Jeff Jarvis talk about what it means as a Journalist to add value to a publication. That’s something we’re living with over at CompleteGuides.net. I often get asked by my writer and publisher friends, Why are you giving your book away for free online? That’s insane! Look, I say, you can argue all day about how much money I might not be making on our books. Or you can look at it the other way and say, maybe we add value in other ways. We have community. We have questions and answers. We have the most up-to-date book in the world. And we are easily found via search and social media. For anyone who wants to know about how to get the most from their Droid phone, we’re only a click away. Maybe we are leaving money on the table, but without the free option, we lose the opportunity to prove the many other ways we prove our value. Or as Jarvis puts it:

The economics are not necessarily sweat = work = product = pay. Neither is it any longer true that owning the expensive means of production and distribution assures a return on that investment. There are other expressions of value.

Read more: It’s not all about content and work « BuzzMachine.