With Kindle, the Best Sellers Don't Need to Sell

Here's a riddle: How do you make your book a best seller on the Kindle? Answer: Give copies away.

That's right. More than half of the "best-selling" e-books on the Kindle, Amazon.com's e-reader, are available at no charge. Although some of the titles are digital versions of books in the public domain — like Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" — many are by authors still trying to make a living from their work. Publishers including Harlequin, Random House and Scholastic are offering free versions of digital books to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other e-retailers, as well as on author Web sites, as a way of allowing readers to try out the work of unfamiliar writers. The hope is that customers who like what they read will go on to obtain another title for money.