Do You Love Book Samples—or Leave Them?

by Maureen Bonatch

How do you choose the next book you’re going to read?  

A captivating cover? 

An enticing blurb? 

A favorite author? 

The first line or paragraph?

Everyone has their preference and no one way is right, it’s just what works for you. For me it’s the last one. That beginning of the story has to draw me in. When I’m browsing through books I tend to open it up and see how it starts. If I’m interested, then I want to read more.

Have You Ever Been Offered a Sample?

It could be at the grocery store to try to lure you into trying something new, or a freebie in your email, or the beginning of the story.

If you’re offered a little sample do you say, “no thank you” thinking of the calories in that tasty treat, or fear that you’ll never scale your ever-growing stack of TBR books.? Or do you say, “yes please” because that little sample makes you want more and it’s hard to fill your reading appetite?

Who Loves a Sample of a Story?

That’s the idea behind providing a sample of another book by the author, or the beginning of the next book in the series at the end of a book. To draw you in and want to read more before you move onto to the next book in your TBR pile. (Plus- no calories, unlike those samples at the store that can add up.)

Before ebooks, these samples at the end of the book drove me crazy because if I wanted more, I’d have to go buy the book—and it wasn’t always that easy. The book store might not have it yet, or I’d have to wait days for delivery. This was before the days of ebooks can be so easily downloaded it’s easy to just jump right into the next book and keep going - immediate gratification at its finest.

So What’s a Book Sampler?

Another type of sample is one of several authors in a similar genre. Because maybe if you like one author in a genre, you might find others that satisfy your reading needs. My book, Evil Speaks Softly is going to be in an upcoming Fantasy Romance Sampler from my publisher, The Wild Rose Press. Nine other tasty samples of Fantasy Romance for you to enjoy a little casserole and see which ones tempt you to read more. (Plus it’s still calorie free enjoyment!)

Stay tuned, and I’ll let you know when it’s available. For now, I just wanted to whet your appetite with a little sample of what’s in store.

Do You Love or Leave Samples?

Author Bio: Maureen Bonatch grew up in small town Pennsylvania and her love of the four seasons—hockey, biking, sweat pants and hibernation—keeps her there. While immersed in writing or reading paranormal romance and fantasy, she survives on caffeine, wine, music, and laughter. A feisty Shih Tzu keeps her in line. Find Maureen on her website, Facebook & Twitter

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Friday Reads

I love the hashtag #FridayReads on Twitter. I try to share what I’m reading, and my love of reading every Friday. I wish more people would participate (with what they’re actually reading NOT spam for their own book.)

Sometimes I think I should just start doing a hashtag for every day of the week. If I had the last week would have looked like this:

#Sundayreads was THE PURLOINED POODLE by Kevin Hearne. Atticus’s hound, Oberon, has long been my favorite part of his excellent Urban Fantasy Iron Druid series, so I was happy to one-click this humorous novella from Oberon’s point-of-view.

#Mondayreads was QUEEN TAKES QUEEN by Joely Sue Burkhart (who also blogs for HBM) The third book in the series just released on Monday, and I had to read it right away! It's a reverse harem vampire series with lots of blood, intrigue and sex. The first book was Queen Takes Knights and is at close to 500 ratings on Goodreads already. If you liked Laurell K. Hamilton’s Merry Gentry series, try this one.

#Tuesdayreads and #Wednesdayreads were both THE DAYLIGHT WAR. I am a latecomer to this epic fantasy series. The author Peter V. Brett is going to be guest of honor at the When Words Collide convention this summer, so I decided to give book one the Warded Man a try back in December and am now hooked. I plan to buy book four tomorrow.

#Thursdayreads was INDIGO SPRINGS by A.M. Dellamonica a very cool contemporary fantasy in which blue magic has “contaminated” our world. I have never met the author, but she is a fellow Canadian whose other series Hidden Sea Tales has been nominated for two Auroras (and won once!)

I haven’t quite decided yet what my #Fridayreads will be.

My current TBR list is at seven books. Here they are in order of when they were added.

1/ Into the Dim by Janet Taylor. Blurb sounds cool, YA fantasy, but the author is unknown to me which is always a little nerve-wracking. Will I love it? Like it? Find it meh?

2/ The Fold by Peter Climes. Another unknown author with a cool SF premise. I read the first chapter. It started a little slow, but had a wonderful hook at the end.

3/ The Sea Peoples by S.M. Stirling. Next book in a long-running  series that I’ve been enjoying. The hero was in peril when we last left off.

4/ ID by Madeline Ashby. Another Canadian author (no, haven’t met her either). I quite enjoyed book one in this series, but have found the prologue to book two a little off-putting. Once I push past it and we go back to our regularly-scheduled heroine, I will probably enjoy this.

5/ The Reluctant Queen by Sara Beth Durst. I was very impressed by the world-building of book one.

6/ Blue Magic by A.M. Dellamonica. I don’t like to go directly on to the next book in a series, so I probably won’t start this today, but I added this to my TBR pile last night.

7/ Coyote Kings of the Space Age Bachelor Pad by Minister Faust. Another Canadian writer, whom I’ve heard speak very eloquently at SF/F panels over the years, whose books I’ve been meaning to try. My husband recommended this quirky superheroes one.

What are you reading?

My TBR Pile

Just for fun, I thought I would share my TBR pile. (TBR = To Be Read) Mine is partly a physical pile on a table and partly a queue on my ereader.

At the top of the TBR pile is, of course, my current read. Or, as frequently happens, my current reads plural. At the time I am writing this post my current read is Falling From the Light by Regan Summers, third (and I believe final) book in her Night Runners series. Based on how quickly I read the previous two books about Sydney Kildare, courier to vampires, I may well be done it by the time this is actually posted on Friday.

Next up are two YA books. I will probably not read these in a row, but rather pick one and postpone the other one.

1. Killer Instinct, by Dawn Dalton and Judith Graves. I love the cover and the tagline for this YA monster-hunter novel. Where there’s no life, there’s Hope. (Hope, of course, being the name of the main character.)

2. Night Sky, by Melanie and Suzanne Brockmann. I love Suzanne’s adult romantic suspense novels, which often feature Navy SEALs. This is her first YA and takes place in the same world as her sole paranormal romance Born to Darkness.

I like to alternate genres, so after that I may go on to a romance.

3. Blind Faith by Rebecca Zanetti. Despite the generic male torso cover and the contemporary setting, this one is actually a science fiction romance in that it features four brothers, genetically-designed as supersoldiers, who are trying to keep free from their makers. This is book three in the series.

4. Raven’s Wing by Shawna Reppert. I read the first book in this urban fantasy series a few weeks ago and am eager to read more. A dark mage is trying to turn over a new leaf, but is often faced with very dark choices.

5. Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton. This one is often described as Jane Austen only with dragons (the author herself describes it as Anthony Trollope with dragons, but since I’ve never read any Trollope that’s not helpful to me). My husband recommended this one and it sounds right up my alley… unfortunately I mired down in the first chapter. I still intend to read it, but somehow it always falls to the bottom of my TBR pile. Someday.

What books are in your TBR pile?