Don’t kill book sales dead with a less than enticing “look inside” sample.
by Anne R. Allen
I never have as much time to read as I think I will, and my trusty old Kindle is pretty loaded up. So I’m a picky book-buyer. Unfortunately, there are a lot of readers like me out here, and you don’t want to lose us.
I’m often intrigued by a book’s cover and blurb, and sometimes a glowing review on Facebook or a book blog will send me to a buy page.
But I never buy without checking out the “LOOK INSIDE!” On most retail sites, that’s 10% of the book—which anybody can read free.
That “LOOK INSIDE” freebie is your most important book sales tool.
Make sure it’s going to snag readers, not kill book sales just as you’re about to close the deal.
With many books—not only self-published, but trad-pubbed as well—the first few pages will stop the sale for me.
I admit my objections are subjective. I’m a grammar freak, so a misplaced apostrophe or verb/object disagreement will stop me. I know not everybody is such a stickler. But I think all readers want to see that a book looks professional and polished. They don’t want to invest time in a book—even if it’s free—unless they feel they’re in competent hands.
And unless they’re deliberately choosing a classic from another era, they also want something that’s written for today’s reader, especially if it’s an e-book that’s going to be read on an e-reader, phone or tablet. I think old fashioned paper books may still be savored a bit more slowly.
Maybe it’s that percentage line at the bottom of the Kindle screen that keeps the ebook reader zooming along.
Here are some things to keep in mind to snag those LOOK INSIDE-ers:
How to Make Sure your Book Will Pass the “LOOK INSIDE!” Test
1) Consider Chapter Titles
The first thing the reader sees when he hits LOOK INSIDE is your “Table of Contents” (UPDATE: We used to be able to put the ToC at the end of an ebook, but that was banned by Amazon with the advent of Kindle Unlimited. That’s because some writers were using enticing end matter to game KU so it appeared someone had read a whole book, when they’d only checked out the end matter.)
Why waste your first four pages with Chapters titled:
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Etc?
You might consider going back to the old-fashioned device of text in chapter titles. Yes. I know they’ve been out of fashion for a century or so. But ebooks are bringing them back.
You don’t have to go all 18th Century and write:
“Chapter the Tenth, In Which Our Intrepid Hero Encounters Several Not Terribly Nice Ladies, Some Very Strong Spirits and a Face Full of Gravel, as he Searches for his Long-Lost Brother Murgatroyd, and their Father, who May or May Not be Lord Mayor of London.”
But modern chapter titles can give an idea of the action to come.
Chapter titles can also be a major sales tool. Here are the first four chapters of my rom-com mystery The Best Revenge
- The Color of Fresh Money
- Debutante of the Year
- Something in the Woods
- King of the Chickenburgers
You know there’s something weird going on with rich people, and it’s probably funny. Isn’t that more informative than a list of numbers?
So get creative! Have fun with it. This is the return of a fun creative writing device. Give your readers an enticing tease to keep them reading.
2) Offer Immediate Conflict or a Voice that Engages Readers’ Emotions.
21st century novelists can’t use the first chapter or prologue for exposition the way classic novels did. We need to start the story right away. That means CONFLICT.
“Conflict” doesn’t mean plunging us into the middle of a battle scene. In fact that’s a bad idea, because you’ll present us with chaos where we have nobody to follow or root for.
What the reader wants is emotional conflict. Something has to trigger strong emotion in the character—emotion the reader identifies with.
The conflict can come from something as simple as an author getting a mean review on Amazon, which is how I open So Much for Buckingham. Camilla’s clueless response to a nonsensical review is the inciting incident for the entire series of catastrophes that ensue.
Another emotional response you can trigger is laughter. Bring readers in with something funny, and you’ve got them. Carl Hiaasen is the master of the funny thriller opener. His recent, Razor Girl, starts: “On the first day of February, sunny, but cold as frog’s balls…”
A humorous voice like that can close a sale with the first line.
3) Put the Pivotal Action ON THE PAGE
You grab the reader when the inciting incident happens on the page rather than in the protagonist’s head.
No matter how many battles or car crashes or scenes of abuse your character is musing about, if the main action is happening in his head while he’s driving to work, lying in a hospital, or attending a funeral, you’re not going to entice your reader in the same way you can when the action is on the page.
