I’m a little surprised that there is still some notion out there that free samples of products is a bad thing.

Take it from someone in the business of getting free fiberglass (whee!) into people’s hands. Free samples work.

So, it’s a bit of a “duh!” moment when I see a headline like this: “Readers Who View Sample Book Chapters Online More Likely to Purchase.”

Is anyone surprised by this? This seems at the same level of obviousness as “Readers Who Read are More Likely to Read Than Readers Who Don’t Read,” or “David Bowie is a unevenly-pupilled god among men.”

My caveat is: If you can’t write for shit, you’re better off offering a free box of Cracker Jack with every purchase. Or being Dan Brown. Whichever works for you.