danah boyd has posted a free PDF of the full text of her must-read book It's Complicated, the best book about young people and the Internet I've read to date. boyd hopes you'll enjoy the book and then support her and her publisher by buying a copy, sending a signal "that this book is important, that the message in the book is valuable."
The bestseller aspect of this is the part that I struggle with the most. I don't actually care whether or not my book _sells_ a lot; I care whether or not it's _read_ a lot. But there's no bestread-ed list (except maybe Goodreads). And while many books that are widely sold aren't widely read, most books that are widely read are widely sold. My desire to be widely read is why I wanted to make the book freely available from the getgo. I get that not everyone can afford to buy the book. I get that it's not available in certain countries. I get that people want to check it out first. I get that we haven't figured out how to implement 'grep' in physical books. So I really truly get the importance of making the book accessible.But what I started to realize is that when people purchase the book, they signal to outside folks that the book is important. This is one of the reasons that I asked people who value this book to buy it. For them or for others. I love it when people buy the book and give it away to a poor grad student, struggling parent, or library. I don't know if I'll make any bestseller list, but the reason I decided to try is because sales rankings – especially in the first few weeks of a book's life – really do help attract more attention which is key to getting the word out. And so I've begged and groveled, asking people to buy my book even though it makes me feel squeamish, solely because I know that the message that I want to offer is important. So, to be honest, if you are going to buy the book at some point, I'd really really appreciate it if you'd buy a copy. And sooner rather than later. Your purchasing decisions help me signal to the powers that be that this book is important, that the message in the book is valuable.
That said, if you don't have the resources or simply don't want to, don't buy it. I'm cool with that. I'm beyond delighted to give the book away for free to anyone who wants to read it, assign it in their classes, or otherwise engage with it. If you choose to download it, thank you! I'm glad you find it valuable!
If you feel like giving back, I have a request. Please help support all of the invisible people and organizations that helped get word of my book out there. I realize that there are folks out there who want to "support the author," but my ask of you is to help me support the whole ecosystem that made this possible.
What's Behind the Free PDF of "It's Complicated" (no, no, not malware…)
