Does anyone else feel rather insulted by these ebook "samples"?
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I think Amazon Kindle overdid it with me on my last self-pubbed title. I've got 3.5 chapters up for the "Look Inside" and they're not small chapters. If that's not enough to hook, I don't know what is. My other books have single chapters up.
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Baen put up the first seven chapters of Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Bujold as a sample. Seven!
Great place to cut it off, though.
Great place to cut it off, though.
I'm not bothered about having a huge sample either. Ten pages would be more than enough for me. I'm not generally looking for a hook in the sample. The blurb has already given me an idea of the book's contents and whether I'd be likely to enjoy that. In the sample I want to know if the writing is competent and enjoyable and that there are no deal breakers to put me off. Bad dialogue being about the fastest way to put me off.
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A lot of these things are set by the retailer. I believe Amazon insists on 10% of our books, which is obviously completely useless for picture books (you tend to get the copyright and title page and nothing else.)
I don't see any problem with a sample for a novel being even 50% of the book. I'm not quite sure what the downside would be.
I don't see any problem with a sample for a novel being even 50% of the book. I'm not quite sure what the downside would be.
I like having sample pages to download, but agree that it's frustrating to find a sample that's all front matter. I've been noticing this less lately, but it could just be the books I'm sampling.
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You get shorter samples from shorter works, longer samples from longer works.
To be completely mercenary about it, you can read the first four chapters and most of the fifth of our novel Bad Blood as a free sample here. Or here. Or here.
What I'm doing with the shorter works, where all you see in the "Look inside" is the frontmatter, is putting the first page of text into the description. E.g. Crossover.
To be completely mercenary about it, you can read the first four chapters and most of the fifth of our novel Bad Blood as a free sample here. Or here. Or here.
What I'm doing with the shorter works, where all you see in the "Look inside" is the frontmatter, is putting the first page of text into the description. E.g. Crossover.
It just takes time for change. In the days before there was any way to preview a book online, almost all the extras were put up front. Now, even though it's better for preview purposes for some of it to be moved to the back, people deciding on the layout of books have to catch up to the change. Some have, some haven't, but in time I assume they all will, unless of course the technology changes again, and the retailer can easily determine how to make actual story content available.
Best thing to do would be to contact a particular publisher and let them know the issues with the previewing.
Best thing to do would be to contact a particular publisher and let them know the issues with the previewing.
In a bookstore, I don't need more than 1-3 pages to decide whether the writing's competent and the style appeals to me. So I've had no issues with e-book samples.
And I like looking at the acknowledgments.
And I like looking at the acknowledgments.
I'm not the only one! I've noticed this too, and it makes me so angry! I mean, why offer a free sample if you don't even get to read a sample of the actual story? I'd rather there be no offer of a sample than be misled into thinking I'm actually going to get to the first pages of the story.
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I agree it's irritating when the sample is entirely frontmatter, and I get not wanting to have to hunt all over the internet, but really, just repeating here that it's a good idea to check the author's website. There are often quite long excerpts/samples to be found there. 
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I've noticed with nook books it's highly variable. I've seen samples that are more than a hundred pages, others that are maybe ten. The one trend I have noticed is that the more popular the book is, the smaller the sample. I downloaded the first Wheel of Time sample and didn't even get a full chapter out of it. The result? I haven't bought it and probably won't unless it goes to a nice promo price.
On the other hand, a book that gives me a chapter or two (or more), I'm much more likely to buy. If I start reading a sample and read to the end without realizing it, it's a good bet it's worth my money. I always read the sample before I buy, even from authors I like, because that's the best metric I've found for myself so far with ebooks. All the books I've read on my nook, I can think of only three where this method failed and I ended up not liking the book at all. And one of those was badly mismarketed anyway.
On the other hand, a book that gives me a chapter or two (or more), I'm much more likely to buy. If I start reading a sample and read to the end without realizing it, it's a good bet it's worth my money. I always read the sample before I buy, even from authors I like, because that's the best metric I've found for myself so far with ebooks. All the books I've read on my nook, I can think of only three where this method failed and I ended up not liking the book at all. And one of those was badly mismarketed anyway.
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It's not always the same percentage, though. Wheel of Time books aren't exactly short. One of the ones that had something like a 150 page sample was definitely not significantly longer. If anything it was probably shorter.
ETA: Here's an example. I am using the product details from Barnes and Noble's website for consistency.
The Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold - Total # of pages: 496. # of sample pages: 128
The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time book 1) by Robert Jordan - Total # of pages: 832. # of sample pages: 4 (!? - that doesn't even get you past the ridiculous list of blurbs praising the series!)
ETA: Here's an example. I am using the product details from Barnes and Noble's website for consistency.
The Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold - Total # of pages: 496. # of sample pages: 128
The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time book 1) by Robert Jordan - Total # of pages: 832. # of sample pages: 4 (!? - that doesn't even get you past the ridiculous list of blurbs praising the series!)
