In a rare exchange between author, publisher and reader, Gregory McGuire's new novel, 'The Next Queen of Heaven,' is being offered up for free, thanks to a charity incentive that will keep the act of giving going.
The publisher, is being published by Concord Free Press, a new publishing company that offers books up for free, with the promise that the recipient will make a donation to a charity, as well as pass the book along after completing it (for free of course).
'Queen' is the third book to take this sort of action, bypassing the price wars between the main retailers.
'The Next Queen of Heaven' is set in 1999 in a fictional upstate New York town where strange things begin to happen. As for why a popular author such as Gregory would opt to release a book this way, his answer is really quite simple. “I admire that the books as well as the publishing model raise questions about art’s inherent value and the commodification of content,” he said in a statement. “I like knowing that this book is out in the world, helping to generate donations for great causes.”
Neither the author (nor the book designer) is paid for their work; as Concord Free Press notes on its website: “Our unique agreement with our writers…is 100% lawyer-free.” That said, all authors who publish with the Concord, N.H.-based outfit retain the rights to their works and can republish them later with conventional publishers. The first book in the series, CFP founder Stona Fitch’s novel Give + Take, is due from St. Martin’s imprint Thomas Dunne Books next year. According to Fitch, “Authors donate (voluntarily) 20 percent of all earnings from the book’s life after CFP back to the press to support our subsequent books. So in this way, we’re semi-self-sustaining, with one writer helping the next.”
To request your free copy of 'The Next Queen of Heaven' go . But please note, only 2,500 copies of the book are available through this ridiculously clever and humanitarian offer.
