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Writer's Haven => Marketing Loft [Public] => Topic started by: Lysmata Debelius on October 10, 2018, 03:55:49 PM

Title: Preview of book 1 at the back of book 1. How much?
Post by: Lysmata Debelius on October 10, 2018, 03:55:49 PM
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?
Title: Re: Preview of book 1 at the back of book 1. How much?
Post by: TimothyEllis on October 10, 2018, 04:04:40 PM
The maximum is 10% of the whole. As per Amazon ToS.

I'm not sure there is a 'usual'.
Title: Re: Preview of book 1 at the back of book 1. How much?
Post by: Lysmata Debelius on October 10, 2018, 04:15:06 PM
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.
Title: Re: Preview of book 1 at the back of book 1. How much?
Post by: Jeff Tanyard on October 10, 2018, 05:24:37 PM
Thread title threw me for a loop.   :icon_think:   :icon_mrgreen:
Title: Re: Preview of book 1 at the back of book 1. How much?
Post by: Lysmata Debelius on October 10, 2018, 06:09:45 PM
Thread title threw me for a loop.   :icon_think:   :icon_mrgreen:
Aha! Yes. Recursive. Sorry!
Title: Re: Preview of book 1 at the back of book 1. How much?
Post by: Jeff Tanyard on October 10, 2018, 06:41:52 PM
Thread title threw me for a loop.   :icon_think:   :icon_mrgreen:
Aha! Yes. Recursive. Sorry!


It's cool.  I knew what you meant.   :cheers

It was funny, though, in a Groundhog Day sort of way.
Title: Re: Preview of book 1 at the back of book 1. How much?
Post by: Max on October 10, 2018, 09:04:25 PM
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.
Title: Re: Preview of book 1 at the back of book 1. How much?
Post by: missingalaska on October 10, 2018, 10:14:51 PM
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.
Title: Re: Preview of book 1 at the back of book 1. How much?
Post by: Lysmata Debelius on October 10, 2018, 10:15:21 PM
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.
Title: Re: Preview of book 1 at the back of book 1. How much?
Post by: Maggie Ann on October 10, 2018, 10:27:27 PM
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.
Title: Re: Preview of book 1 at the back of book 1. How much?
Post by: Mark Gardner on October 10, 2018, 10:33:12 PM
Enough to meet the arbitrary word count requirement in your submission?
Title: Re: Preview of book 1 at the back of book 1. How much?
Post by: Lysmata Debelius on October 10, 2018, 11:40:01 PM
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.
Title: Re: Preview of book 1 at the back of book 1. How much?
Post by: Ghost5 on October 11, 2018, 02:10:03 AM
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.
 :catrun
Title: Re: Preview of book 1 at the back of book 1. How much?
Post by: idontknowyet on October 11, 2018, 02:39:56 AM
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.