Author ads in ebooks

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by DuskyRose

Don't see any real harm in it either, although it really can throw you off on the page count. When the book ending smacks you in the face and you were expecting that that last 'chapter' to actually be part of the story you're reading. I do find that kind of annoying at times, especially when I've just run into a cliff hanger by surprise. Ick.

I never, ever read those sample chapters. If it's the next book in the series, I'll either get it or I won't based on what I just read. Otherwise, I don't start anything I don't have complete, or haven't yet checked out the synopsis and reviews. Even in paper books, I never, ever read them.

A nice synopsis of other books I might browse, but never an actual chapter.

I know what you mean about throwing off the page count and your expectations of how much story is left. I've learned to look at the table of contents before I start reading, to see what page number all the extraneous stuff starts, so I know when the actual book is going to end.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I've learned to look at the table of contents before I start reading, to see what page number all the extraneous stuff starts, so I know when the actual book is going to end.

I enjoy having the ends of books sneak up on me. I've found that I tend to start making assumptions/hypotheses about various plot points or events when I know exactly (whether through page/location count, progress bar, or just seeing the thickness of the chunk of remaining pages in a pbook) how close I am to the end. Whereas I just get to "let it all happen" when I'm flying blind.

[Hitch]

Gang, howdy:

To be clear, it's not just direct links that Apple won't allow. It's...deeper than that. We are very fortunate in our client list, in that some of our clients are quite well-known. One of them--our biggest "name," without doubt, we'll call him/her Author #1--recently had an advert or "flyer" you might call it, at the back of her latest ePUB. This flyer linked to the website of author #2. Now, at author #2's website, there's a link to buy his/her book--which is only available at Amazon. So...at least two degrees of separation, right?

Apple had a cow. The client's "people" had to get on the phone with Apple to get it solved, basically by simply stating that if Apple wanted Author #1's book, they had to suffer the slings and arrows of Author #2 having the audacity to sell his/her book wherever s/he wanted.

Trust me: this sort of thing happens all the time with them. "Walled garden" doesn't do it justice.

Hitch

[tompe]

Originally Posted by DuskyRose

Don't see any real harm in it either, although it really can throw you off on the page count. When the book ending smacks you in the face and you were expecting that that last 'chapter' to actually be part of the story you're reading. I do find that kind of annoying at times, especially when I've just run into a cliff hanger by surprise. Ick.

I hate when this happens so I think they are harmful.

[BeccaPrice]

If an author ends a book on a cliff-hanger, that's the last book by that author I'll read. I made an exception for Patrick Rothfuss, but if I'd known how Wise Man's Fear would end, I'd have held off the first two books until the third book came out.

[morriss003]

Originally Posted by DuskyRose

Don't see any real harm in it either, although it really can throw you off on the page count. When the book ending smacks you in the face and you were expecting that that last 'chapter' to actually be part of the story you're reading. I do find that kind of annoying at times, especially when I've just run into a cliff hanger by surprise. Ick.

I never, ever read those sample chapters. If it's the next book in the series, I'll either get it or I won't based on what I just read. Otherwise, I don't start anything I don't have complete, or haven't yet checked out the synopsis and reviews. Even in paper books, I never, ever read them.

A nice synopsis of other books I might browse, but never an actual chapter.

I'm the opposite. I read every one of them. Can't resist.