Backmatter. How many different things should you have?

[Lysmata Debelius]

I think I've got too many different "calls to action" in the back of my books. Potentially confusing. Seems like if you give people too many different options, they're less likely to take any of them.

I've got:

1) Link to mailing list signup page
2) List of other books, all  linked to book site
3) Request for reviews
4) "Connect with me at" social media links list

This seems like too much to me. Wouldn't it be better to have just one or two things?
In which case, which two things are the most important?  Maybe mailing list signup, and request for reviews?

[guest14]

Seems like if you give people too many different options, they're less likely to take any of them.

I've been selling for over 40 years. I've been trained by some of the world's best.  That statement sums up the selling techniques from all of them.

In which case, which two things are the most important?  Maybe mailing list signup, and request for reviews?

Just go for the Mailing list because they will only have patience/endurance to do ONE THING! make it count. They'll review your book anyway at sometime or another, but if you get their email address you've opened a door.

[Lex]

My main call to action used to be for reviews. More secondary was an invitation to join my mailing list. I just changed it for my newest release to experiment with more options - mailing list, FB group, follow me on Amazon. It might turn out to be a colossal mistake.  Only time will tell.

I think if you're going to narrow it down to one or two, you have to decide for yourself which options are most important. I've helped my dad publish a few books, and I only have a request for reviews in his back matter, because it's really the only thing of use for him.

[Max]

My primary CTA is the next book because I want them to keep reading. No breaking the momentum to sign up for stuff. I always include the first chapter of the next book when available. On the same page as the book's link, I do have my mailing list sign up. That way, when they've finished ALL my books, they can sign up. Third, I have a list of all my works.
I never ask for reviews.

[Tom Wood]

Seems like if you give people too many different options, they're less likely to take any of them.

I've been selling for over 40 years. I've been trained by some of the world's best.  That statement sums up the selling techniques from all of them.

In which case, which two things are the most important?  Maybe mailing list signup, and request for reviews?

Just go for the Mailing list because they will only have patience/endurance to do ONE THING! make it count. They'll review your book anyway at sometime or another, but if you get their email address you've opened a door.

I can't remember if it was Gaughran, Dawson or one of the ALLI articles, but they said the same thing. People will lock up if given too many choices.

[Lysmata Debelius]

Excellent.
Thanks.

I'm going to go with only having one thing, and that thing being the next book. And I think I'll make it a direct link to the book's amazon page, and not to my own book site, as I had before.  The idea was that the amazon link might change, and then I'd have to edit the backmatter. But I'd rather get that one click going to a page where people can buy the book.

Now I need to decide whether I'll include the beginning of the next book, or just the link.

I'll only use the mailing list call to action in books that are part of an unfinished series, where the sequel hasn't been published yet, and I don't have any like that at the moment.  That seems to fit, to me. If the next book exists, call to action = link to next book. If it is still not published, call to action = new release mailing list.   

[Max]

I personally discourage amazon links. If they read on an ipad, as I do, the amazon links don't seem to work for me. Forcing me to take a longer, different route. Is it me? Am I inept? Could be. But as sure as one person is unable to access, others can't.

Could be that apple doesn't like to play nice with Amazon and that's why it's not easy on my ipad. But think how many people read on an ipad or an iphone.

[Tom Wood]

I personally discourage amazon links. If they read on an ipad, as I do, the amazon links don't seem to work for me. Forcing me to take a longer, different route. Is it me? Am I inept? Could be. But as sure as one person is unable to access, others can't.

Could be that apple doesn't like to play nice with Amazon and that's why it's not easy on my ipad. But think how many people read on an ipad or an iphone.

Kindle purchases are disabled in the iOS Kindle application because Apple insisted they get a 30% cut of the sales.

[Lysmata Debelius]

I personally discourage amazon links. If they read on an ipad, as I do, the amazon links don't seem to work for me. Forcing me to take a longer, different route. Is it me? Am I inept? Could be. But as sure as one person is unable to access, others can't.

Could be that apple doesn't like to play nice with Amazon and that's why it's not easy on my ipad. But think how many people read on an ipad or an iphone.

Kindle purchases are disabled in the iOS Kindle application because Apple insisted they get a 30% cut of the sales.

Oh poop.  But how does one deal with that?

