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First chapters echo Allen’s Penguin

Penguin is making the first chapter of all of its books available for free download.

For six months Penguin has been trialing PDF downloads of the first chapters of some of its new novels at penguin.co.uk.

Tasters allow readers browse the opening pages of each book as a sample.

As of St Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2008 the publisher has more than fifty titles available online, and said it will continue to upload the first chapters of each and every new fiction title every month.

Included will be full prologues, the entire opening chapter, in many cases several chapters.

The downloads work on iPhones, Palms or Blackberrys, a well as conventional computer screens; they can be emailed onwards or printed off.

This makes Penguin the only publisher offering unrestricted, open access to its books in this way, sid the company.

“The addition of Penguin Tasters to www.penguin.co.uk will allow readers to get a preview of the books they've been waiting for as well as encouraging them to try something new," said digital marketing director Anna Rafferty.

In a statement, Penguin said this is a 21st century version of what Allen Lane (Penguin founder) set out to do when he started Penguin; making good quality contemporary fiction available to everyone.

For detail, see the website

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