On Site Preview? Clever Stuff

Check the right hand sidebar and you’ll see the cover of my Spookies novel, The Man in Black. But this isn’t just another book cover. Click on it and you can read the first 10% of the book on your screen right now.

Amazon come in for a lot of criticism on many fronts, but you have to hand it to them: they know how to make life easy for readers.

The Man in Black, the second Spookies title, is about 240 pages long according to Amazon’s estimates. At 90,000+ words, I reckon it would be closer to 300 pages, but let’s not quibble. Imagine you went into your local bookstore, picked a book off the shelf, and in an effort to decide whether or not you’re going to buy, stood around reading the first 24 pages. I think the staff might want a word with you. I remember one such shop on a motorway service station where they pinned up a notice saying, “This is not a library.”

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five… Oops. Sorry. That’s Clint from Dirty Harry.

You’re thinking I’m just trying to sell you the book.

Not so. Books are not sold, they’re bought. The difference is subtle, but important. This is not a new car or the latest in mobile phone technology. When I’m out and about, people pull me up trying to sell me cable or satellite TV, and they’re wasting their time. I don’t watch TV. I don’t care if it’s free for life, it’s no use to me.

It’s the same with books. If you don’t read the particular genre, if you don’t read at all (why don’t you?) then all the salesmanship in the world will not persuade you to buy. You have to be a reader and a lover of the particular type of tale before you will be even interested.

What I’m doing, courtesy Amazon, is presenting you with a sample. Whether you read it or not is up to you, but if you do, having checked the first 10%, you will be in a better position to decide on buying or ignoring.

And you can do so from the comfort of your workstation, armchair, hospital bed, or your seat on the train/bus if you’re working on a smartphone.

So go on. Indulge yourself

The Man in Black the 2nd Spookies Mystery, is written by David Robinson and published by Crooked Cat.

It is available for download for the Kindle from Amazon UK and Amazon Worldwide, and in all formats, including PDF, epub and iBook from Smashwords and all good e-tailers