(please excuse me if I need to read me of the posts, but...)

For Deborah in New Mexico and other new authors worried about loosing control of the work and dwindling Sci-Fi markets, is there a service yet that allows authors to show previews of their work and then charge a nominal fee for a complete download of the work?

It seems like this would be the ideal way to "Sneak Preview" something to a likely audience and then only release the contents perhaps a chapter at a time when each is desired. I cannot tell you how many times I began a book and got two to three chapters in before being sidetracked onto something else. If this sort of thing is happening to many other readers out in the market, wouldn't it be better to get paid for a few chapters than nothing at all?

I am no computer programmer, so I can only suggest methods for secure content distribution, download or password protecting electronic documents, I can't write the code to make it work.

If such a service as this is already available, or presently in the works (Amazon.com has an e-book device in development I hear), please forgive my uninformed observation.

I suppose we all must change with the times and suspect the days of the paperback novel may be waning.