Why no preview feature for many ebooks?

juniper

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I've been looking at ebooks lately, at different sites such as Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, small publishers.

What I like most about Smashwords is their "download a sample" feature, available in many formats. If I'm browsing on the computer I can even view it as html. And Amazon has their "look inside" feature for a few of their titles.

To me, this is similar to browsing in a physical bookstore. See something that looks promising, read the first page, leaf through it some, then decide yea or nay. Buy or put it back.

I'm wondering why so many ebooks don't have that feature. I was looking at a small pub site just now and none of them have it, apparently. The price of the book I was looking at is $5.99. There's a short blurb about the plot but no indication of the writing style.

Another well-established (5 years, many offerings) epub offers a short sample of a $5.99 novel, but just 12 little paragraphs, all dialogue. Nothing to show narrative style.

Am I tempted to buy either of those? Nope. Can't imagine most people would be, either, unless they had previous experience with the author. And there's no notes on the author, either - what else she'd written etc.

Is it expensive or technologically difficult to offer "read several pages here?"
 

Deleted member 42

I
Is it expensive or technologically difficult to offer "read several pages here?"

Depending on the way the site is built, it can be a technological challenge.

But it's hardly insurmountable.
 

JC Miller

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They don't have a "look inside" on ebooks, but they do have a free sample that can be downloaded. It is on the right hand side of the page below where you would buy it. If you don't own a Kindle, you can download the Kindle app free to a number of different devices. Hope this helps. :)
 

thothguard51

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I don't think Juniper was talking about Kindle exclusively.

Yes, there is a look inside feature for the Kindle, but not all books on Kindle offer this feature. I have browsed and passed on many ebooks on Kindle that did not offer this feature.

For other sites, which I think is what Juniper is talking about, I have seen many not offer a look inside sample but yet if you go to the Amazon Kindle page for the same book, it will have the sample feature, sometimes.

Very confusing on why a e-publisher would not offer this sample feature on their own site. Too me, it does not seem like the publisher is very confident of their product...

My take - - - Buyer Beware...
 

JC Miller

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Oh...sorry. I'm new to this world. I am only on Kindle and Pubit so think only in those terms.
 
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Yeah, all of the major retailers offer samples. The minor ones who don't are probably not even worth putting your stuff on. They're not going to make many sales.

Sampling is becoming a normal, natural part of buying books. You sample, and if you like the writing you buy. I think this will remain a dominant part of ebook buying for the foreseeable future.
 
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Downloading free samples is one of the major advantages of e-readers, I think -- I always enjoyed browsing at book stores, but this is even better, because I can download fifty samples and read them at a sidewalk café with a cappuccino.

I also count on the free download to sell my book when I publish it -- if people can read the first few chapters, they're much more likely to buy the book, if the price is right. The big issue is to get people to download your sample -- they have to know the sample is out there to be sampled...