Simple update and request for feedback. The excerpts page is done for my website and I went with the windows instead of the downloadable file. Let me know what you think by clicking on the picture below and checking it out.
There is the threat of spoilers if you read them, but those that wish to avoid such things can still tell me how the page looks. Thanks in advance.
Capybara
Legends of Windemere 
I love it. The excerpts are great for the first three (which I have read) I passed on the others which I have bought but not read yet.
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Thanks for the help.
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Maybe it just took a minute to load. At first, I was confused because it did not seem to be loading the text. Then I saw a scroll down bar and scrolled down. I like the look of the page. That’s the only thing about how it worked for me though.
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I’ll look into it. Thanks.
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I see what you are trying to do there, Charles, but, for me, it’s too much in your face all at once. No idea where to start once it downloads. Takes an age to download, too (but, then, I am an XP dinosaur, so probably loads quickly enough in your more modern operating systems).
)
I prefer the art of strip tease. Give em the cover, perhaps with a little showy teaser (in the form of the blurb from the back cover alongside) then make em work for it, before the full reveal… hopefully they will then stuff their $$ in your G-string… 🙂 (Took that analogy too far? Right?
Think of the “Look Inside” on Amazon – only without the boring bits… 😉
Hope that helps. (And for heavens sake lose my analogy – one glimpse of your dainty ankle will be too much for even the most battle hardened reader… 😉 )
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The covers and blurbs are in the store page, so I already have those. You do bring up an interesting opinion. Do I even need the excerpts with the other stuff?
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I think more detailed excerpts are always useful. The blurb is more about marketing, the excerpt gives a proper flavour of written style.
Think of when we used to have to go into a bookshop and that time we picked up an author for the first time. The back cover piqued our interest, but no book was ever bought on the strength of that back cover – it was always the “flick through” that got us hooked enough to want to buy! 🙂
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That’s what I was trying with the excerpts. Each one is 600-800 words. An issue might be that there are 6 of them on there and the boxes seem a little clunky. The alternative is to have them as downloadable files, but that seems dangerous.
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Yeah. Probably wouldn’t have downloads. Just break them up a bit.
Again, the bookshop analogy – you wouldn’t necessarily want to flick through every book the author wrote to get a flavour of the one that caught your eye… make sense?
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So I should put only one or two excerpts up there. Maybe switch them every month to keep it fresh?
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Maybe that would be OK. But it kind of glues the pages together of the books that aren’t previewed this month. Not sure what the limitations are, but is a separate preview page not possible for each book? Just a thought.
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I’m only allowed 5 pages and that would lead to an over the top appearance. They’re all part of the same series too.
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OK. How about maintaining the excerpt for the first in the series, with a rolling excerpt on the others?
Is there one which is provides a stronger story hook? Maybe worth keeping that up with the excerpt from the first and roll the others?
Hey! I’m no expert – I’d have been happy with a glimpse of your well turned ankle… 😉
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Eh, the ankle is rather plain. I’ll figure something out. Each book has some strong hooks. Keeping the first up sounds like a good idea though.
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Good luck! 🙂
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Looks great, Charles. I know of a few other authors who are using Scribd as well and they like the fact they can direct their traffic to these pages. In your case, I love how you have a header there and the excerpt. Once you get all the other books in place it’ll look even more inspiring for your audience to purchase your books!
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I actually chopped it down to the first two to avoid the look of clutter that a lot of people were complaining about. I’m going to swap the second book excerpt out for something else next month.
I was wondering about Scribd. It’s part of the Weebly system, so I don’t know anything about it.
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John Grisham uses Scribd to distribute his excerpts, too. You are in good company, my friend!
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Good to know. 🙂
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I agree with windows/pages instead of downloads, but I think it would be cleaner if on the main “Excerpts” page you had links to each one, and had each excerpt on its own individual page.
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I don’t know if we can do that very easily. That would probably require that we post the excerpts to the blog and then have a banner for each one, but we’re trying to keep the two independent as far as information posting.
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So you’re not able to create separate pages on your author website?
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The package I got only allows me 5 pages. To create a page per book means I’d end up having 15 pages at the end of the series. Seems over the top.
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Gotcha. Didn’t know you had a limit. Sorry.
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I’m a moron, I know but there was no link… I’m I missing the bleedin’ obvious? 😉
Cheers
MTM
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Link to the page should be there. Unless something went wrong.
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Doh was looking for a go here statement. Hadn’t clicked the picture. Channelling Homer.
I think it loads a little bit slowly but otherwise it’s good and I enjoyed the excerpts too.
Cheers
MTM
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Thanks. Seems the speed is a constant problem, but there’s nothing I can do about that. Sorry.
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