Frequently Asked Questions with Brian James Freeman Q: Is the free download promotion over? A: Yes, unfortunately it is, but you can download the Kindle edition of the novella for a fraction of the hardcover price if you still want to read it early! Q: So who exactly are you again? A: My name is Brian James Freeman and I've published short stories, novellas, novels, and other things under the names Brian Freeman and James Kidman since 1994. Starting with The Painted Darkness, I'm using the byline Brian James Freeman to prevent confusion with the works of other authors with similar names. Who knew there were so many Brian Freemans in the world, right? I also spent a lot of time in high school and college working freelance book marketing gigs. Q: Okay, why should I care that you and your publisher gave a book away for free before the publication of the print edition? A: Well, I don't know you personally, so I can't say why exactly you should care, but the reason I care about this is because it's a great opportunity for new readers to find my work and give it a try. Q: But why did you do this? A: I decided I really wanted this book to be read by as many people as possible. The Painted Darkness incorporates many of the themes that are important to me and it uses a style that is pretty familiar to my regular readers, so I want to see whether this free download will attract NEW readers to my work in general and help increase sales of the print version thanks to increased word of mouth. Q: So what was the catch with this free download? A: There was no catch. The eBook version of The Painted Darkness on this website really was free. Q: Why again did you do this? A: We're hoping that The Painted Darkness will get some good word of mouth from the early readers and then readers who find those good reviews but don't like reading the screen, etc, might consider buying the print edition. See my afterword in the free eBook edition for a much more in-depth answer. Q: So is this kind of an experiment? A: Yep, it's basically a huge gamble to see if allowing people to read and listen to a book for free BEFORE publication will reach enough new readers who will actually buy the book when it is published. Q: So did a lot of people end up downloading the eBook? A: Yes, more than 30,000 readers downloaded the eBook from the various sources, and I was thrilled with that number! Q: Weren't you afraid that giving the book away for free will hurt sales of the print edition? Isn't your idea a little crazy? A: Well, we wouldn't have done this if I thought that losing all of our "real" sales was a serious possibility, and luckily for us, we ended up with thousands more sales than we had ever excepted (or dared hoped for), so I'd say this experiment was a huge sucessed. Q: Are you an idiot? A: I sure hope not. Would that be better than being crazy? Q: Why should I buy the hardcover after getting the eBook for free? A: There are a number of good reasons to buy the hardcover: 1) Maybe you started the free eBook, liked the story a lot, but didn't want to keep reading on the screen. The hardcover edition is the perfect solution to that problem. 2) Maybe you read the entire eBook and liked it so much you know you'll want to read the book again someday. The hardcover edition is definitely the way to go. You'll never accidentally delete it. 3) The hardcover edition includes an exclusive introduction by Brian Keene and over a half-dozen interior illustrations by Jill Bauman that you won't find anywhere else. 4) The signed collector's editions are limited to very small print runs and will be signed by several contributors, which is very tough to do on someone's e-reader. 5) The hardcover edition will be printed and bound as a beautiful Smyth sewn hardcover with a full color dustjacket, making it much nicer looking on your bookcase than an eBook. 6) If a friend stops by your house and asks to borrow the book, it's much easier to give him your hardcover than to handle over your computer or e-reader. The reasons are endless! Q: About the story itself... is this a gory horror story? A: No, not at all. Although much of my work has dark themes, I think you'll see that much of the darkness is internal. Blood and guts aren't my thing. I usually dwell on themes of loss and loneliness and small town life. I think readers of many kinds of fiction will like The Painted Darkness, which is one of the reasons I wanted to try this experiment. If you read the sales copy and the blurbs, you'll get a pretty good feel for the type of story this is. And did I mention it's free? Why not download the book and see if you like it? Q: Can I order the hardcover edition online? A: Yep, easily! Here are some handy links: Cemetery Dance Click here to locate your local independent bookseller (If you are a bookseller who isn't listed here, please email webmaster@cemeterydance.com with the link to your product page for this title.) Q: Does this free giveaway mean you're giving up your rights to this book? A: No, certainly not. I retain all of the rights I should as an author and my publisher retains all of the rights they should. No one else should be selling the eBook or the audiobook or making money from it except for the person who holds those rights (i.e., me). Q: But can I send the free eBook to a friend? A: Not the WOWIO version -- just send your friend the link at the top of this page and he or she can download their own free copy! Q: Do you have an Amazon Kindle? A: Yep and I love it. I think anyone who reads a couple of books a month would find it to be a good investment. I even used the basic web browsing to find my way back to civilization when we got lost in Virginia last summer. Q: Can I join your mailing list, follow you on Twitter, or add you as a friend on Facebook? A: Yep. Here are links to my newsletter, Twitter, and Facebook pages. Q: Can I send you feedback on the book or this experiment? Q: Do you have any other books in the works? A: There's a completed novel that is being shopped around by my agent, a new novel that's about half done, and maybe a short story collection, too. If you're looking for something else to read right now, I strongly suggest you visit the new e-store on my website. Q: Can I email you a question not on this list? A: Yep, of course. Here's that contact page link again. |
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