Unknown authors (like me) always face a challenge when trying to gain publicity for their books. There are millions of books out there — both print and electronic — so making one stand out from the crowd is no easy task. Virtual book tours, magazine ads, blogger reviews, twitter campaigns, online giveaways, and book-launch parties are among the publicity options for authors. And now a new (at least new to me) tool has been added to that mix: the sneak peek or chapter sampler.

As their name suggests, sneak peeks try to generate readers’ interest by giving them one or more chapters from a new or soon-to-be-released book. They are usually in the form of a pamphlet and have the same cover as the book being promoted. Best of all for readers, they are free.

Several sneak peeks were displayed at the Barnes and Noble Teen Book Fest I attended a few weeks ago. They were on a large table along with bookmarks, posters, pens, and other no-cost items. One sneak peek for Melissa De La Cruz’s Something in Between provides the book’s first eight chapters. Another for The Fever Code by James Dashner presents the prologue and Chapter One and then jumps to the seventh chapter. Veronica Roth’s Carve the Mark sneak peek has just one chapter — Chapter Seven entitled “Cyra.” No doubt, the chapters included in sneak peeks are selected based on their ability to arouse reader interest and raise questions that can only be answered by reading the whole book.

One sneak peek at Barnes and Noble stood out from the others. Take a Pique had sample chapters from seven different books grouped into one volume. The contents page provided a teaser for each sample. Readers looking for “a road trip story about jazz camp escapees seeking the perfect gig” were directed to the opening chapters of The Haters by Jesse Andrews. Those who preferred “a romantic comedy narrated by Love herself” were advised to read a few chapters of The Romantics by Leah Konen. Short bios of the authors accompanied their sample chapters along with information about how to follow them on social media. In addition, Take a Pique asks readers to discuss books they are “reading and loving” at its own website (www.piquebeyond.com).

Distributing sneak peeks might be an effective way for an author to reach readers and spur their interest in his or her books. But I would guess it is not a cheap way. Many of the authors who had sneak peeks at Barnes and Noble have won literary awards or seen their books make high-profile bestseller lists. They probably have more dollars to spend on book promotion than their lesser-known peers. Accordingly, if possible, an author might want to print a few sneak peeks and see what kind of impact they have on sales before making a major investment in them.