Are COG Writings Really Free?

One way many people have joined the COGs is that they were intrigued after being offered free writings from the various COG groups. 

But is distributing free writings really beneficial for the COGs?

The great thing about getting people to pay for things they order is that the assured income for it helps pay for the production of said product. But distributing COG writings for free seems to have the disadvantage that the producer, if he is sending it to a non-tithing potential recruit, is never sure he will get money returned for his expenditure in making the writing.

Having members pay for the production of the COG writings further encourages COG ministers to compensate for this uncertainty by getting members to pay more money to the COG. This problem exacerbates the destructive treatment of members as simply a source of income, as opposed to being members.

So we see actually this practice may exacerbates authoritarian behavior within the COGs.

Is getting the COG members to pay for the production of COG writings really a cost effective way of managing resources?

I do not think it is. I think it exacerbates the tendency among the COGs to view members as simply a source of income and causes them to use the income in an inefficient way.

Getting people to pay for what they order seems to be a more effective way of paying for production costs rather than exploiting COG members by ordering them to pay three tithes to produce the 'free' writings.

(Also the COG writings are not free, because they seek to recruit people into a COG group and order them to pay three tithes and extra offerings. Gaining tithe paying recruits is how the COGs gain their income and do what they do.)