That doesn’t mean we can’t offer some backstory in the character’s head somewhere in the first chapter. A reader needs some context. But we also want action, too. Even when the action is as simple as writing an angry response to a review.
4) Introduce the Protagonist as Close to Page One as Possible
Tell us who your main character is, what they want and why they can’t have it. Make us care about the major storyline of the book right away.
A pet peeve of mine is when the first point-of-view character you meet gets whacked at the end of chapter one. I’m just getting to know this person and now he’s history. I’m sent back to square one, like in a game of chutes and ladders.
A dream sequence does the same thing in an opener. The reader gets all involved in a drama and then finds out it never happened.
I know that battle between the spaceman and the dinosaur on page one is really exciting, and might make somebody turn the page. But when the reader sees on page two that it’s only a dream in the head of 5-year old Evan, who can’t decide if he wants spacemen or dinosaurs on his birthday cake…you just lost the spaceman vs. dinosaur-fight audience.
Plus that opener probably won’t intrigue the women’s fiction readers who would enjoy reading about Evan’s Aunt Caitlin the cake-baker, who is the actual protagonist.
Readers don’t want to have to start all over again with another set of characters after that exciting first chapter.
5) Present Several—But Not Too Many—Characters Right Away.
Starting with one person musing is a snooze unless you’re a super-gifted storyteller. But most of us will do better to write several people into a scene. Readers prefer scenes and dialogue (although not too much dialogue. I’ll be writing about that in a week or two.)
There’s a reason Robert Redford’s 2013 guy-on-a-sinking-boat film, All is Lost, isn’t one of his most popular. As Mick LaSalle of the SF Chronicle said. “Even Redford bailing water for 106 minutes can be a bit much.”
We like to see people interacting with each other. Most stories involve human interaction. One guy alone on a boat has to be at least as interesting as Robert Redford.
On the other hand, a cast of thousands will overwhelm the reader. Give us two, three or four characters who have interesting quirks and one we can really care about.
6) Unbury Your Dialogue
Remember the potential buyer is probably skimming. That means it helps to start a paragraph with dialogue instead of the accompanying action.
How do you do that?
Here’s a scene from the original 2005 Babash-Ryan UK version of The Best Revenge:
Mr. Kahn’s voice got louder. “Why are you working for me? It’s obviously not the money. Eight hundred dollars a month is pocket change for somebody like you. “Is it revenge, Ms. Randall? Wasn’t blacklisting me enough for you? Is that angelic face hiding the soul of a vindictive bitch?” His eyes flashed icy blue.
This last speech had an odd effect on Camilla. She stopped wishing for the floor to swallow her up. Taking a deep breath, she drew on her mother’s most powerful weapons: a steady smile, and a slow, calm voice. “Mr. Kahn, I do not intend to get into a contest of bad manners with you. Bad manners are obviously your field of expertise, not mine.”
Here’s the new version:
“Why are you working for me?” Mr. Kahn’s voice got louder. “It’s obviously not the money. Eight hundred dollars a month is pocket change for somebody like you.”
His eyes flashed icy blue
“Is it revenge, Ms. Randall? Wasn’t blacklisting me enough for you? Is that angelic face hiding the soul of a vindictive bitch?”
This last speech had an odd effect on Camilla. She stopped wishing for the floor to swallow her up. Taking a deep breath, she drew on her mother’s most powerful weapons: a steady smile, and a slow, calm voice.
“Mr. Kahn, I do not intend to get into a contest of bad manners with you. Bad manners are obviously your field of expertise, not mine.”
See how the eye is drawn through the scene?
7) Break up your story into short chapters with hooky endings.
I love to see several chapters in an opener, especially if different chapters present different points of view.
And if each chapter ends with something to keep you wanting to know what happened—you’ve probably hooked a buyer.
Here’s a fantastic guest post from Jessica Bell on how to write chapter endings that keep them turning the pages.
8) Make every word of dialogue count
“Hi Aiden.”
“Hi Connor.”
“What you doing?”
“Nothing much.”
Um, no. Beginners write dialogue the way it really sounds. The pros have learned how to put in just the good stuff.
9) Avoid Tired Openers or Give them a New Twist
As I said, I read a lot, so I’ve seen some things so often I get a case of the yawns when they show up. The problem with great ideas is a whole bunch of people have probably had the same great idea already.
