest businesses profit by giving something for nothing [Paperback]

Turns traditional economics upside down Guardian

The author of The Long Tail unveils his radical vision of the new economy

What happens when advances in technology allow many things to be produced for more or less nothing? And what happens when those things are then made available to the consumer for free?

In his groundbreaking new book, The Long Tail author Chris Anderson considers a brave new world where the old economic certainties are being undermined by a growing flood of free goods - newspapers, DVDs, T-shirts, phones, even holiday flights. He explains why this has become possible - why new technologies, particularly the Internet, have caused production and distribution costs in many sectors to plummet to an extent unthinkable even a decade ago. He shows how the flexibility provided by the online world allows producers to trade ever more creatively, offering items for free to make real or perceived gains elsewhere. He pinpoints the winners and the losers in the Free universe. And he demonstrates the ways in which, as an increasing number of things become available for free, our decisions to make use of them will be determined by two resources far more valuable than money: the popular reputation of what is on offer and the time we have available for it. In the future, he argues, when we talk of the 'money economy' we will talk of the 'reputation economy' and the 'time economy' in the same breath, and our world will never be the same again.

'Free is a brilliant primer for the bit generation' The Times

In this groundbreaking and controversial new book, The Long Tail author Chris Anderson confirms his position as the guru of the internet age. Free is a brilliant exploration of a brave new world where the old economic certainties are being undermined by a growing flood of free goods. It explains why some companies profit more from giving things away than charging for them, who the winners and losers are, and what the future holds for all of us.

'The latest must-read title in adland' Independent

'Free is worth the money' Management Today

Chris Anderson is Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine, a position he took in 2001. Since then he has led the magazine to nine National Magazine Award nominations, winning the top prize for General Excellence in 2005, 2007 and 2009. AdAge magazine named him Editor of the Year in 2005. Previously he was at The Economist, and Nature and Science magazines. He is the author of the internationally acclaimed The Long Tail, which was shortlisted for the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award in 2006 and won the Loeb Award for best business book in 2007. He lives in Northern California with his wife and five children.