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Just back from vacation, I see a few notes in my box asking if I have any new books coming out.

Yes and no.

If you haven’t visited the site in a while, you might have missed a list of the topics I’m exploring this year. Somewhere in that list, there’s another book brewing, though I won’t know which one catches my fancy until I get the posts going.

Meanwhile, I’ve been spending a chunk of time doing non-music business stuff. Yes, the rumors are true. I have taken a full-time gig in a Big Company, where I get to do routinely Cool Things that are kinda tangential to music, but mostly about sales and marketing. It’s a fun and compelling challenge, and I get to work with the best team I have ever been a part of. I’m also spending a lot of my personal time working on freelance writing assignments that have nothing at all to do with music.

I’m not abandoning my readers, though. I simply want to spend some time right now to detach myself from the “biz” and reconnect with my love of music as a fan. The cruise we just took was a big part of that.

While we were at sea, Lori and I talked about where I thought I might go with this site and with my books in 2008, especially since my plate’s pretty full. And we reached a compelling conclusion:

I’m going to roll out the full text of all four of my books onto the site, for full and free access. No registration or login required.

I have wrestled with this on and off for about two years. In fact, Jason’s probably going to freak when he reads this, since he and I used to debate the pros and cons of this. (J, if I don’t get to call you soon, consider this a green light to post BBO, too.)

For a while, I felt like I couldn’t possibly devalue the thousands of copies of Grow Your Band’s Audience and its little siblings that sit on your shelves. And, at the same time, I hear from artists who really could benefit from the stuff that’s inside, who really can’t find the cash in their couch cushions to purchase a copy.

Part of me wonders what will happen by throwing it all out there, too. Kavit Haria took the zone booking strategy I introduced in More Gigs Now and has fleshed it out into its own science. I’m fascinated to see if he or other folks can build on to the rest of my initial research.

And I also want an opportunity to see what kinds of comments the material will generate once exposed to a wider audience. I once had a conversation with one of my long-time readers about making my books into a wiki and he wisely cautioned me against it. Posting the pages here will allow me to offer some authoritative advice alongside your own thoughts.

What put me past the tipping point was the insightful writing of Gerd Leonhard, who has been emphasizing that fans now pay for context and exclusivity instead of just the content. This site’s ad sales eclipsed my book sales about a year ago — it only makes sense now to put more content out to be supported by page views. Readers who want to enjoy the convenience of having everything in book form will still be able to do so. That’s where the value of purchasing the books really lies.

The process won’t be overnight. I expect to get about a chapter a day coded and posted, which means all four of my books will be online by Thanksgiving. In the meantime, I’ll post progress reports and links to new chapters on a steady basis.

And, once that’s done, I expect to compile all four books and all of my blog series into a new, single volume sometime in 2009. It’ll be a big’un.

That’s the plan, for now. And I want to thank you for the support you’ve given me over the years and for the inspiration you’ve offered me by showing me what you’ve been able to do with this material.

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