If readers have been there/seen that a million times, they’re not likely to keep reading—unless you can provide a spectacular twist to the same-old, same-old.
A person sitting alone on a train musing—old, boring cliché.
A person sitting alone on a train, drinking lots of alcohol, making up creepy stories about the people she sees from the window every day—and you’ve got The Girl on the Train. A fantastic twist on an old trope.
So it’s not that every clichéd opener will stop a sale, but a new way of looking at the cliché may just make the sale.
The most common opener is the “alarm clock” scene—your protagonist wakes up and prepares for his day. It’s the favorite cliché of all beginning storytellers, whether short story, novel, or script. Here’s a hilarious video from the comedians at Script Cops. They say, “78 % of all student films start with an alarm clock going off.”
Here’s a list of clichéd openings that are past their sell-by date.
I’m NOT saying you can’t use them. (And remember I’m offering guidelines, not rules.) Just present this stuff in a fresh new way.
Like Carl Hiaasen’s opener in #2 above. A weather report is tired and boring. But “cold as frog’s balls” makes it fresh.
10) Don’t Paint a Picture, Sketch.
In the age of instant media, descriptive passages are mostly for the author (and our inner poet), not the reader. If you want to set firmly in your mind every architectural detail of the Victorian bed and breakfast your heroine has inherited—by all means write it all down.
Just don’t put it in your final draft. Give us just enough antimacassars and mahogany wainscoting to establish atmosphere, but don’t let them get in the way of the story.
At least not in the first 10% that’s going to be seen in the LOOK INSIDE.
by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen) January 14, 2018
What about you, scriveners? What kills book sales for you? Do you have a pet peeve you do not want to see when you “LOOK INSIDE!” What are the hardest opener cliches for you to avoid as a writer?
Note: On Sunday, January 14, after this post goes up, I’ll be away from the computer for a few hours, but I will get to your comments soon. Thanks for commenting!
On Monday, January 15th, I’ll be visiting FICTION UNIVERSITY. I’ll be talking about how fiction authors can benefit from blogging.
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Excellent advice! I survived the slush pile and all the no-no’s Anne mentions here also got an automatic rejection way back when. Lot of coffee rings on the pages didn’t help, either, but no worry in the age of epub. 😉
Ruth–We all learned a lot from the slush pile in the old days. I found some of those manuscripts with the coffee rings recently. Had a bonfire. 🙂
I didn’t in my first book, but my other three did start off with dialogue or a message. Or a snarky thought!
The ones with a really long table of contents drive me nuts. Often, by the time I get to chapter one, there is only room for the first page before the sample ends. That tells me nothing.
Alex–Exactly! They’ve thrown away their best free advertising on a list of numbers. Not the smartest way to market your book!
I used to do nice, short little chapter headings. If I write another book, I’ll think about that again.
Louis–They turn out to be a great marketing tool in the era of “Look Inside”. And they’re fun to write, aren’t they?
Gosh how marvelous! All this time spent on writing and you still floored me with this reminder about the Look Inside feature. Here I think of myself as a careful writer and editor, but you’re absolutely right- especially with the strength of the Zon nowadays, it’s the digital equivalent of taking the book off the rack and riffing the first few pages.
The folks over at Writer Unboxed run the “Flog a Pro” column about once a month and it’s eye-opening to see how a bestselling author’s first page, when anonymized, comes down to earth!
And of course our colleague Jefferson Smith has really set the standard for this with his tough-love “Immerse or Die” challenge. I heartily recommend both for anyone concerned about how their tale starts out (Flog a Pro is touch football, but IoD more like the pros… with no pads!).
Will–Thanks for the recommendations! I didn’t know about Flog a Pro or Immerse or Die. I must check them out!
You definitively have a knack for teaching, Anne =)
Your suggestions are all pretty useful. In particular, I especially appreciated the ones about chapter titles and conflict.
I still remember when I read for the first time The Lord of the Rings. I must have read the titles of the chapters dozens of times. In particular I remember very well how eager I was to get to “The Black Gate Opens”
Instead, about conflict I think you make it perfectly clear the difference between conflict and chaos. This is not to say in media res isn’t a viable way to start a story. Only that we should know perfectly well what we are doing. =)
Peter–Thanks! I think “in media res” is misunderstood. It means “no alarm clock openers” but it doesn’t mean “in the middle of the battle.” As you say, conflict, but not chaos.
