Embedded Files
The tutorial betas had much to say about their experiences with readers and front and back matter issues. In this supplemental section, some of those issues are put forth for user consideration:
For your consideration:
1) While beta-ing this tutorial, lots of users brought up the issue of file sampling. Online bookstores allow customers to sample files. Consumers are able to see the first however-many-percent of a book by viewing or downloading a sample. Books crammed full of front matter leave very little room in the sample for story before the sample cuts off. This cheats customers, and tends to make them mad. Please take it easy on the amount of front matter stuffed into files.
2) Another front-matter issue mentioned frequently during beta was the book’s description (or blurb or back-cover copy or whatever we’re calling it these days). From what I’ve seen, readers really appreciate this addition. At a glance, they can recall what the book is about. The header label would be something like “Description”. The text would be the blurb.
2a) More on book descriptions: Consider adding this content directly to projectx's title page as well as creating a separate "description" page. This places the content front and center for EPUB and MOBI-sample viewers.
This does NOT place that description on the first page visible to MOBI (Kindle) users who have the entire file. They will still need to access the content via the go-to TOC. A possible workaround is to include the description on the pinned start page, but I think that's too much mess for no gain. Others might feel differently, so the option is mentioned here for users to decide for themselves.
3) (From Meg) I will never forget the day I saw this message appear on Vince Flynn's site, may God rest his soul. His site no longer has this as a separate listing, so I'm isolating the message here, in Vince's own words:
Vince's Kill Shot eBook Statement
Friday, February 17, 2012
Dear Mitch Rapp Fans,
Thank you so much for your support over the first two weeks of publication. Because of you, Kill Shot will debut at #1 in all four possible categories on the New York Times Bestseller List in their February 26th issue. On top of that, we set the Simon and Schuster all-time record for most fiction ebooks sold in the first week of publication!
On the topic of the ebook edition, I would like to apologize for some of the confusion that occurred for those of you who read Kill Shot in the digital format. We thought readers would enjoy being able to read excerpts from all of my backlist, but as it turns out, we've heard otherwise from many of you.
All of this free material is counted as part of the book and has led readers to believe they still have 29% of the book left to read when in fact Kill Shot has just ended. Managing your expectations is something I take very seriously and I understand your frustration. If I was on a plane and I thought I was only two thirds of the way through a book and it abruptly ended I would be very disappointed.
We hear you and we will fix this. We are in the process of taking out the free sample chapters and should have this problem rectified shortly. I appreciate your patience on the matter and I apologize for any disappointment or frustration that it has caused.
Sincerely,
Vince Flynn
That message changed the way I viewed additional content from that point forward. Hey, if it can happen to an author as big as Vince, it can happen to a tiny one like me. I do not add supplemental back matter anymore, rather make it a point to drive readers to my website where they can fall headlong into a rabbit-hole of content if they wish.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse