Books Flying Through the Air

Do you remember how amazed we all were when we sent our first fax to someone? Knowing that somehow that piece of paper was floating through space to get to its destination.  Another office received our document while our original document remained steadfast in the fax in our office. We didn’t have to physically put it in an envelope and send it through the mail, yet somehow it got there.

That was the beginning of a whole new age of productless products.  Sending something to someone without actually sending anything.

Nowadays, we buy things that no one had to pack and ship to us – online music, ebooks, webinars, etc.  They ship nothing and we receive nothing, at least nothing we can actually hold in our hands. Then, we pay for it without any actual currency exchanging hands.

The computer age has done more than open up our world and broaden our horizons. It has enabled us to buy and sell productless products. We buy products with no actual money and receive in return a two dimensional nontangible item that we can’t touch, smell, or taste. And the demand for these phantom items is growing.  Amazon says eBooks are bigger sellers than print books. I don’t believe iTunes would stay in business if they weren’t so popular with people who want music piped in to them (without pipes, by the way).

I first appreciated this paradigm in selling when I wanted to make my song “Mary’s Christmas” available to the public but didn’t want to have to cut a lot of records, store them, and ship them out to buyers.  (Full disclosure: since I have no musical ability whatsoever, the song is performed by my very talented son-in-law, Curtis Willey.) By offering the song on iTunes, I could sell the song without having to ship anything. What a concept!

Now, my book, Stop Procrastinating – Get Published! is available through this phantom method of commerce. You gotta love it!  Of course, people can buy the print version and hold the book in their hands, but they can also get the eBook version that will arrive instantly on their Kindle or computer with just a few clicks on Amazon. Oh look, it's flying through the air to you!

To continue this subject of productless products, if you would like me to send you a free book (of course, without MY actually having to send it to you), go to Amazon and click on Waterbeds and Wedding Vows. The eBook will be sent to you immediately. And when you get it, you will find inside that book a place to click and get the second book in the Cranky Seniors Series, Hamburgers and Headaches, for free. They can both be read on computer, Kindle, Nook, and ePub. I can send it to you while I sip coffee in my robe, unaware that I'm sending it. What a life!

One can only guess what the future holds. It could be just a click away.

Quote of the Day: ". . . Striding the blast . . .upon the sightless couriers of the air." William Shakespeare