7th Son- Descent – and the Future of Books

October 27, 2009 · Comments

7th Son Descent My friend, J.C. Hutchins is one of those people redefining how books will be distributed and sold in the future. He’s done creative promotions in the past, and flatly refuses to stop. This time? J.C. is giving away 10 chapters of the book. Not one flimsy sample chapter – that’s not his style. No, Hutch is giving you 10! He does audio podcasts of the episodes. He shares in unique cross-promotions. It’s all an amazing mix of new media mentality and technology. Want to get in?

Here’s the PDF of 7th Son Descent (PDF), if you want to cut to the chase.

I ripped these details about the book off J.C.’s site:

The president of the United States is dead. He was murdered in the morning sunlight by a four-year-old boy…

So begins 7th Son: Descent, the technothriller novel by J.C. Hutchins. Originally released as a free audiobook podcast, Descent will be in bookstores in late October. 7th Son has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time.com, Wired.com UK, and on the cover of Blogger & Podcaster magazine.

As America reels from the bizarre presidential assassination committed by a child, seven men are abducted from their normal lives and delivered to a secret government facility. Each man has his own career, his own specialty. All are identical in appearance. The seven strangers were not born, but grown — unwitting human clones — as part of a project called 7th Son.

The government now wants something from these “John Michael Smiths.” They share the flesh as well as the implanted memories of the psychopath responsible for the president’s murder. The killer has bigger plans, and only these seven have the unique qualifications to track and stop him. But when their progenitor makes the battle personal, it becomes clear John Alpha may know the seven better than they know themselves…

Download the 7th Son Descent (PDF) and see if it’s for you.

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  • modem
    Nice post again. I am having ebook of 7th son descent and i have gone through 1/4 of it . Till now it is really mind blowing. Good going...


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  • modem
    Nice post!It was a very nice idea! Just wanna say thank you for the information you have shared. Just continue writing this kind of post. I will be your loyal reader. Thanks again.

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  • nice
  • Hi Chris - this is a pretty cool marketing idea, and it worked on me! I work for a literary PR firm and blogged about it here:

    http://www.phenixpublicity.com/blog

    Thanks for sharing!
  • Great idea J.C Hutchins, only it's been done before. My book has the first 10 chapters available for free on iTunes and also as PDFs on its website! See www.napoleonsgambit.com for more details.
  • Nothing like variety and creativity to get people speaking about something and this is certainly a good example of this in action. Great stuff!

    Karl
  • I am very excited about ebooks and how they are going to make people re-think strategies for publishing and distributing books. I believe that books are an essential piece to the advancement of civilization, but, for some reason they got stuck in time. In the era of instant content delivery and environmentally sound techniques, paper books are not sounds anymore.
    I know, I got a little bit off topic. But think about it, if anyone can publish a pdf and make people download it for free, there is going to be more 'creative' competition. And folks like Hutchins will come up with new strategies like giving away 10 chapters!
    That's awesome!
  • Pilar Rodrigues
    Paulo Coelho's link to "Pirate Coelho" (I just found):
    http://paulocoelhoblog.com/pirate-coelho/
    and his explanation:
    http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2008/02/07/paulo-coe...
  • Talk about a catchy introduction.
  • I remember when you put me on to J.C. and his book, Personal Effects: Dark Art. I always appreciated a good thriller on the big screen, but Dark Art changed my perspective on the written form. It wasn't just a book, it was an experience, it was interactive (yes, more material and 'extras' than your normal publication), and it had me immersed from the first to the last page.

    I don't doubt 7th Son: Descent will be any different. Kudos, J.C.!
  • Did you do all the dialing of numbers and URLs and stuff? Wasn't that crazy?
  • Yup! That was trippy and made me realize how different J.C. was with his thinking and where he's taking this industry.
  • I don't know if Paulo Coelho was the first one to do this kind of promotion, but I know he is very successful with the file sharing. I'll take a look at it. Thank you
  • Paulo is one of the best community builders out there, by the way. Great on Twitter.
  • I know, I'm following him aswell. He's a awesome person, down to earth.
  • BobPoole
    Wow! The first sentence is a grabber. I'll read it. Thank you.
  • Sounds like a gripping read.
  • I have downloaded 7th Son Descent pdf.It is interesting concept.I like it alot.Thanks for sharing such a great post here.
  • That guy is doing awesome stuff with creative commons and books. There's a group in England - I forget the name - who are doing something similar.
    Film projects such as the one by Nina Paley (Sidha sings the blues) have a similar strategy - giving away the content for free, but you pay for the "container".
    I wonder where it will all end up? :)

    FYI, I rarely comment on Disqus comment sites - absolute nightmare to bypass their outrageous demands, including linking back to Disqus instead of our blogs.
  • Hey Laurel. I'm from Disqus and I'm wondering what our demands are. Could you explain? Thanks!
  • That sounds pretty interesting. That's definitely a unique way to promote a book. Maybe I'll do something like that someday.
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