What kills a book for me? Not enough setting description, which is a huge change for me. I never noticed before if there wasn’t enough. Last year, a writer recommended a book. It was spec fiction with action, so I thought “Cool” and bought it without reading the the Look Inside. I got two Kindle pages in and abandoned the book because of a lack of any kind of setting. It was in a mine. It didn’t say if it was a gold mine or a crumbling mine or a hot mine, or anything. The character didn’t even duck his head to get through it or smell the dust or the mildew. Without those “telling details,” the book was a pass.
Linda–I agree! Sci Fi, Fantasy or Spec Fic with no description can be soooo annoying. You’re going–Where? Why? When? Are we in the future? Past? In alternative reality? On another planet? If you don’t know anything about what the characters are dealing with, you don’t care.
Ray Bradbury’s “2 B R 0 2 B” is a good example of a sci fi short story that tells you all you need to know about time setting, etc,. in few words. It’s even more of a challenge in a short story.
Sorry, that story was written by Kurt Vonnegut, not Ray Bradbury. That fact just now popped into my brain as I was reading the news and thinking, “What if I could write a story sort of like 2 B R 0 2 B to satirize the…” And all of a sudden
I realized I’d misattributed it here! Hard to do, considering I’d read it very recently, and Vonnegut went to my H.S. (decades before me, of course.) We even bought all our hardware needs at his family’s store, “Vonnegut’s”, 2 blocks down the street from my childhood home.
Sorry, Kurt.
Tricia–Thanks for the clarification. I thought it was Vonnegut, since I’m a huge Vonnegut fan, and I was pretty sure I’d read it, but I didn’t have time to check. Bradbury tends to more lyrical writing, but Vonnegut perfected minimalist prose. That story, first published in 1962, is out of copyright and available from Project Gutenberg. http://bit.ly/2DoRiUt for anybody who would like to check it out.
Love your list. I like chapter titles instead of numbers but that’s just me. And I despise dream sequences in novels and even in movies or TV. I see the alarm clock opening in so many manuscripts I’ve been asked to read and so many new writers don’t like to hear that it isn’t a good way to start.
Susan–It’s amazing how many new writers love the alarm clock opener.. They’ve read it so often they think it’s kind of “standard.” But they don’t realize that “standard” quickly becomes “cliche.”
must…sketch…descriptions…pulling back…so hard ????
Interesting about the chapter titles. I can see how that would be intriguing.
H. R. I love chapter titles, but several of my editors “cured” me of them since they’re so old fashioned. Then I realized how cool they are in the Look Inside. 🙂
Descriptions can vary enormously. As Linda mentioned above, in Sci Fi, Fantasy, Spec Fic and other heavy-world building stories you need more. Or for literary fiction. But we do need a careful editor.
I do write fantasy, and I love the old-school descriptions, but I know it’s too easy to get carried away writing them. 😉
Anne, your list is exactly what I teach my students in my classes. It’s so critical in this digital, short-attention-span era. My motto? Write what you want to say in the way readers need to hear it.
Only caveat on those creative chapter titles: they work in the “look inside” for e-books, but don’t for the actual reading. Most readers, when immersed in the story, simply skip over them. That could be a lot of work for little return, but it makes sense for the “look inside” of e-books.
What really turns me off when searching inside an e-book, is all the “front matter” before the story starts: i.e., testimonials about the book, dedication, acknowledgments, list of other publications, even an author’s note. That should all go in the back of an e-book.
The worst book I ever got? One where the first chapter (the first 10%) was the ONLY portion of the book that had been edited. No typos, no grammatical problems, great writing. Then the rest of the book read as though it was a first draft that hadn’t even been re-read at all, much less edited. At least 5 or 6 problems on EVERY PAGE (and on an iPad using the double page format, those are small pages!). Guess which writer I’ll never read again???
Susan–I can’t believe I missed your great comment here. So here I am a month late. 🙁
I agree that all that boring stuff should go in the back of the book, not the front matter. And the endorsements and blurbitude can go in the “product description” on the retail site. Once people open the book, they want story, not sales pitches.
