One of the nice things about working in a bookshop is the employee discount, plus the occasional free book or two. Yesterday, to my surprise, I got a free book in the mail direct from a publisher. Not sure why, but there was a note about how the author was pleased to send me this complimentary copy, and the publisher hoped I’d enjoy it. I was a little surprised. I know who the author is, and have even been in the same room with him at a professional conference, but I’m fairly sure he has no clue who I am. This particular author has many books and has been publishing for thirty years. My best guess is that for some reason the publisher sent the book to everyone who belongs to the particular academic/professional society of which the author and I are both members. This seems unusually generous for a publisher. But hey, free book!
They might be hoping that you’ll review it. That’s how/why I used to get all those free books.
Maybe, but I actually think the book is not doing as well as they’d hoped and they actually are looking for people to pick it up as a textbook.