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The Power Of Free – Giving Away Emma Vieceli And Malin Rydén's Comic, Breaks

John Andersen of Soaring Penguin Press writes,

Everyone likes free things: free food, free books, free rides. Even if they don't know what it is, if it's free, we're all willing to take a chance. (Just ask any comic shop owner about the horde they only see on FCBD. They'll know.)

In all these cases, the idea of free is to generate sales of, well, not-free. And so it is with my give-away of Breaks Volume 1.

A few months ago, I heard Nicholas Lovell speak at an IPG conference. I found a lot of what he had to say compelling. Afterwards, I bought his book, The Curve where he expounds on using the internet to promulgate free products, with a view to supporting the purchase of better versions of the products.

In my case, I'm offering up a free, downloadable PDF of Breaks Volume 1 by Emma Vieceli and Malin Rydén once you've signed up to the Soaring Penguin Press newsletter. What you do with it is up to you: read it, delete it, leave it on your hard drive and forget it's there. Give it to a friend. Give it to several friends. Once it's out in the wild, there's nothing I can do.

And that's the point. I want as many people as possible to read the PDF. It's the best way to reach those people who will like the book enough to want to buy the print edition.

Lovell cites the efforts of Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, who offered up his 2008 album Ghosts I as a free download. From The Curve: "The full version, Ghosts I-IV, was released as a digital album for $5. […] There was also a traditional physical CD for $10 and a Deluxe Edition for $75, but Reznor's brilliance lay in his $300 Ultra-Deluxe edition."

According to Ars Techica, all 2500 copies of the Ultra-Deluxe edition sold IN THREE DAYS! Would he have come to the attention of all 2500 buyers of the Ultra-Deluxe edition if he hadn't given away the low res edition for free? Maybe, but I doubt it.

Now, I'm not for an instance suggesting that Breaks Volume 1 from Soaring Penguin Press is anything like a NIN album. But the principle is the same. Free gets eyes on the book, which means that more people who might otherwise not even know it exists, might actually buy a copy.

And following the example provided by Reznor, as well as the trade edition (available through Diamond from July 2017, from any bookstore and directly from our website), there will be a Deluxe Limited Edition: 150 copies of a hardcover version of Breaks Volume 1 with additional material and a bookplate signed by both Emma and Malin.

The Deluxe edition is being offered up to Emma's Patreons. Which seems fair. And then it will be offered to the people who receive the Soaring Penguin Press newsletter. The Deluxe edition will only be available through the Soaring Penguin Press website. And that's so I can give considerably more of the sale of each copy to Emma and Malin.

To recap, you sign up for the newsletter and you get a free book. And you will also get an advanced opportunity to buy a Deluxe edition of the book. Plus all the other things we put in the Newsletter.

So where do you sign up? Right here.

Will this work? I'll let you know in six months' time.

Breaks Volume 1 £15.99/$25.99. Release date: September 2017.

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