[Bob Mayer]

Definitely going to do some of the things he suggested.
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/06/your-second-storefront.html

 

[Will Write for Gruel]

Funny that he says move the copyright notice to the end of the book. I wonder why it's never been done that way in print?

 

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Thanks. Good idea about the description in the front.

 

[Joel Arnold]

That sounds like a good idea - also heard that it's good to put some positive reviews in the beginning of your ebook.

 

[Todd Russell]

That sounds like a good idea - also heard that it's good to put some positive reviews in the beginning of your ebook.

I've seen many readers say the exact opposite. They say it's taking up valuable sample space. Instead of getting the content of the book, they are being force fed a bunch of advertorials about the book. They want to read the book and make their own determination how great (or not) it is.

Although if we use trad pub books that's what you see them doing. Putting pages and pages of glowing blurbs in the front after the copyright page and the acknowledgement page and the dedication page and .... I can see there is a tipping point for readers with too much non-story.

The good news is that most ebooks open up to the beginning of the story

 

[Nathan Lowell]

As an avid Kindle reader, I like quick links to other books by the author (or a quick blurb if it's not just the next book in the series) and their website/way to contact. I don't like excerpts (readers really split on this one).

For front of the book, hmmm. First, you'd have to make sure that's what the Kindle actually opened to (it tends to skip the copyright pages, etc. and just open at the first page of the first chapter. I'm not sure it would increase the likelihood I would read your book, since I have to click into it to read the description, and by then I've probably already decided that's the book I'm reading next.

I'm curious how other people pick from what is already on their Kindles (mine has a reasonably short list of books - <50, and piles of samples).

Interesting stuff to think about!

I'm with you on this. I may be an outlier in that I know exactly what books are on my kindle and what stage of reading they're in. I have folders for them. "Samples to be read," "Texts," and "Fiction."

When I'm reading a book, I move it to the front. When I'm done, I remove it from the device. I go to my "STBR" pile and pick one I like the looks of. If I get to the "buy me" link at the end, I buy it and keep going. If I stop, I delete the sample and move on.

There are about nine books in my STBR folder at the moment. Three in my "Fiction" and I'm reading one novel and one text so they're both in my main folder.

Years of trying to keep my computer files in order made me organize my kindle too.

Yeah. I'm a nerd.

 

[Pearson Moore]

Definitely useful information in that article.  I bought a place in line at BookRooster.com.

 

[kCopeseeley]

For front of the book, hmmm. First, you'd have to make sure that's what the Kindle actually opened to (it tends to skip the copyright pages, etc. and just open at the first page of the first chapter. I'm not sure it would increase the likelihood I would read your book, since I have to click into it to read the description, and by then I've probably already decided that's the book I'm reading next.

Yes, this. Maybe my Kindle is different, but it goes straight to the first chapter of anything. It's really irritating because I have a beautiful world map in Compis, and it skips right past it!

Now, my ibooks, on the other hand, they show you everything, starting from the beginning. (maybe there's a setting to change that, not sure)

 

[Anne Victory]

I think it's pretty sound advice.

 

[daringnovelist]

Funny that he says move the copyright notice to the end of the book. I wonder why it's never been done that way in print?

I've always kept my copyright notice to a minimum. On Smashwords, they want you to put in that antipiracy notice, but I prefer to just have a single line copyright notice after title and byline.

I have thought a LOT about including a blurb at the beginning of the book. It really does make sense. It would have to be short and punchy, but I think it's a great idea.

For short story collections I let the subtitle be description ("Five Short Mysteries") and sometimes put mini-blurbs in the TOC. The TOC does act as a book description as well.

Camille

Camille