Comics News
The Painted Darkness
By The Editor
July 24, 2010 - 09:19




­More than 10,000 readers have downloaded the free eBook or audiobook editions of "The Painted Darkness" by Brian James Freeman from www.DownloadTheDarkness.com since Cemetery Dance Publications launched the special giveaway two weeks ago to promote this chilling new novella.

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The marketing experiment has proven to be a huge success, creating word of mouth and media reports about the hardcover edition that never could have been achieved through traditional marketing, leading the publisher to double the planned first printing.  Collectors reserved every available copy of the signed Limited Edition of the book less than 24 hours after it was announced, and preorders for the $19.99 trade hardcover are much stronger than originally expected.

"Although many people said we were crazy to give a book away for free, we believed this promotion would only help generate more word of mouth for this terrific book, which in turn would sell more copies of the hardcover," said Cemetery Dance publisher Richard Chizmar.  "Given the quick sellout of the signed edition and the tremendous preorder numbers for the trade hardcover, I think our little experiment has been a huge success."

"The Painted Darkness" is the haunting story of an artist facing the demons of his past.  The book has already received praise from legendary New York Times bestselling authors such as Richard Matheson, Stewart O'Nan, David Morrell, Tess Gerritsen, and Bentley Little.  The free eBook can still be downloaded at DownloadTheDarkness.com, but for a limited time only.

Cemetery Dance will publish the trade hardcover edition of "The Painted Darkness" in November with a retail price of $19.99, but many online stores are already taking reservations thanks to the wave of publicity from the DownloadTheDarkness.com campaign. The hardcover will include an exclusive introduction by Brian Keene and more than a half-dozen interior illustrations by Jill Bauman that won't appear anywhere else.

*** ABOUT CEMETERY DANCE:

Cemetery Dance Publications recently published the World's First Edition of "Blockade Billy" by Stephen King, announced a deluxe special edition of "The Passage" by Justin Cronin, and is widely considered the world's leading specialty press publisher of horror and dark suspense. The hardcover imprint has published more than 200 affordable and collectible Limited Edition hardcover books from the genre's most acclaimed authors, including Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Ray Bradbury, William Peter Blatty, Peter Straub, Graham Masterton, Richard Laymon, Michael Slade, Douglas Clegg, Jack Ketchum, William F. Nolan, Joe R. Lansdale and hundreds of others, along with the

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