I’ve run into those “system gamers” too. They apparently only pay to have the first 10% edited and leave the rest of the book basically in first draft. I can’t wait to delete those books from my Kindle. And yes–no return customers for that author. What a self-sabotaging thing to do!
Thanks, Anne. I’m actually surprised I haven’t run into one of those 10% scammers before; I read tons on my Kindle, at least 3 books a week. Guess I’ve just been lucky so far… I can’t imagine not having my mms vetted six ways til Sunday – every page of it – before putting it in front of a reading audience. Self sabotaging is right!
Susan–The “Kindle Gold Rush” created a whole lot of scammers. They’re finding more devious ways to game the system all the time. It gives all self-publishers a bad name.
I think this is one of your best posts ever, Anne! I thought I knew everything about openings, but that first 10% free read brought something new to me. Never thought about using chapter subtitles in such a clever way. Bravo!
Melodie–Thanks! Chapter titles are really fun for humor writers. 🙂
So many good tips… so much to learn! Thanks 🙂
Jemima–I’m so glad to hear it helps!
I think I have to say the ‘too many characters at once’ thing gets my goat. It’s one reason why I can only watch Agatha Christie and not read it – she introduces tons of characters and I forget who’s who! If I can’t remember who anyone is then I don’t know who to root for.
Icy–Good point!! Much as I love Dame Agatha, meeting all the Colonels and Lady Whatsis and dotty old dears all at once can be so confusing. I often have to flip back and forth in the story to find out who these people are and why I’m supposed to care.
At least as bad is a writing gaffe that many newbies commit these days: having characters with names that are way too similar. John Yeoman recommended avoiding giving characters names that begin with the same first letter.
Great advice– especially about the Chapter titles. I understood that Amazon consider Chapters at the end of the book as a “No No”.
Carol–You are absolutely right! I forgot that KU gamers caused the Zon to change the rules about the ToC. I need to note that in the text. Many thanks!
Hey Anne,
You know, I had to check but it looks like the Zon has changed things on the ‘look inside’ feature. Because now, it passes all the front matter and goes straight to chapter one or the prologue. I’ve been getting a lot of books lately on Amazon and had just noticed this.
Anyway, what kills a book for me? Overly passive language, flowery narrative, and language that tries too hard to be clever. Like: ‘he tapped his right index finger on his denim-clad knee, thinking that the sky reminded him of the black ink that spilled from his fountain pen, while composing his letter to Jane the night before.’
Or those ‘first sentences’ that are a paragraph long. I want the writer to orient me and put me into the story without having to prove how clever they are first.
Also those ‘we’re in the middle of a car crash, car chase, tornado, hurricane, or tornado’ openings where you have no idea who anyone is. I guess that’s weather, right?
The thing that is hard for me to avoid is the internal dialogue of the MC but I’m getting better about that.
The thing about openings, I think, is that they should telegraph at least in a subtle way the adventure you’re about to take the reader on. If they don’t, the reader won’t bite. No matter how lyrical your prose.
Good post.
Thanks!
Annie
Annie–I agree. That “show-offy” kind of language can be a real turnoff when it stalls the storytelling. It takes a very skilled writer to get the right balance between description and story, and usually it’s best to err on the side of less description and more story.
I think what you’re talking about is the people who confuse conflict with chaos, as Peter Rey mentioned above. Chaos is not good for starting a novel. 🙂
Yes, pretty much all beginners put backstory in the MC’s head in the opener. It’s hard to avoid, but it gets easier.
oh yes! I love seeing a wholehearted ebook presentation! Chapter names that tease, allowing me to immediately be faced with a choice — love it!
On #3, I call this the reflective swamp. I don’t want to meet the MC through his/her thinking back on how they got ‘here’, wherever that is… I don’t like wading through explanations, wonderings, and second-guesses when I haven’t been given anything to care about! I don’t mind if an author intros an MC by having them be in a tight spot right away, and then having several quickie reflective thoughts, as in: Why did I buy that girl/guy a drink? or Coulda just driven on by…
I enjoy an ebood that gives me the same type of experience as checking out a hardback: think about the title, engage with the cover art, read the end flaps (synopsis & author bio), then flip through to the first chapter. If you don’t give me reason to read on by the second paragraph, I’m gone.
