UPDATE: I have decided to exclude picture “buttons”, as they did not embed in the text. Someone with better skills may be able to advise why, but for now, I have just included the hyperlinks. Also, I chose to include only two – a link to Amazon reviews, and one to my mailing list.
~
As I’d mentioned (read: whined about) before, I have just finished re-editing Shizzle, Inc
Along with the commas, the all-important last page was missing from the ebook. I’ve read countless blogs and testimonials beseeching me not to waste this valuable real estate and finally decided to beseech my readers to leave a review. This is what my last page now looks like:
I have not yet uploaded this new version, so would love to hear what you think. In case you’re interested in how I did the buttons, those are just images with hyperlinks. For additional safety, I’ve added hyperlinked text below the buttons (I’ve read that image hyperlinks don’t always work).
As the text suggests, I will include the first chapter of Indiot after this page, with a hyperlinked “Want to read more?” at the end.
What do you think? Have you seen something else savvy authors do at the end of their books? If so, please don’t be shy – share with everyone!
Thank you, all.
Ana Spoke, author 
Hey, Ana. That’s a good idea! Wish you the best of luck with it. One thing, though… in the sample you give, “installment” is misspelled. Just looking out! : )
LikeLiked by 1 person
Is that British or American? I thought American is one “l”? Oh, and thank you heaps for the attention to detail 🙂
LikeLike
No, us Americans apparently like making it hard on everyone. Two ll’s is the American way… 1 is pretty much everywhere else. (Something I didn’t know until just now, either. I thought two lls was how it was spelled, period. Little did I know!)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for picking that up! You’re so right! Have to remember to get an editor or at least another set of eyes on everything!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looks good, Ana.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Colin 🙂
LikeLike
I’ve been doing this for a while now, Ana. I’ve not seen much come of it, but I agree that it is a terrible waste to not at least make the attempt to garner reviews. I do like the idea of picture links, so perhaps I’ll give that a go. It may make a difference, who knows!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! It would be hard to tell how much comes out of it, but it doesn’t hurt, I agree.
LikeLike
Great job having the excerpt from the next book. If you are writing a series, I consider that a must-have marketing move.
I haven’t seen links like yours but I do know that the Amazon ebooks I have read by traditional publishers always have a “rate and review” page that pops up at the end of the book – along with a list of other suggestions for books I’d like. Do they not offer that option to self-published authors?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Deb. You know what? Ima gonna ask KDP why it is that we don’t get that option! Brb…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi, Deb, I emailed them, and they promptly came back and said that that option is supposed to pop up for all authors, regardless of whethey traditional or self-published. I’m going to download Shizzle, Inc myself and see what happens.
LikeLike
It does come up for every book I’ve gotten from the store. Obviously not for ARCs people send me, though. However, I know that in one case I reviewed right there in the app and it NEVER showed up on that book’s page. So now I never use it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Huh! You should tell KDP about that. I know someone told me they left a review of my book, then realised it wasn’t up, I wonder if they’ve used an app too…so does that mean it’s pointless to add the page asking for reviews, or still a good idea?
LikeLiked by 1 person
My first novel just has a link to the sequel and my mailing list. I’m way more interested in getting them to move on to the next book than I am in getting yet another review.
The sequel novel has this at the end:
“If you enjoyed this novel, please stop by amazon.com, goodreads.com, and librarything.com and leave a review.
For news and updates please sign up at bit.ly/entropy-list”
The short story and novella have this at the end:
“If you enjoyed this story, please stop by amazon.com, goodreads.com, and librarything.com and leave a review.
Joshua Edward Smith has written two novels: Entropy and Duality. If you liked this story, you will probably enjoy those as well. You can find Entropy at mybook.to/entropy.
