Paperbacks, Back Matter, and Making Sellthrough Easier

First off, I got the letter from Createspace finally and got my paperbacks ported over to Amazon.  It wasn't really all that hard, but there's a little glitch so that when you go to my Author Page and click Paperbacks, the prices are off.  None of my paperbacks should be over $15.99 (actually I think they're all less than that even, but I don't feel like looking).  If you want to buy a paperback and you're only seeing the higher price, contact me and I'll shoot you a good link.

Now, with that out of the way, I'd like to talk to you about another thing I was working on this weekend.  Back Matter.  Or rather, moving my back matter to the front of my books.

It all had to do with that link I posted on Friday.  Part of what he said in that article struck me.  When you're reading on the newer versions of Kindle, and you get to THE END, it automatically shunts you to a page where you can click through to review the book.  So readers aren't actually seeing the back matter of the book.

Well, not unless they're sufficiently motivated to click back and then go forward again.  It can be done, it's just a pain in the ass.  And, as we all know, people don't generally do things they perceive as being a pain in their asses. I know I usually don't go back and look at the back matter once Amazon has shunted me away from it.

The answer?  Put the back matter at the front.  Then leave a single lines with links right after THE END to the next book in the series or to your Author Page (if it's not a series titles) so they can go buy another book, if they're so inclined.

It kinda looks like this:

When a reader finishes one book and goes on to buy the next, it's called Sellthrough.  And thus far, I have sucked at it.  Oh, occasionally I'll get a reader who finds the links and then clicks through to buy another book.  Here and there, I've had KU readers start with one book and read them all.  And thank you to them for putting in the extra effort.  But I don't want it to be an effort.

So, I made it easier for them.

Now, I realize that since Kindle opens my books at the start of the first chapter, people would also have to be inclined to go forward a bit to read stuff like my bio and Copyright Page, etc.  But they don't have to jump back to the book from another site to get there.  And it's all in the Table of Contents, so it will be easy for anyone who wants to find it.

:shrug:  I'm not sure if it'll work, but it's worth a try.  The next time I do a sale, I'll try and chart the Sellthrough.

And hey, it can't hurt.  All it cost me was some time when I could've been watching golf.  ;o)