Keeping in mind though, an author can do a great job, but I won’t find that the actual book matches the blurbs, etc. Hate backcover blurbs that sound like your mind will explode with excitement if you read the book, and then the actual book material starts with a long description of the space station’s school, where the teens learn about….blah blah blah
As an editor, I’m a horrible book customer, not because I look for faults or mistakes, that happens to the best of us, but because I-want-to-be-entertained. Don’t tell me I’ll be excited — excite me!
Thanks for another great post, Anne. This one goes in the file…
Maria D’Marco
See? Everyone types too fast — and reads ‘eboods’…
I love me so me eboods, Maria!
Maria–When I was working as an editor, I almost gave up reading for fun. I found myself mentally editing Faulkner, Dickens, Virginia Wolf, etc. It’s hard to take off the editor’s hat, isn’t it?
“The Reflective Swamp” is a fantastic way to describe that whole syndrome. Brilliant! I hope you don’t mind if I steal it. I promise I’ll credit you!
So true, Maria. One shortcoming of e-books (don’t get me wrong, I read tons of e-books) is that you don’t have the title and the author’s name nearly as easily visible as in a print book. Every time you look at a print book you see the title and the author’s name! It’s awfully easy to forget otherwise. I think that works against the interests of both author and reader.
Great advice. It is a shame how little time we give books these days. But we all do it. I love writing and reading interesting chapter titles. They bring me in. Thanks again!
Christine–Aren’t titles fun to write? And they do draw me into a book.
Excellent advice, as usual. Thanks. Some day (there’s a song about that) I’ll actually be able to take advantage of this advice.
CS–No matter what stage you’re at re: publication, a lot of these are good to keep in mind. And chapter titles are just fun to write, whether your editor ends up liking them or not. 🙂
Anne, such a lot of wisdom in so few words! Thank you.
I love that chapter titles aren’t no-no’s any longer (at least, until they are again, lol.). I’ve always loved reading them. Are there any genres where chapter titles are not recommended?
I needed reminding that emotional conflict is a ‘legitimate’ type of conflict. It’s the main kind of conflict in my short stories, so that makes me happy.
I agree with the poster who mentioned the importance of the synopsis. I often skip the ‘look inside’, but a synopsis can make or break my eagerness to read the book. If that blurb isn’t well-written, I figure the book surely won’t be!
Tricia–I don’t know of any genres that forbid chapter headings. They have been out of style for a long time in genre fiction, but why not set a trend?
The difference between the synopsis or “product description” as Amazon calls it, is that it is often written by the publisher or a hired editor. Only the Look Inside is pretty much guaranteed to be written by the author. So a good synopsis doesn’t guarantee a good story.
I love the 10% or 20% of the LOOK INSIDE feature, and I mark that I want my books that way, but they don’t always show up on Amazon that way. Very frustrating.
Stacy–Retailers are amazingly quirky about the Look Inside. Some don’t offer them at all. So yes, I agree. It can be very frustrating for readers.
Huh, love your blogs but this one left me a but disheartened, sort of like ballet class when teacher positions you: head up, neck stretched, back straight, look up, firm legs and arms.. good, now dance! 🙂 To me, I don’t have any particular tell signs to take or leave the book, I read all different stuff and yes, insight is important, I tend to read first chapter, oppen somewhere in the middle, and near the end (I don’t like to ruin very end if I do choose book) and if I like it I do, if not I don’t. It’s the authors soul that speaks to me, so what if it starts with alarm clock, most of my days do.. and they can turn into pretty interesting stories. We are all different and I write as I feel, it will be liked or not… I can not change my story or style to fit someone’s expectations. Because everyone has different expectations, and that is good, because everyone has a different story. I just see love spreading where it needs to spread. There will always be people who like new and polished, those who will love old same and messy, and all in between. For aspiring authors: just be yourself, because what people don’t like is to read soulless, written by following too many rules and not your passion books. Put your heart in it, all else will follow.
Vanja–Alas, the “Look Inside” of an ebook doesn’t allow you to look at the middle or end of the book–just the first couple of chapters. That’s why it’s best not to fill them up with chapter numbers or other front matter.
