By Tom Dulaney 

Even the astoundingly bestselling James Patterson—or his publisher’s marketing experts—are still floundering when it comes to using the Kindle and its bestseller list as a launch pad for a new book.

Fang: Book 1, the latest in Patterson’s Maximum Ride series targeted on young adults, appeared on Amazon on Feb. 10 in three guises: as a hardback available for pre-order at $9.71, as a Kindle book pre-order for a coincidental $9.71, and in a Free Preview. The preview edition jumped quickly into the top 25 on the Kindle Store bestseller list.

But the first two reviews of the preview pounced right on the fact that “it is not the whole book” being given away, followed by comments criticizing the marketing technique.

Awarding the lowest one-star rating, one reviewer warned others off and called the free preview “deceptive advertising.” The second one-star reviewer joined the first in saying such “previews” were much like the standard samples available on any book for the Kindle.

Perhaps author and publisher would have done better to call the Preview a “Free Sample” or some such term more clearly relating the situation?

Time will tell. But thus far the handful of reviews seems to be getting trumped by the obvious fact that having the book displayed near the top of the Kindle Store bestseller list is getting Patterson’s latest the kind of attention that less successful authors would love.