Harpercollins Launches Free Content

The NYTimes reports that Harpercollins will begin a marketing experiment by placing the full text of selected new titles on their web site. From the article:

Starting Monday, readers who log on to http://www.harpercollins.com/ will be able to see the entire contents of “The Witch of Portobello” by Mr. Coelho; “Mission: Cook! My Life, My Recipes and Making the Impossible Easy” by Mr. Irvine; “I Dream in Blue: Life, Death and the New York Giants” by Roger Director; “The Undecided Voter’s Guide to the Next President: Who the Candidates Are, Where They Come from and How You Can Choose” by Mark Halperin; and “Warriors: Into the Wild” the first volume in a children’s series by Erin Hunter.

As the article notes, consumers interested in purchasing the titles will be able to do so via existing online retailers. Currently, this is not designed to be a storefront for Harpercollins but does represent a continuation of their web-based marketing and promtion efforts.