Anyone who buys the new Joanne Harris paperback Peaches for Monsieur le Curé from Waterstones will find it contains an extra chapter not included in copies sold elsewhere, after the book chain signed an exclusive deal with the author.
The chapter, which Harris says can be read either as an epilogue or as “the prologue to an as-yet-unwritten story”, may not be central to the plot of Peaches, which is a follow-up to her best-selling Chocolat. But Waterstones hopes that the extra material will be enough to persuade Harris fans to shun Amazon and other web retailers in favour of a trip to the High Street.
The promotion is one of several innovative marketing tactics – many involving so-called “bonus material” – being adopted by booksellers in an attempt to compete with cut-price online rivals.
