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RSSTry one on me – Excerpts and Writing Samples
Feb 08
A Writer's Blog Comments Off
One simple and effective way to promote yourself is to offer a free sample of your writing. Excerpts are not only easy to put together, but your more avid readers expect to see one.
Amazon does book previews once your title is available for sale, but you can also do it yourself. If you aren’t familiar with the technical aspects of creating .pdf documents, you might want to talk to someone who is (you can always use the contact form to e-mail me and I’ll do my best to help). However, generally speaking, your digital sample needs to have:
1) An introduction page that clearly states the book title, the author’s name and contact information on how to purchase the book.
3) A 7-10 page sample from your work
2) A concluding page that restates how to buy the book
It’s best to use the professional design that you using in the book’s interior instead of just formatting your excerpt in a Microsoft Word document. The consistent look helps your reader make the connections between the excerpt and the title. Of course, this depends on whether you have access to your book’s files. Once you have your sample put together, you can then link to the digital download from your website and let people know it’s available.
Hopefully, people will get a sense of your writing style and what might be in the book – and intrigued enough to buy it. Want to see what an excerpt might look like? You can download one by clicking on this link. Note, most computers today can unzip a file even if you don’t use specific zip software.
An excerpt isn’t the only way though. You can also create a webpage with the specific intention of writing in the style similar to what is in your book. For instance, idontdozombies.com is a “blog-like” fiction tale that actually takes place between two books. In this case, the blog helps bridge the gap between the original title and its sequel and keep your fans interested and invested while you are crafting your next book. It also gives potential new readers a chance to experience your writing without spending any money.
Finally, another idea that might make sense for you is to give away an entire book. You will need to figure out if it’s a cost effective way to advertise and if you have the resources to distribute the free books. People always appreciate something free, but what are you getting in return? Did they sign up for your mailing list? Did they agree to fill out a survey? Will they buy your next book? A lot of new authors can’t afford to give away their books. It is simply not a viable business plan. However, if you are creative enough, maybe you can find away to give away a book and get something in return.