The first scene of Entropy has been included here. ”
(followed by the first few pages of the novel)
Honestly, I don’t think any of those has resulted in anything. Other than, as I said, a couple more KENP page-reads. In fact, the KENP reports clearly show that people DO at least flip through those back matter pages. They just don’t go on to take any actions.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wait, you didn’t put in a link for the peeps? This is twenty-first century, you can’t expect them to type in a web address, then search for your book! The link to a sign-up list is a great idea. Is it hyperlinked? Do hyperlinks work in Kindle books? I’m going to test mine and report, of course.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I did not include a link for the reviews. Since these are Kindle books, you have to leave the review on the right country’s store, or it’ll be rejected. So you’d need something like mybook.to for review links. Except I don’t think there is such a thing. But if you think about it, you are going to get AT MOST one click out of a reader. And you want that click to be your next book, not a review. If they are reading Indiot, you want them to join your mailing list (so you can tell them about the next book).
Reviews are great, but they don’t matter nearly as much as readers and sales. If people love (or hate) your book, they’ll write a review whether you ask them to or not.
I did include links to the books and the mailing list. Links work if they are reading in a Kindle app, but not if they have an actual Kindle. So it’s important that the link be something really easy to type. I use bit.ly for the mailing list, and mybook.to for the book.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Those are good tips, thank you! I don’t own a Kindle, but maybe I should get one just for testing purposes alone.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looks great!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Johanna! Time will tell if it adds anything.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t know if any author is ever satisfied with the “final” editing. I’ve always wished I had used a different word to convey an action or perhaps the character could have reacted differently in a situation. Keep writing, As with everything, we get better at it with practice. You’re a great writer! Blessings,
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you so much, Ellie 🙂 Couldn’t agree more with the whole “one foot in front of the other” approach.
LikeLike
Brilliant, as always, Ana! You’re such an inspiration. Thanks, and very best wishes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aw, thank you, Donna 🙂 I’m just getting myself together after a sickly week, and you made me smile, thank you for that!
LikeLike
That’s all cool and should work well. I’ve come across the opportunity to read the first chapter of an author’s next novel in the back of a paperback book, but not at the back of a kindle version. My only suggestion is that you place those two review links at the end of the sample chapter too, as people might be so blown away by your excerpt that they will forget to do the review.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Sarah, wouldn’t it be nice if they were blown away, haha! I’d take that over a review 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you’ve finally got all the editing done for Shizzle, now how is Indiot coming along? I like that for the final page. I think that is a standard must for all authors and I like how you have set yours up. To encourage them maybe offer a discount of some sort for leaving a review on a future book? Just a thought. If they click thru and leave review you give 10% or something. I think your IQ must have went up 20 points from all the things you have learned from writing your novels. Must be over 200! Hope your brain doesn’t explode. Keep up the great work. The like buttons are nice but I tried to use it and it wanted my email when I put it in it said it was wrong. So… I won’t be liking anything. Sorry… Have a good time writing and etc!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Olivia 🙂 My brain has been hurting a lot, unfortunately not from all the bubbling knowledge, but from a horrendous cold. Wiped me out for this week, I’m just now getting it together. All I have left on Indiot is the last look-through as suggested by the proofreader, formatting and uploading. Better get on it – Amazon is reminding me every day that it’s due on 5th July!
LikeLike
Pingback: Marketing Matters: that all-important last page of your ebook | Kim's Author Support Blog
Thank you for sharing!
LikeLike
Looks good so far 🙂 I actually haven’t heard of doing this. I think it’s a good idea though. It’ll direct people to do a review so you can get additional feedback. It’s very smart of you to add an excerpt from Indiot after too! It seems like it would make people want to read Indiot and make them ready for more 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope so! Trying every trick in the book, pun intended 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol! Good luck 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think it looks great and including the excerpt from the next book is fantastic. And I’ve been working in marketing for nine years so I’m super brilliant about these things! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha, thank you! If ever you have another brilliant suggestion, I’d love to hear about it!