I always say the first draft of a book is for the writer and the final draft is for the reader. Let your muse spill out whatever it wants when you’re writing that first draft, and later (with the help of beta readers and an editor) you can work on shaping it into something another person might like to pay money to read.
This post is for authors who are at the publication stage, but if you’re just beginning, or you’re not writing for publication, none of this applies.
I’ve gone back and forth on whether to use chapter titles, but you’ve convinced me. Thanks!
Dan–I’m glad I’ve won you over. Chapter titles are fun to write and they give readers a great teaser for each chapter.
This is a fantastic post. I try to use these when writing. They’re highly valuable. Thank you so much.
Patricia–Thanks! I’m glad this is helpful.
Thanks for this post. Good points that I’ve saved for when I publish. When I look for a book, I ignore the cover since it rarely has anything to do with the contents. I also avoid the first page since so much focus is there. Instead, I read the middle pages to get a sense of the book.
I looked at your list of cliches. Here’s a good start to a book:
It was a dark and stormy night when the clock alarm went off and Harry woke up from his dream. He was on the train going to a funeral. “If only I knew what I know now, I would say my name is George. But, as you know, I’m Larry and not Harry.”
Stanley–I agree that covers don’t usually let you know much about quality or story. They’re good for getting the genre across, but not much more. Alas, the Look Inside only lets you see the first few chapters of an ebook, but if you’re browsing in a bookstore, it’s fun to look a little farther along.
Love your first sentence. Maybe you can submit it to this year’s Bulwer-Lytton Bad Novel openings contest! http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/
Thanks, Anne for this interesting post. I enjoyed how you used illustrations to bring home your points.
You convinced me that chapter titles are worth writing. They are exciting to read and so draw readers in.
I would appreciate some guidelines on how to write chapter headings.
Thanks, once more.
Ohita–Chapter titles can be a lot of fun to write. They’re like story titles or book titles, but you also want to stick with a theme so they match. For instance, for So Much for Buckingham, I used titles that were quotes from Shakespeare’s Richard III, because the book was partly about the discovery of Richard’s body in the Leicester parking lot..
You can use poems, song titles, famous sayings, or simply a line from the work. .Here’s a post on writing titles. http://bit.ly/2D9v5cU .
Great advice. Savvy publishers (including self-publishers) also know that the TOC in ebooks can be put at the back of the book (as the French have done for centuries!), so that it doesn’t clot up the “Look Inside” preview. (The same can be done with a lot of other “front matter.”)
Lisa–I used to recommend that, but alas, putting the TOC at the back of a book is now verboten by Amazon. This is because people used that to game Kindle Unlimited and get people too click to the end, making it look as if they’d read the whole book. Then they’d get paid for all the pages. So we can’t do that anymore.
Boy, do I share the pet peeves you mention in #4 — the dream sequence and the viewpoint character who gets whacked at the end of Ch. 1. Thanks for another great post.
Ruth–I’m glad to hear you share those pet peeves. I’m surprised by the number of people who say they love them. (Also the person at the Passive Voice, who said. “I never open a novel before I buy it. I also don’t look at the blurb, cover, or title. I only do that for nonfiction.”) Ooookay. I assume he doesn’t *read* novels, either. It takes all kinds. 🙂
All good advice, Anne. And my books follow your guidelines yet the sales are still pathetic… I mean, in Catalyst my heroine’s climbing the outside of a building at night, for Pete’s sake!
After Ursula K. Le Guin died, I dove into her EARTHSEA series. One of the things that struck me (and made me consider using it) was her use of chapter titles/descriptions. It was so effective in terms of keeping me engaged in the story because I kept going back to the table of contents to see, “Oooo, what’s next?” It added a layer of story to the experience. As tough as it can be to come up with a chapter description that’s short and interesting, for multiple chapters, I think it’s worth it.
Deborah–I’m so glad to hear you share my fondness for chapter titles. I agree that in the hands of a master like LeGuin they can be magic. I love to go back and check the table of contents in books with chapter titles, especially if they do the old fashioned thing of including a description. “In which our hero meets three dragons and a fearsome duck…”
In epic fantasy like Earthsea, old fashioned things like that are expected and admired. In contemporary fiction, that stuff is poo-pooed. But I think chapter titles are coming back to all genres. And that’s a good thing!