I read this morning that The University of Michigan Press is hoping to entice Facebook members into purchasing two new releases this summer by posting installments from each novel on the press’s Facebook page over the next eight weeks. Their reason for doing so is that the books are by two authors whom “people might not recognize"- and the giveaway introduces these authors' work to readers who might otherwise not want to take a risk on them.
I've seen a lot of publishing folks worry about giving away content (what if readers copy/paste or modify? where will it end up? which part do we give away? etc), but frankly I think this is a great move.
What better way to interest people in a book, than by offering a sneak peak within the cover. Then you're not just telling people what they're going to get, they can see for themselves. And if they like it, they can easily share it with their friends. Like anything else, I'm sure installment giveaways work best for certain books. It's important to take the time to find the right chapters to promote, and also to track how many people are reading, sharing, and then purchasing.
Keep it free though! "Content has a higher chance of being downloaded and shared with peers if it is free – A study that David Meerman Scott conducted showed that the ratio is 50:1 for free downloads vs form downloads," Wordviewediting.com. Based on that evidence, I'd say publishers should be making the content easily accessible- not requiring registration, or even "liking" the press' fanpage. As Seth Godin has pointed out before 'registration for content’ feels more like a transaction, causing people to expect both sides to be of equal value, so you have a chance of disappointing. However free content is more like a gift.
Readers are already used to this treatment. Amazon lets you preview a chapter or two of most books. If you're not thinking about offering free content, you'd better start thinking!
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