LikeLike
I’ve seen novels with notes for book clubs at the end. No need to worry about spoilers. The authors suggests several issues from the book that the clubs might want to discuss. Can’t remember any examples, but I’ve seen it when browsing paperbacks.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wow, didn’t even think of that! I don’t have the balls to suggest what bookclubs should discuss 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
The novels I’ve seen only suggest one or two issues close to the author, just to give an insight into their thoughts.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good idea. I always add backmatter with links to ebooks. Good luck!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! For some reason, I could not find much info on what to include, or sample wording.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think readers will only read so much, but it’s a good spot to draw them into a new story with a link to Amazon. If we’ve done our jobs, they’ll head over and try a new book!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve had several reviewers say they’ve wished there was a sequel, so I’m hoping that in the future I could get addicts that would want to inhale a whole series in one setting. I just need to finish that series now 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve been doing the “leave a review” thing in my books, and I’ve never seen any evidence that it works. It’s harmless, though, and if you’re in KU, it’s another half-a-penny you’ll earn. 🙂
You might have seen on my blog that I tried putting the first scene of my first novel in the back matter of my short story, then I ran a free promo to get a couple hundred downloads of the short story. It converted to just one sale. So I’m pretty much convinced both the “teaser sample” and the “first one is free” strategies are wishful thinking that doesn’t actually work. Nonetheless, I put the same sample in my new novella, figuring that there is absolutely NO downside to having lots of back matter. Or, at least, I can’t think of any down side.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha, yes, another half-cent, cha-ching! I’ve managed to sell 28 pre-release copies of Indiot after giving away thousands of copies of Shizzle, Inc, but I will get a proper chance to test the “first one free” theory in just two weeks, when Indiot goes live.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Patterson does it. And if anybody knows book marketing….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Does he ever…
LikeLike
I’ve tried all of the above, too. Have only had 1 or 2 email signups this way for my first book. I just uploaded the final version of my upcoming release yesterday. Derek Murphy of Creativindie — have you heard of him, he’s great– did a blog post about back matter. He also used image links, including taking a screenshot of his Amazon author photo and follow button and then hyperlinking them so readers could follow him on Amazon if for some reason they didn’t want to sign up to his email list. Oh, and he also copied the social share buttons ftom his book’s Amazon page and put those in so people could share straight from the back matter. I put all that in my new book Heart Throbs. Don’t know if it will work but it looks nice! Congrats Ana on your 28 pre-orders!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you 🙂 Those are great ideas! Thank you, I will add all that too!
LikeLike
Pingback: Marketing Matters: that all-important last page of your ebook | YOURS IN STORYTELLING...
Your page looks good.
I once added buttons to encourage reviews. I now make the mailing list the priority. If you make too many requests at once, you tend to overload the reader, (professional advertising industry advice) and they make fewer decisions to follow on. I want sign ups.
You also cannot put in a link to an Amazon service if you are selling at Apple, and the reverse.
Your sample looks great, and I’m all for trying different ways to do things.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Ryn! That’s a good point about too many requests – I don’t care about Goodreads, so I’m thinking a mailing list signup and Amazin review.
LikeLike
Anna I have decided to have my book edited like you to try and iron out the glutches. I am struggling to decide the kind of edit I need and wondered what you went for and why? I think I need a content edit but the first editor to respond offered an editorial assessment. Would be glad to learn from you. Sam
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi, Sam, glad to hear you’re getting some help! What do you men by “content edit@ – a structural review? Or a line edit? If you are at the beginning of editing, I would recommend getting beta-reads by a few people that don’t know you personally, but read a lot and in your genre.
LikeLike
Ah marketing, the aspect of writing books I wish could be ignored. : ) Adding links is something I learned how to add for my newest book. There are so many ways to market that it can be overwhelming. I figure, as long as I am trying new things, and doing something, I am making progress. Congratulations on your book!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Melanie. Keep going, all those steps do add up, I think. Keep pushing that snowball 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, hopefully it takes off down the hill growing in momentum and size. : )
LikeLiked by 1 person