In January, Jill Hendrix, owner of Fiction Addiction, Greenville, S.C., sent an e-mail to customers asking, "How much do you trust Fiction Addiction? Will you take a trust fall with us?" Noting that she had fallen in love with a debut hardcover novel (that would be released in February) and had "coerced" friends, family and staff to read it, Hendrix proposed the following deal: "I know you will all love it as well, but I'm afraid that the title/cover will turn you off. So, what I want to know is whether you'll agree to pre-order this book, sight unseen, just based on our love for it if we give you a full money-back guarantee if you read it but don't love it as much as we have."
Monday, she offered an update on Facebook: "We had a great response to our Trust Fall promotion; 53 of you have now picked up your book and we're starting to get some feedback from those who've read it. So far, we've heard it's 'captivating'... 'all I want to do is sit here and keep reading [it]'... and 'I'm enjoying the heck out of it.' If you've read or started the book, please let us know your thoughts. But try to keep the title and author secret for a little while longer as we still have about 15 people who haven't yet picked up their book. If you didn't already take the fall, we have extra copies available--just let us know you're interested!"
