Bold Book Marketing Ploy? In the package-goods world, offering free samples is usually a slam-dunk: Customers fall in love with the freebie and then turn into paying customers.
But in the world of book publishing, the news that Harper Collins will give away free electronic versions of best-sellers, and that Random House will be selling books by the chapter, have raised a few eyebrows. Just as consumers have come to expect they can sample music online, they have also become accustomed to browsing through books, thanks to Amazon's Search Inside technology. Making an entire book available for free, or selling a book chapter by chapter will give you a distinctive Amazon doesn't offer. (Marketing Daily 2/19/08)