If there is one thing I know about human nature, it is that we all like free stuff. But receiving something for free can invoke a sense of reciprocity in us … so it may end up not being free at all.

You can use this human quirk as a way to sell more books.

How? Give away a free chapter or two!

By giving away a free chunk of your book, you accomplish several things:

• You gain more exposure for your work because more people will accept your offer of free stuff.
• You’ll sell more books because you’ll convert more “fence-sitters” by giving them a free taste of what you’ve got.
• You’ll invoke the reciprocity effect, so some people will buy something from you (or refer others to buy from you) because they feel like they owe it to you.

So how do you give your chapters away? Here are some ideas:

• Use it as an opt-in bonus to help grow your list.
• Offer it as a bonus when partnering with others in giveaway events, book launches, etc.
• Offer it as a bonus at the end of a teleseminar or book reading.
• Offer it as a gift when you host your book launch party.

There are several ways you can deliver this free chapter, too. You can provide it as a downloadable PDF. Or you could break it up and deliver it as a multi-part e-course. Which you choose to implement should be based on what your target market would prefer.