Another Extended Sample Preview, But Not Free

Book publishers have been trying to figure out how to get samples out to readers, so they can get hooked and buy the full book, for quite some time. In bricks and mortar bookstores, you would occasionally see short (25-50 page) samples from upcoming books and the occasional sampler volume, with a chapter from several books. Extended short stories were bound alone or with others, and novellas published as teasers for a series. These often were at discounted prices (at least compared to paper prices), often just covering printing costs. When the web came into being, these were supplemented by the same material on author websites (and now by locked free reads/sneak peaks on publisher sites) and by ebook versions of the same material being "sold" in bookstores, often at the same prices.

Along came the Kindle, which promised free samples to all, consisting of the first 10% of the book. Some publishers started giving away the first book in a series (which is a very effective tact, it seems, from the authors who have commented on it during the last year or two), while others either negated the value of the sample by including multiple copies of the cover page in the book file (I counted four in one book sample) or including an insanely long author preface (one sample never even went past that section, which had continued for hundreds of locations after the cover, copyright, table of contents, review quotes, etc).

A last group started giving away only the same type of extended samples they had previously been charging for (and which they continued to charge for in some stores), usually business books whose sample versions included at least the intro and first chapter. These free samples were also effective - they boosted the author into Kindle bestseller lists, which in turn (due to linking of the titles) led to sales of the full book. Inevitably, publishers have started doing the same with fiction titles, most famously (or infamously, due to the bait-and-switch description and book title) Witch and Wizard by James Patterson (which remains on the Kindle bestseller lists, despite the average one-star rating -- the reviews were so bad that the publisher unlinked the sample from the main book, so that it's reviews would not be seen when it is released late this month; Grace Notes used a similar deceptive ad on the Big Deals on Kindle page, which has since been rewritten -- it first claimed you would receive the full year's book for free, but you only get December's Notes -- but at least the title always made it clear it was a single month preview).

As I suspected, it wasn't long before publishers started charging for these samples in the Kindle store, as they are used to doing for other stores. One such sample is Between Here and Here ($0.99), by Amy Bloom, which consists of a single short story from the upcoming volume Where the Love of God Hangs Out ($9.99).

From the Random House website:

ABOUT THIS BOOK
A unique offer for fans of Amy Bloom, bestselling author of Away...sample just one piece from her stunning new collection of interconnected short stories. Available at this special price for a limited time only.

Love, in its many forms and complexities, weaves through New York Times bestselling author Amy Bloom’s astonishing and astute new work. Insightful, sensuous, and heartbreakingly funny, Where the God of Love Hangs Out illuminates the mysteries of love, family, and friendship.

In the haunting story Between Here and Here, a daughter reluctantly steps in to take care of the infirm father she hated for so many years. As a tribute to her late mother, and to show that she is a better person than her father, she gives everything she has to this terrible old man and revises history.

Between Here and Here and the eleven other stories that comprise Where the God of Love Hangs Out showcase stories of passion and disappointment, life and death, that beautifully capture deep human truths.

So, the full volume has eleven short stories, this non-free sample has one. If it's the first one in the book, you'd probably get most of it free with the normal Kindle sample. I've actually seem some short story collections whose samples contains the first two or three stories, in their entirety (the publisher has control over the sample size, when not using DTP). Even more deceptive is the "savings" calculated, which compares the print book's list price to the price of the sample -- at the least, it should only compare to one eleventh of the book price - so you are getting $2.72 worth of book for 99 cents, at the best (at worst, you are paying for what you'll get as a free sample of the full book, later).

Paid samples are a step backwards, but if people buy them and then the full book has higher than expected sales, they may become the way of the future. I hope not - it's an idea stuck in the same mindset of charging two to three (or ten) times the price for the ebook version of a book versus the paperbook (I was looking in the Barnes and Noble store for one author - paper books were $7.19, discounted from $7.99, while the ebook versions were $24.95).

I don't know about you, but I'll save my 99 cents (and buy an entire book whose free sample catches my fancy).