By Dennis Abrams

Tennessee-based startup BookGrabbr, a new online marketing tool designed to drive new readers to authors in what it calls a “seamless, efficient and economical way,” launched last week at Book Expo America.

BookGrabbr’s goal is to “create a viral opportunity for readers to benefit by being able to download (or, ‘Grabb’) free books” simply by agreeing to share the info through one or more of their social media accounts: Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

With BookGrabbr, publishers as well as authors will “have the ability to gather critical analytics on users who download their books or previews, ultimately driving more preorders for new releases to the destination of their choice.” And with the automated push function, authors who post on their own social media sites will automatically have their book pushed to his or her contracts. Friends and fans then “grabb” the free book (or selected sample chapters — that’s up to the author) and share their experience with their own networks of friends.

And then they’ll share with their own networks. And then they’ll share with their networks. And so on. And so on.

Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer Joel Dunham said, “BookGrabbr is an incredible tool for publishers and authors who want to expand their reach and increase their market share and brand value with readers worldwide.” David Dunham is co-founder and serves as chief executive officer. Throughout his 40 year publishing career Dunham has published over 800 books, including almost three-dozen New York Times bestsellers.

The company’s third co-founder, Daniel Langston, told Publishing Perspectives that, “Our long term vision is to penetrate the international market and continue to grow through providing a unique platform that we will continually improve upon for our authors as social media evolves.”

BookGrabbr is kicking-off with 2,000-pluss titles from major publishers including, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Worthy, Regnery, Beaufort and Dunham Books.

It got a rave reviews from Michael Hyatt, former publishing executive and best-selling author of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World. “Finally! Someone has harnessed the power of social sharing to create visibility for publishers, authors and books. Meet BookGrabbr – a solution you will love!”