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Interesting. With some retailers, you can choose to upload a custom sample rather than rely on a percentage of the book, though it means you have to hand-tool every one. We don't have B&N over here yet, so can't speak to how they do it.
One of the things the publisher should be doing is to check the sample to make sure it isn't all bumf and front matter, and to find ways round it if so. Indeed, that's one of the reasons I like to move all that to the end of the ebook edition.
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I got so irritated with a sample that was ten pages of acknowledgements and copyright infringement warnings that I deleted it from my phone.The last page was the chapter number.
Honestly, it's happened so many times that I order a sample and literally don't get to read one word from the actual story that I no longer bother. If I can't read a page or two on Amazon's "Look inside," I don't buy the book.
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Ok, I've been using my Google-fu to try to look into how Barnes & Noble ebook samples work and so far all I've come up with is that it is based on a % of pages and that the publisher can set what that percentage is. There's more than likely a cap somewhere, but it doesn't appear to be a low one, based on some of the sizes of the samples I've seen.
I've also come across several self-pubbed authors asking for help with the settings on their samples. They'll put down a certain % to include, say, an entire first chapter, and the sample actually shows up as just a few pages instead of an entire chapter. It seems likely that publishers are also running into this issue, but if no one actually checks it on a nook they won't notice the discrepancy, as it comes up properly via the web viewer. So that might explain why The Eye of the World only has a 4 page sample, which includes none of the actual text of the book. Hmm.
I've also come across several self-pubbed authors asking for help with the settings on their samples. They'll put down a certain % to include, say, an entire first chapter, and the sample actually shows up as just a few pages instead of an entire chapter. It seems likely that publishers are also running into this issue, but if no one actually checks it on a nook they won't notice the discrepancy, as it comes up properly via the web viewer. So that might explain why The Eye of the World only has a 4 page sample, which includes none of the actual text of the book. Hmm.
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This sort of thing is certainly a problem. For example, if you check a book in Kindle Previewer, you aren't necessarily going to see exactly what it looks like on a Kindle. And then there are all the other devices to cater for. That's a lot of extra checking to do. I have a drawer at work containing two iPads, a Galaxy Tab, a Kindle 3G, a Kobo, a Sony Reader, a Nook Color, and soon a Kindle Fire - EPUBS render differently on all of them. It's tricky to manage.
I really recommend letting the publisher know when you come across one of these useless samples. It's possible nobody made a conscious decision to do that, or has noticed the problem. Feedback will help everyone improve their offering.
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Yeah, now that I see what's going on I'll be sure to let them know. I've seen this sort of thing in a couple of other samples too. Now I guess I'll have to go back and look to see which ones. I never really thought that it might be a problem until this thread came up, so I just kind of ignored the books that had those exceedingly small samples.
True, I am also a bit peeved by the complete lack of content in some e-book previews. Most of the ones I've read so far from the Kobo bookstore are the first few pages - literally, the page with the copyright and trademark information and the blank padding pages before the first chapter actually begins.
I recall one that was about five pages, but one was the copyright page, three were blank, and the last was the author's disclaimer.
Although, I was amused by the disclaimer. 'Please keep out of reach of miners'
Whenever I think of that, I think of a miner standing in front of a book with all their gear and equipment going 'Challenge accepted'
I recall one that was about five pages, but one was the copyright page, three were blank, and the last was the author's disclaimer.
Although, I was amused by the disclaimer. 'Please keep out of reach of miners'
Whenever I think of that, I think of a miner standing in front of a book with all their gear and equipment going 'Challenge accepted'
Aside from the few pages that may be included like title page and thank you's , it is usually the first two three pages that tells me if I have the will or desire to go on. I think it can be very helpful to determine if you can enjoy the book.
But then sometimes not!
I'm reading a book right now that took off like a rocket then slow down in the middle so its been slow going.
But then sometimes not!
I'm reading a book right now that took off like a rocket then slow down in the middle so its been slow going.
Lately, Kindle has been the first 10% of the book, Nook used to be (Haven't looked in awhile) the first 30%. This is everything from the beginning of the book.
So, if you have a 100 page book, you get 10 pages on Kindle. If the first 8 pages are front matter, you get two pages of story text.
If you have a 350 page book, you get 35 pages on Kindle. If the same 8 pages are front matter, you get 27 pages of story text.
For Nook, use the 30%. If you want your book to show the most possible in a preview, move the front matter to the back of the book.
By the way, this is mentioned in almost every formatting guide out there...
Jeff
So, if you have a 100 page book, you get 10 pages on Kindle. If the first 8 pages are front matter, you get two pages of story text.
If you have a 350 page book, you get 35 pages on Kindle. If the same 8 pages are front matter, you get 27 pages of story text.
For Nook, use the 30%. If you want your book to show the most possible in a preview, move the front matter to the back of the book.
By the way, this is mentioned in almost every formatting guide out there...
Jeff
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