I just received an e-mail from Mark Joyner.  He’s running an experiment where you can download the ebook version of one of his best selling books.  His theory is that by giving the eBook away for free, it will increase the sales of the hard copy.  I’ll leave him to explain it but I’m hoping he shares the results of the experiment:

I’m running a rather controversial experiment that has already sent the marketing experts into a tizzy.

http://www.simpleology.com/p/theirresistibleoffer/deborah

My book The Irresistible Offer has been one of the top-selling marketing books of the last 4 years, but I think it can do better.

My theory is that by letting people download it for free it will in fact positively impact sales.

I’ve seen other people do this, but given that they did it while the book was in pre-launch or mid-launch it’s really impossible to know what kind of impact it had.

Sales for The Irresistible Offer, on the other hand, have been relatively steady and predictable so if we see a boost as a result of this it will be a good indicator that the tactic works.

If the sales suddenly come to a screeching halt, that would be evidence to the contrary.

(And may not make my publisher happy, but hey, they are great people and innovative thinkers. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have allowed me to do something so edgy.)

It’s not a perfectly scientific test, of course, but it will be very strong data given the current status of the book.

This is significant for many reasons.

Most importantly because the print publishing world (of all forms: books, CDs, DVDs, etc.) is getting increasingly anxious about the impact of digital publishing and digital piracy on their businesses.

I think digital publishing not only opens up new revenue streams for them, but also positively impacts the sales of print media.

The same may, in fact, hold true of piracy.

Take DVDs as an example.

Yes, there will be many people who will avoid purchasing something if they can download it for free. But what about all of the conversations they start with people after having viewed it?

Conversations that wouldn’t have otherwise taken place.

It’s time to settle this discussion once and for all – by letting you decide.

I invite you to take part in this experiment by downloading The Irresistible Offer for free …

http://www.simpleology.com/p/theirresistibleoffer/deborah

So go download it now – and together we’ll all find out whether piracy actually does boost sales or makes them drop like a rock.