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."

Oprah Effect works for business books too -- especially when they're free originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 17 Feb 2008 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.