Yesterday’s Washington Post printed a book review of Wesley Brown’s novel Push Comes to Shove. While the novel sounded intriguing, the most fascinating thing I learned from the review wasn’t the book’s content. Rather, it was the book’s price.

It’s free.

Here’s how James A. Miller explained it in the review’s final paragraph:

It is the second book from the Concord Free Press, which publishes novels and gives them away free, with the following injunction: “By taking a copy, you agree to give away money to a local charity, someone who needs it, or a stranger on the street. Where the money goes and how much you give—that’s your call.” It’s an innovative publishing effort that one-ups Abbie Hoffman’s yippie manifesto Steal This Book.

Free books? What kind of publishing model is that? As the Concord Free Press explains at its site:

Let’s get this straight right from the start—we’re not proposing free books as a cure for what ails modern publishing. That would be stupid. We like books. We buy books. We don’t think all books should be free—just ours.

That said, we’re dedicated to a different kind of publishing, one that “reconceptualizes the very goals of publishing.” We’re interested in making waves, challenging assumptions, and re-invigorating the book, which isn’t dead yet, by the way.

Think about it this way. No matter who published them or how good they are, most books go on a familiar trajectory—new, used, shelved permanently, dusty. Ours keep going from hand to hand, generating donations along the way. Readers are generally good people. We give them a chance to get a great book for free—and encourage contributions to organizations and individuals in their own community or further afield.

You can get a free copy of Push Comes to Shove sent to you by providing your e-mail address and promising to take part in charitable giving as per the company’s suggestions.

Not quite sure what to make of it all, but supposedly more than $75,000 has already been dispersed. And the company’s next novel, The Next Queen of Heaven by Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked, will be available in October.