Benjamin Clayborne
Auror
I'm curious what thoughts people have on how long a sample should be when publishing electronically, e.g. on the Kindle store. Imagine a book in that's 30 chapters. If the sample is 1 chapter, that seems totally reasonable, right? Try the first chapter, if you want to keep reading, go for it. The rest of the book is $3.99.
What if the sample is now 3 chapters? Might hook you longer, maybe make the reader more likely to buy the story, assuming it's good enough to hold your attention. The rest of the book is still $3.99.
What if the sample is 15 chapters? Half the book? That seems kind of weird, but look at it from a cost-benefit POV: as a reader, you get half a book for free! Of course, the other half still costs the same: $3.99.
Now let's up the sample to 25 chapters, the first 5/6 of the book. Oddly enough, even though the full book still costs $3.99, I think most readers would perceive this to be extortion: If you want to know how it ends, cough up the dough!
I'm trying to figure out how much of my novel I'm going to put into the sample. Maybe the first 5 chapters, since that introduces all the main characters (plus prologue). Or maybe just the first 3 chapters (prologue + 2). I would think that since the purpose of a sample is to get the user hooked, you'd want to have it be long enough to get the user attached to the characters, and end on a cliffhanger, but not so long that it feels strange, as above.
Thoughts?
What if the sample is now 3 chapters? Might hook you longer, maybe make the reader more likely to buy the story, assuming it's good enough to hold your attention. The rest of the book is still $3.99.
What if the sample is 15 chapters? Half the book? That seems kind of weird, but look at it from a cost-benefit POV: as a reader, you get half a book for free! Of course, the other half still costs the same: $3.99.
Now let's up the sample to 25 chapters, the first 5/6 of the book. Oddly enough, even though the full book still costs $3.99, I think most readers would perceive this to be extortion: If you want to know how it ends, cough up the dough!
I'm trying to figure out how much of my novel I'm going to put into the sample. Maybe the first 5 chapters, since that introduces all the main characters (plus prologue). Or maybe just the first 3 chapters (prologue + 2). I would think that since the purpose of a sample is to get the user hooked, you'd want to have it be long enough to get the user attached to the characters, and end on a cliffhanger, but not so long that it feels strange, as above.
Thoughts?