Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Do Your Sample Chapters Outshine the Rest of Your Novel?


Do Your Sample Chapters Outshine the Rest of Your Novel?

How perfect sample chapters could hurt your book sales






  

            In my last blog, as we discussed the prevalence of eBook returns, I was informed that often books are returned because the sample chapters were polished and professional, while the rest of the book lacked the same effort.
            Writers beware. I know we read everywhere how important those opening words are for our sales. But as eBook authors, we have to remember, we need return readers. The more product we have out there, the more each book or story helps sell the others. If a reader buys your first book because the sample chapters made him want to read it, he would have felt cheated when the rest didn’t match the beginning. Even if he doesn’t return it, you end up with a reader who will never buy another of your books, or worse, write you a scathing review.
            Word of mouth remains the best form of advertising. Don’t let a disgruntled reader spread the word that your work is not professional. It is up to you to make your writing captivating all the way through.
Two important reminders:
1.     Be sure your entire work is free of spelling, grammar, typos and formatting errors before you publish. It’ll save you a lot of work later!
2.     Everyone knows not to add too much back-story to the first pages of your novel.  But you also don’t want to leave it out of your opening chapters, and then dump it on the reader all at once. Add it when the storyline warrants it, but as frugally as possible!

Dear readers,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments on the topic of eBook returns. After considering them all, my personal opinion is that rather than shorten the time during which they can be returned, it might be fairer to limit the number of returns any individual could make in a given year.
            I was dismayed to hear that writers actually published books having perfect sample chapters without an entire book to match! I thought addressing that might be worth talking about.
            Thanks to all of you for your continued support,
Marla

10 comments:

  1. Writer Dave Here.
    Usually the sample is the first chapter. Now my first chapter of course has the hook, and mine was very good, if I say so myself, so you put a lot of effort in the first chapter. I agree with you, Marla, you must continue that effort throughout the whole book!
    But because a lot of ebooks are NOT long, 110 pages, 40,000 words, people can read it fast and return it! That's why I maintain there should be only ONE DAY LIMIT for returns!
    My Rant Continues!
    Writer Dave, Thank You, Many people agree with me!

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    1. Dave,
      Thanks once more for being the first to comment! You're right, many agree with you! I have to admit, though, I download books and don't read them sometimes for months. But then I tend to only get free downloads and the books that are relatively cheap. I have never returned an eBook.
      I do a lot of library reading, especially the big name authors.
      I am troubled by finding out there are authors out there who only make suer the sample chapters are done well.
      They give all of us a bad name!
      I always appreciate a good rant! :)
      Marla

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  2. Oh my goodness, I would never dream of returning a book, e-book or otherwise (unless it was to the library of course haha!)I do agree that there are e-books out there that do not follow through with their polished first offerings and I was horrified to find some that have clearly not been proofed. Interesting subject - I found you because you are following me on twitter. Glad I popped over :-) Debbie

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    1. Hi Deborah,
      Thanks for visiting! I think the only time I've returned books was when I bought a hard-cover book and than discovered I'd read it. I tend to like the idea of AZ limiting how many eBooks a person can return each year, so at least the legitimate problems would be addressed. It'll be interesting to see if the practice changes.
      Appreciate your comment, have a great weekend,
      Marla

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  3. Hence the importance of an editor or a good critique partner or critique group.

    Regarding the ebook returns, I agree with Amazon tracking the number of returns per person and capping returns. Repeat offenders shouldn't be allowed to hurt author (and Amazon) sales.

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    1. I agree, Tanya. I would think limiting to about 3-4 returns a year would be fair. I'd like to think that those books whose same pages are perfect and the rest ratty are in the minority! I can't think of any other reason to return an eBook. Let's face it, we'll all like some books a lot more than others and books shouldn't be returned just because on the whole a person didn't love it.
      Thanks for stopping by,
      Marla

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  4. Nice blog post. Wanted to add how important it is to hire a professional proofreader for your books. Some authors think they can do it themselves, most of the time this is not the case. A new set of eyes, experienced eyes, can be very helpful.

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    1. Thanks, Mary!
      I totally agree! I learned that lesson the hard way, had to redo my first book and in fact have had one more proofing of that one and need to do an update soon.
      You're right, very few people can proof their own work.
      Nice to hear from you,
      Marla

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  5. Great article! (Found you via twitter)

    I agree with limiting the number of returns in a year. My books are well over 115,000 words, but you can read them in a couple of days. We all know there will be people out there who abuse the return policy, and I don't see a way around it other than, again, limiting the number of returns in a year or a month or what have you.

    And I can't believe there are writers out there who only have the sample portion and not the rest of the book! I'd not heard of that before. I would not consider that type of person an author. That is a disingenuous person out for one thing only- money.

    Keep up the great work!

    Suzan

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    1. Hi Suzan,
      You write long books? What genre? I didn't know about those, either. A person who commented on my last blog told me about it, and that's why he favors allowing some returns. I don't think that practice will make them money for long! It's having good writing product repeatedly that pays off. Glad you found your niche!
      Thanks for stopping in,
      Marla

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