His first words were free
Last year I gave - hang on, let me count them up - yes, I gave fourteen books as gifts. All of these were books I'd read. Books I'd really enjoyed. Books I thought my friends and family might love or enjoy as much as I did.
How many books did I receive in return? None. Not a one. I've counted. Twice. It didn't take long.
But let's hold back those cries of 'tight-fisted, illiterate buggers!' There is a good reason for this unfortunate state of affairs. You see, the trouble with working in publishing is that everyone who doesn't is too scared to buy you a book on the somewhat unlikely grounds, considering how many books come out each year, that either you have read it, or, if you haven't, you already know all about it and have decided you'd rather stick pins in your eyes.
Even if you're not in publishing, people are often wary of buying you something on the much more sensible basis that they can never be sure that you'll like it.
This is a shame since receiving a book from a friend by an author you've never read is usually the best way to discover something wonderful, new and unexpected. Especially if you are anything like me and have become increasingly risk-averse in your reading habits. These days I will on no account buy a book unless I've read some of the writing within. No really. I don't give a damn what the blurb writers - a pack of miserable, tricksy curs (I know, I live inside the head of one) - have written. Or what the FT thinks about it. Even what Martin Amis has penned on the matter. Sure, all those words - if they're good - together with a decent cover have a great chance of getting the book off the 3-for-2 table and into my hands. But I want to get a taste of what's within if I'm going to commit.
This is why you'll find me at lunchtimes in bookshops, cracking open the covers and reading the first few pages of any old rubbish. If I'm going to devote some time to a book then I want to hear the author's voice, I want an idea of what sort of story it is right from the start. Surprise me, thrill me, have me begging for more.
Which brings me to Penguin Tasters. From today (or actually from six months ago if you were sniffing around some of our new novels on the Penguin website) you can download the opening chapter (or chapters) of all Penguin's new fiction for free. Yes, that's right. FREE. For nothing. In pdf form - which you can print, email, view on your PC screen or a Blackberry, Palm or iPhone - these Tasters offer you the very beginnings of Penguin's latest novels. You can get your mitts on some great stories without having to give a jumped-up calculator the keys to your bank account. It's an entirely risk-free way to discover new authors, to read new stories (and to pass them on to your literate friends).
New Tasters will be added as each title is published. Currently, we have 53 up there for you already. So if you've been tempted by Marina Lewycka's novels, but haven't yet been persuaded to take the plunge - and BTW why not? I worked hard on that blurb - then just click here and you can download and read the opening 25 pages. What are you waiting for?
If you like it, you've discovered a wonderful new author for yourself. If not, then there are 52 other titles for you to try. And more coming every month.
Let book-drool commence.
Colin Brush
Senior Copywriter
..............................................................................
..............................................................................
Comments