Writer Sanctum
Writer's Haven => Formatter's Forge [Public] => Topic started by: Gerri Attrick on November 04, 2020, 06:08:58 PM
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I have recently started to get my series, exclusive to Amazon, into print (without expanded distribution). All the ebooks contain links in the back matter to the rest in the series, plus my other other series, plus an email sign-up.
Do I need these for print?
PS. I use D2D for formatting, uploading an .odt file and downloading an epub, mobi, or pdf as required.
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My print books contain full-page ads for my other books in the backmatter. (No data fees, so the file size doesn't matter.)
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My print formatter said to keep it simple, a list of books and a mention of my website, so that's what I did. It's a page. If I end up doing my own formatting I'd consider adding a chapter or three of the next book in the series, although as a reader I found it really annoying when trades did that.
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I have one page about me with links to my sites and one page listing my other books. That's it.
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Here are a couple of examples. I use the list of my works at the front of every paperback, behind the title page. The other page with the cover shots is just one of the half dozen series ads at the back.
I don't include sample chapters in paperbacks because that'd increase the print cost by a fair amount - especially if you're using extended distribution.
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I make my print books look as much like trad pub print books as possible--modern ones, that is, that don't have house ads for other books by other authors in their backmatter as many used to decades ago.
So, opposite the title page, a full list of my books and a polite invite to sign up for my newsletter via my website. At the end, a note from the author, usually urging readers to post reviews and reminding them about signing up, and often an acknowledgments page, too, in which I thank certain first readers or professionals I have consulted. That's all I put at the end of a print book.
Dignity, always dignity.
Since my print books never are on physical bookshelves, I don't see any need for a hard push to buy the others. Whoever buys my print books already knows about them. It's not an impulsive "I'll try this" kind of purchase.
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One opinion...
I read, learned, and subscribe to the premise: Print back covers should be simple with a description that entices the reader to buy.
Consequently, I end every book with a "chapter":
Books by R. C.
Novels
Summitate Series
Biomass
Dominion
Connections
The Plan: Create A Pandemic. Use A Designer Drug To Cure The Flu And Kill Six Billion People. Hope For Humankind Fell On Me To Control The New Humans.
The Carina Series
Time is an Illusion
A Calm Mind
Our Place
BairnGefa
Ho’ Ma’ Utz
The Blessing Of Interstellar Travel Has Become A Curse. With The Powers He Received from the Designer Drug, Corb Has One Chance To Save Earth, But It Has Become Impossible To Tell Friend From Foe.
The Reluctant First
Aalborinn
Áynja
Envisage (March 2021)
To Become A Plentari Warrior: Survive The Brutal Training. Can Corb’s Daughter, A Human Girl, Become A Plentari Warrior? How Many Will She Slay To Survive? Is She The First?
Short Stories
Max and the Dream Time
The find
The Everwhen
The Tontine
The Lost Years
The Price of Love
Jamie’s future will break Max’s heart. Understanding the Orb becomes Max’s obsession. With the Orb, he can make sure the future he sees never happen. Can His Friends Save Him From the Pain? Will Their Plan Work? Is The Pain Too Great To Endure?
Miranda Everlasting
Gris-Gris
Fò Miranda
Envie
Young Miranda is going to be famous. She is going to be in the movies and fly aeroplanes. The dreams of children destroyed, Albee helps Miranda becomes famous.
Not all voodoo is bad voodoo.
Some voodoo is for the dead.
Some Voodoo Is For The Living.
Voodoo Is Eternal.
Aydin Trammell
Ptarmigan Lane
Mandarin Pith
Shiny Lies
Designer Shackles
Salt Wounds
Early 2021
Future Silence
Dimensional Boundaries
Understated Reality
Living with Mirrors
Broken Echoes
A former Special Ops Commando thought covert missions in the desert were rough. Then he married a spy who wants him dead.
When Aydin Trammel becomes an international intelligence operative, he quickly learns his new career is considerably more complicated than when he was a special ops soldier. Back then, problems were solved more straightforwardly: Hike in, blow something up, hike out. He was good at that.
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Thanks, everyone.
Wow! There's a lot more to think about here than I realised. (A shame the first two are already out in paperback. I wonder if I should unpublish until I've got the back matter better worked out than just a few links.)
