[Mike L]

May I be permitted a little rant.

It's good that ebook vendors allow you to download free samples before you commit yourself to a purchase. But I hate it when the sample is full of the introductory matter - "about the author", "praise for ...", extended table of contents, extended list of illustrations, acknowledgements, notes on sources, preface, etc etc. - and there's no room left for the sample of the actual book.

I've seen this many times. The latest was today, when I downloaded a sample of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, to find that almost the entire text consisted of an introductory review by a modern critic, without any of the text of the book itself. That's completely useless.

I don't know if this is something that's within the author's control. If it is, the author ought to make sure that the sample contains at least one chapter of the book. If the author can't control that, then the publisher or the vendor should do something about it.

Rant over. Thank you.

Mike