Since the announcement on Oprah's television program that Suze Orman's financial advice book Money & Women would be available for free as an e-book from Oprah.com, more than a million copies in English have been downloaded, as well as an additional 19,000 in Spanish, according to a statement released Saturday. This puts it the same league as such other free download sensations as the 9-11 Commission Report and Stephen King's "Riding the Bullet."

Yet, the offer hasn't kept people from buying the version of Money & Women published by a division of Random House last year. The book was ranked number 6 on Amazon on Saturday, behind Oprah Book Club selection A New Earth and just ahead of Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope. The 9-11 Commission Report remained a bestseller for months despite its availability for free online.

The big publishers remain skeptical about providing content for free online. While some see it as a valuable marketing tool, others suspect that it harms sales of traditional books. But the tide may be turning, albeit in baby steps. HarperCollins has announced plans to make available free electronic versions of some of its books, or portions thereof, the New York Times reported last week. They will not be downloadable, however.

Providing some free content is "like taking the shrink wrap off a book," said a spokesperson for HarperCollins, which will allow consumers to sample the content. "I didn't grow up buying every book I read," added fantasy novelist Neil Gaiman, author of some of the free content. "I read books at libraries, I read books at friend's houses, I read books that I found on people's window sills."

Suze Orman suggests that sales are a secondary concern for her in the Oprah offer. "This was not about getting people to buy the book, but getting them to read it, and that was the intention behind this offer."

Former President (and potential First Man) Bill Clinton is taking another stab at authorship. Possibly following the humanitarian lead of his former right-hand man, Al Gore, the former commander in chief is publishing a book on citizen activism, titled Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World.

The book will be released on September 4, according to Knopf Publish Group (a division of Random House ... which is a unit of the privately held Bertelsmann AG). The initial print run will total 750,000 copies.

In an accompanying quote, the sax-wielding democrat noted that his observations of workers' devotion to various charitable organizations around the world have proven to him that "almost everyone -- regardless of income, available time, age and skills -- can do something useful for others and, in the process, strengthen the fabric of our shared humanity."

Clinton already has a good track record in the nation's bookstores. His 2004 memoir, My Life, was a leading seller for Knopf; the 957-page book sold more than 2 million copies in the U.S. alone and was printed in more than 30 countries. According to The Washington Post, it managed a fist-day nonfiction sales record of 400,000 copies.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Random House, a division of the privately held media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG, is offering compensation to any reader claiming to be "duped" by James Frey's memoir, A Million Little Pieces.

Frey's story was a scandal that broke in January of last year. The author's ostensibly non-fiction book described, in excruciating detail, his miserable existence within an alcohol and drug-addled haze. Toe-curling details include a three-month stint in jail, an anesthesia-free trip to the dentist, and time in rehab.

Published in April 2003, the book hit the best-seller list more than two years later, after Oprah Winfrey named it her September 2005 book club selection. But Frey's ride of success wasn't long; in January 2006, it was revealed that the "memoir" contained outright fabrications. (Essentially, Frey is the Milli Vanilli of modern American literature). Readers who bought A Million Little Pieces before January 26, 2006 (around the time Frey confessed that his penned story wasn't entirely true) are now entitled to a refund from the publisher.

Those who bought the hardcover copy will receive as much as $23.95; ones who bought the book in paperback will get a maximum refund of $14.95. The entire program is expected to cost Random House $2.35 million. The publisher's decision, approved by a Manhattan Federal Judge, is expected to resolve several lawsuits already filed across the country by disgruntled readers.

While Frey's fabrications are certainly reprehensible, the fact remains that A Million Little Pieces reportedly helped countless readers who were struggling with their own addictions. I can't help but wonder how Frey's real story might have gone if he'd pitched his book as one "inspired by true events" rather than a completely factual "memoir."

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.