Some publishers are trying different things out to spread awareness and interest in the titles they publish. Harper Collins, for instance, is experimenting with releasing free complete versions, chapters, and sections of their titles and watching the results to see if they increase sales. Listen to the NPR segment here.
I'm curious to see if this does work. It does for music, and likely will for content, but I'm betting it also works against the content. After all, books aren't like pop music. Taking chunks of text out of context might be similar to hearing a :30 second sample of Beethoven's 5th and thinking, "oh, this is what it's all about." In the end, we might buy something and get a bunch of stuff we didn't expect, or not enough of what we assumed. Buying ideas involves a certain amount of chance, and everyone, especially publishers, are trying to take as much chance out of the equation as possible. But is it working for the readers?
I'd love to hear about some author experiences with this. Alex Kjerulf, are you out there?