Go the F-ck to Sleep and File Sharing

Book publishers, like music companies before them, are wary of impact of the Internet on sales. Just as file-sharing download sites such as Napster, then Limewire eviscerated CD sales by letting users grab mp3 files for free, book publishers face the torrents. There you can find the text of almost any bestseller, often before the hardback has reached the book stores.


But is it all bad news?


In several cases, the free distribution has proved hugely beneficial. Authors such as Nick Hornby found that his Russian sales soured after translations of his novels appeared on Russian pirate sites. Monty Python released all their material on YouTube, together with an appeal to buy their (much higher quality) DVD's, and sales went through the roof.


Now a new book tests the rule. Even before release "Go the F-ck to Sleep" is top of Amazon and NY Times (Advice books) bestseller lists.

Exactly one year ago, Go the F--k to Sleep started as a joking Facebook post by author Adam Mansbach when he could not get his daughter to fall asleep. His friends loved the fake title so much he decided to turn it into a real nursery rhyme-style book with illustrations by his friend Ricardo Cortes. Instead of traditional galleys, Akashic sent a PDF of the book to independent bookstores in February. The PDF went viral, passed from knowing parent to knowing parent, and propelling the book to No. 1 on Amazon's bestseller list seven months before publication. Akashic's Temple said, "In the beginning we were very worried" about the PDF undermining sales but "we quickly stopped worrying ... because it feels to all of us that we are gaining more sales than we are losing. It's a gift book. No one is going to print out the PDF and give it as a present."


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