Preview of book 1 at the back of book 1. How much?

[Lysmata Debelius]

I'm thinking of putting a few paragraphs / pages of the second book in a series, in the back of the first. As a reader, I don't like it if the percentage read is way off - you think you still have a lot of story left, and then it ends and the rest of the book is filled with other stuff. So I'd like to keep the preview of book 2 fairly short.
How much do people usually put in?

[TimothyEllis]

The maximum is 10% of the whole. As per Amazon ToS.

I'm not sure there is a 'usual'.

[Lysmata Debelius]

The maximum is 10% of the whole. As per Amazon ToS.

I'm not sure there is a 'usual'.

OK thanks. That's what I needed to know.

[Jeff Tanyard]

Thread title threw me for a loop.      

[Lysmata Debelius]

Thread title threw me for a loop.      

Aha! Yes. Recursive. Sorry!

[Jeff Tanyard]

Thread title threw me for a loop.      

Aha! Yes. Recursive. Sorry!

It's cool.  I knew what you meant.   

It was funny, though, in a Groundhog Day sort of way.

[Max]

I usually do a full chapter.  My chapters end on hooks, as we were all (most?) probably taught to do. So it hopefully spurs them to one-click.
It's always well below Amazon's 10% rule because I'm not willing to risk my account over backmatter.

[missingalaska]

I try to stop at a point where I think the reader 1) will be hooked and want to keep reading, and 2) can know the direction/vibe of the next story. This has been as short as two paragraphs and as long as a whole chapter.

[Lysmata Debelius]

I try to stop at a point where I think the reader 1) will be hooked and want to keep reading, and 2) can know the direction/vibe of the next story. This has been as short as two paragraphs and as long as a whole chapter.

That sounds like good advice.

[Maggie Ann]

As a reader, I skip the preview. If I read the chapter, then go on to buy the next book but don't get to it right away, I end up thinking I've already read the book. That's why I skip, but I'm probably not typical.

I just add the blurb for the next book at the end.

[Mark Gardner]

Enough to meet the arbitrary word count requirement in your submission?

[Lysmata Debelius]

As a reader, I skip the preview. If I read the chapter, then go on to buy the next book but don't get to it right away, I end up thinking I've already read the book. That's why I skip, but I'm probably not typical.

I just add the blurb for the next book at the end.

You know, that's a good idea, about the blurb. The reason I've been hesitating about putting a preview in is because I personally dislike reading previews. For the reasons you state.  But a blurb...that could work very nicely.

[Ghost5]

As a reader, I skip the preview. If I read the chapter, then go on to buy the next book but don't get to it right away, I end up thinking I've already read the book. That's why I skip, but I'm probably not typical.

I just add the blurb for the next book at the end.

I have the first chapter of the next book as my back matter now but when I get the time (and inclination), I'm changing my previews to the next book's blurb too. I've thought about it for some time and I never read preview chapters. Since I base a lot of what I do as an author/publisher on what I prefer as a reader, I'm going to make this change.
 

[idontknowyet]

As a reader I really don't like more than the first chapter in the back of the last book especially if its going to be more than a month or two till the next book is out. Getting engrossed in a book than saying no you have to wait drives me nuts. I am a binge reader so that affects my perception.