[Summary] Some publishers decided to use the web as a marketing tool to promote their books among the 50,000 new books published per year in the U.S. NAP (National Academy Press) was the first publisher in 1994 to post the full text of some books on its website, for free, with the authors’ consent. It was followed by MIT Press (MIT: Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in 1995. Oddly enough, there was no drop in sales. On the contrary, sales increased. These initiatives were praised by a number of other publishers, who were reluctant to do the same, for three reasons: the cost of posting thousands of pages online, problems linked to copyright, and what they saw as a “competition” between digital versions for free and print versions for a fee. *** Some publishers decided to post the full text of some books for free on their websites, and to use the web as a marketing tool to sell the print versions. NAP (National Academy Press) was the first publisher in 1994 to post the full text of some books, with the authors’ consent, as a way to promote their books among the 50,000 new books published per year in the U.S. NAP was followed by the MIT Press (MIT: Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in 1995. NAP was created by the National Academy of Sciences to publish its own reports and the ones of the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. In 1994, NAP was publishing 200 new books a year in science, engineering and health. The publisher began posting full books for free, as suggested by their authors themselves, for people to browse them on the website before buying their print versions. Oddly enough, there was no drop in sales. On the contrary, sales increased. Print books ordered online were 20% cheaper. There were also more sales by phone. In 1998, the NAP Reading Room offered 1,000 entire books, available online for free in "image" format, HTML and PDF. In 1995, MIT Press was publishing 200 new books per year and 40 journals, in science and technology, architecture, social theory, economics, cognitive science, and computational science. MIT Press also decided to put a number of books online for free, as "a long-term commitment to the efficient and creative use of new technologies". Sales of print books with a free online version increased as well. These initiatives were praised by a number of other publishers, who were reluctant to do the same, for three reasons: the cost of posting thousands of pages online, problems linked to copyright, and what they saw as a “competition” between digital versions for free and print versions for a fee. 1995 > THE PRINT PRESS WENT ONLINE