Thanks for sharing your own efforts. You've given me a lot of great ideas.
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Here are a couple of examples. I use the list of my works at the front of every paperback, behind the title page. The other page with the cover shots is just one of the half dozen series ads at the back.
I don't include sample chapters in paperbacks because that'd increase the print cost by a fair amount - especially if you're using extended distribution.
Wow. These look great!!
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Thanks! For the ads I use indesign and it imports/updates the cover thumbnails automatically.
As for the book list, for months I've been worrying about running out of room, but I just realised I can add a second page. Doh, as they say.
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Would it be a good idea to include the blurb for the next book in the series? instead of pictures that cost money on the ereader versions?
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In my ebooks I use small thumbnails - they barely make any difference to the file size.
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I've heard the best thing is right after "The End" is to put the link to the next book in the series. Then a link to your website to sign up for email. I still have to update my trilogies to optimize them like that.
On the ebooks I have a blurb for each book, I have like 13 books now, I think, but the trilogies only get one blurb each and a link to each book in the "Other Books By notthatamanda" "Chapter".
I have a preview for my other psych thriller in both my psych thrillers.
I just updated my WWII book to have the link to the sequel and my website for email signup followed by the first three chapters of the sequel.
Since I know your plan I would say make sure you have your website set up and mailing list signup. I tried starting a website 4 or 5 years ago and couldn't climb the learning curve, but I am so far behind because of that now. Since Amazon lets you preorder a year out, you can set up the series starting with the last one first (just load your cover and blurb at first, don't need the book file) then you'll have the link to put in the book before that one.
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I use yWriter for everything, including generating my ebooks, and it has a feature where you can automatically include scenes from a different project into the current one.
So I spent about 3 hours last night going through half my ebooks, ensuring that the next thing they see after finishing one book is not 'review please' but a cover shot of the next in the series, with a note saying chapter one starts on the next page. (The reason for including live data from another project instead of a simple copy/paste is in case I change anything in chapter 1 of the next book - unlikely, but it's not unknown.)
Then comes chapter one of the next book, obviously, and right after that is a link to the web page for that exact book where there's a blurb and purchase links for every store in every country.
Finally I have the pls review, author bio, info on other series, etc further back.
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I use yWriter for everything, including generating my ebooks, and it has a feature where you can automatically include scenes from a different project into the current one.
So I spent about 3 hours last night going through half my ebooks, ensuring that the next thing they see after finishing one book is not 'review please' but a cover shot of the next in the series, with a note saying chapter one starts on the next page. (The reason for including live data from another project instead of a simple copy/paste is in case I change anything in chapter 1 of the next book - unlikely, but it's not unknown.)
Then comes chapter one of the next book, obviously, and right after that is a link to the web page for that exact book where there's a blurb and purchase links for every store in every country.
Finally I have the pls review, author bio, info on other series, etc further back.
I think you're wise to order them that way. I have never known the "please review" to work for my books. If it did, they would have many dozens more reviews.
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I used to include a review request right alongside The End. Then, Amazon starting doing a pop-up window on Kindle the second you hit The End, so it seemed redundant.
Now, I thank people for reading the book along with The End, and move right in to the author's note, which always includes bonus things related to the story, like movie lists, recipes, etc.
My mailing list sign up page is in the front of the book (within the look inside) and in the back, with a fun (genre-appropriate) graphic.
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I used to include a review request right alongside The End. Then, Amazon starting doing a pop-up window on Kindle the second you hit The End, so it seemed redundant.
That's the main reason I've shifted the page further back. I'd rather they thanked me by picking up the next in the series ;-)
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I used to include a review request right alongside The End. Then, Amazon starting doing a pop-up window on Kindle the second you hit The End, so it seemed redundant.
That's the main reason I've shifted the page further back. I'd rather they thanked me by picking up the next in the series ;-)
Oh yes, my "Thank You" is with an "if you liked this, the adventure continues in X (Next book in series.)"
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The other thing is that reviews are really zooming along these days. A couple of months ago I reported that my prequel novella had about 35 reviews. Now it's just over 100.
Book 1 in my main series has gone from ~250 to 450 in the same sort of timeframe.
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Reviews, or ratings?
I'm seeing a lot more ratings, but not reviews.