[Max]

I personally discourage amazon links. If they read on an ipad, as I do, the amazon links don't seem to work for me. Forcing me to take a longer, different route. Is it me? Am I inept? Could be. But as sure as one person is unable to access, others can't.

Could be that apple doesn't like to play nice with Amazon and that's why it's not easy on my ipad. But think how many people read on an ipad or an iphone.

Kindle purchases are disabled in the iOS Kindle application because Apple insisted they get a 30% cut of the sales.

Thank you, Tom. I thought I'd seem something about the why of it, but couldn't remember, so my fallback was that it's me!

[Tom Wood]

I personally discourage amazon links. If they read on an ipad, as I do, the amazon links don't seem to work for me. Forcing me to take a longer, different route. Is it me? Am I inept? Could be. But as sure as one person is unable to access, others can't.

Could be that apple doesn't like to play nice with Amazon and that's why it's not easy on my ipad. But think how many people read on an ipad or an iphone.

Kindle purchases are disabled in the iOS Kindle application because Apple insisted they get a 30% cut of the sales.

Oh poop.  But how does one deal with that?

All the online suggestions tell iPhone/iPad users to open Safari and access the Kindle store through the browser rather than the app. I don't own either, so I don't know if you can include a Safari-based link for Apple users. (Edit: Which would defeat the purpose of the block, so I doubt Apple would allow it.)

[Max]

Send them to your website. Don't have one? Send them to Books2Read where you can create a page for your books and even put an affiliate link in.

[Lysmata Debelius]

OK. I do have a website set up already with all the right links.
Would it make sense to have two links, one to Amazon, and one to the site, or is that getting back to too many options?

[guest14]

OK. I do have a website set up already with all the right links.
Would it make sense to have two links, one to Amazon, and one to the site, or is that getting back to too many options?

The thing is, if it's a kindle they're reading on they will more than likely buy from Amazon. If you;re wide and they might be ordering off of any of the platforms, the books2read would be the best. The reason I say that is because more and more people are recognising that gateway and already have their preferences set. Therefore, by clicking the link on your book it will take them to their preferred platform even if it is Amazon. Ergo a single-click option regardless.

[Tom Wood]

Maybe:

iOS Users: Link to your website
Android Users: Link to Amazon

That assumes most people know what operating system they are using.

[Max]

I'm inherently not interested in doing work twice. So my advice is do not put anything in there that you will have to fix when you go wide. And that means a specific link to a vendor.

Of course, if you  use Vellum my understanding is that it makes specific links for each vendor for every book type (mobi, epub for kobo, epub for nook, etc.) I don't partake of this feature, personally, for my own reasons, not that there's anything wrong with it at all

[Lysmata Debelius]

I wonder if there is a way to detect the operating system, and display links accordingly? I am not wide at the moment, but it's true that this might change. I don't use vellum, I use Sigil and then convert to mobi via Kindlegen.

[okey dokey]

Can you sprinkle a few links on a few reading pages (one to a page)?

Or is that a TOS no - no?

[RPatton]

I give the reader two option. MY mailing list or the next book in the series. I put my also by page in my front matter with links.

They are more valuable on my mailing list, so I usually put an invitation to join my mailing list after the end of the book and before the preview chapter of the next book.

[RPatton]

Can you sprinkle a few links on a few reading pages (one to a page)?

Or is that a TOS no - no?

Well, this depends on whether or not it ruins the reader's enjoyable experience. Putting a link to a newsletter in the middle of a paragraph, no, not good. Putting a link to a source of the paragraph, that's okay.

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean your should. I find that the best answer usually comes from myself. How would I honestly feel reading a book with a link to a newsletter between two chapters? Two pages? Two paragraphs? Two sentences?

[Rinelle]

Mine varies. For a new release, I generally put a request for reviews, followed by a link to my mailing list. Then when the next book is out (and the current one probably has a few reviews), I change that to a link to the next book and a link to my mailing list.

I link straight to Amazon. The links open on my iPad just fine. The ones Amazon pops up don't, but my in book links do.

[Lysmata Debelius]

Mine varies. For a new release, I generally put a request for reviews, followed by a link to my mailing list. Then when the next book is out (and the current one probably has a few reviews), I change that to a link to the next book and a link to my mailing list.

I link straight to Amazon. The links open on my iPad just fine. The ones Amazon pops up don't, but my in book links do.

I think I need to investigate this more.  Thanks for this information.