Support for Indie Authors discussion

I have a free prequel for my first novel and the problem is someone just starred it negatively because they were upset that it ended in a cliffhanger. The cliffhanger is intentional because it was designed that way to get them to pick up the full-length novel to see how everything turns out. This review just happened this morning, and I immediately went to Amazon to add in the line in the description about this being a free prequel and encouraging people to pick up the Full-length novel. I didn't address the person that left the review, as is the general rule of thumb. But maybe I wasn't clear enough in stating that this free prequel is designed to go with the other book. Also, I included an excerpt of the full light novel directly after the prequel ends as well as an excerpt of my other novel which is a standalone novel and still this happened. It's not like they don't realize there's another book when I get to the end of the prequel. (I state something like 'turn the page to see how the story continues in this excerpt of…' ) so it's not as if the reader should be unaware that there's more to the story. So now on that note, I'm wondering if I should just do away with the free prequel all together and add it to the current novel? Or should I leave it as is with a clearer note to steer people towards the full-length novel if they want to find out what happens in the story. Very disappointing to wait so long for someone to review my book (since I made it free some months ago and have had plenty download on a daily basis ) only to have them give it a 1 star. Thanking you in advance for any advice. I'm trying not to be too angry about this because I thought I made it clear that there's a second book that goes with this by naming the subtitle 'a survival tactics novella'-a huge hint-only to have this happen.


Thanks!

Erica;-)

Erica. A lot of people will be annoyed by what they may see as an underhand tactic to get them to buy your novel.

I could be one of them. I find free books that aren't full stories a bit difficult to stomach.

If your prequel is a proper story even if it ends in a cliffhanger then fair enough. Otherwise...

I'd pull it entirely and use some other method of advertising. Woops, there goes the bad review. This is a good example of throwing the baby out with the bathwater that works. Just sayin'.

There is a feature on Amazon published books called "Look Inside" that will let them read 20% I think. This is the preferred way to do it as you won't get a bad review on a sample, and it will encourage them to buy.

Here's the thing, do you think it is having a negative impact on the brand you're trying to put out? Like, do you feel your series is hurt by having this prequel out? If the answer is yes, and this is an integral part of the story, then I would either get rid of the prequel, or add it to the full length novel to help complete its story.
If not, then I wouldn't worry about it. People are going to people, and there's nothing you can do about it.

IMHO a writer should never offer a cliffhanger as a stand-alone book. The reader will feel cheated for his time, if nothing else. I give one-star reviews when I encounter one, and even gave a one-star to a Lee Child book for that reason.

The opinions of others may differ, but you'll find that quite a few people do not like cliffhangers, and will get you for it.

I have to be the bad guy here. I agree with everyone else about some possible tactics you could take but I also feel that reviews are for readers and they have nothing to do with us although that feels counterintuitive. Have you considered making your prequel free to people who sign up for your mailing list? Maybe you could use it to incentivize your other products. Best of luck :-)

Fifty Shades of Grey ended on a cliffhanger and still did great,and the second Hunger Games book did too. By all means let people know it's a prequel, but after that if they want to find out what happens next but don't want to buy the next book that really seems like a personal problem.

Some people are just that dead-set against cliffhangers. It's purely a reader preference thing.

I also wrote a prequel to my series in the hopes that it would spur sales for my main novels. However, the prequel was released after I'd published my first novel and it's a self-contained story. It doesn't have a cliffhanger -- at least, not in the sense of "Oh, I have to buy the novel now to see how this plot ends." No, Boundless very much has its own beginning, middle, and end -- the closest it comes to a cliffhanger is simply acknowledging this is a character and a universe I'll be returning to, several times.

See, even if the course of a series, I'm careful not to go full cliffhanger. Wrap up the story of that particular novel and leave a thread or two dangling to address in future volumes -- and make it blatantly clear to your readers that there will, in fact, be more down the road.

I think it depends on the kind of cliffhanger you leave the readers with. If you just cut in a middle of a scene, the readers will feel cheated. I know I feel cheated in these case. I don't like when I am forced to buy the next book to have a complete book.

On the other hand I have nothing against a cliffhanger well done. It leaves me with satisfaction and the choice to continue to see what will happen in book two or just imagine myself an ending.

Most readers will get angry if you do the first, but will only state a cliffhanger at the end if most of the plot lines are resolved with the book and the cliff hanger is something that's new, an upcoming event the protagonist might not have foreseen.

Just a thought.

I just had a look at the book on Amazon and nothing about the title or description is clear that it is a prequel. In the title it says "book 2".

Some people just don't like cliffhangers, but I wonder if there is also some confusion about the order in the series.

Morris wrote: "There is a feature on Amazon published books called "Look Inside" that will let them read 20% I think. This is the preferred way to do it as you won't get a bad review on a sample, and it will enco..."

Sorry but you still can.

Contributing my two cents here, but keep in mind this is subjective.
The way I feel about a series, every book is two things: a story on its own, and a contribution to the greater plot. It has to be both to be a good prequel/sequel. If it is one and not the other, it will feel like too much of a cheap means of baiting someone to buy your next book or like too much of a standalone (respectively). There is a difference between a cliffhanger and a resolution. If your prequel is still a complete novel with a resolution that still contributes to the sequel, that's great. If the ending makes absolutely no sense without the sequel, that will upset people. Again, this is ultimately your decision and how you feel about your novels. You are your most important audience :)

The way I see it, a story should have some resolve or else it's a chapter/episode in a serial. I don't mind story arcs that stretch out over a series,but for me, if each story doesn't have its own subplot that wraps up nicely, I feel led on and I'm likely to abandon.

Also, Tara is right. Reviews are for readers, not the author. And book reviews are a matter of tastes, which is highly subjective. Best not to worry about them.

Personally, I don't like it when books end in cliffhangers. It should stand alone as its own, complete story, even if it's part of a series. I should be able to pick it up and enjoy it whether I've read the other books or not and whether I will ever read them or not.

If you pick up the third Harry Potter book for example you will see that it starts with a brief, funny, general description of who Harry is and what has happened so far. It's done in such a way that it feels very smooth and very much a part of the current novel, not just a "summary of what happened before". In the same way, when it ends, the current story is over. Sure, Pettigrew escaped and sure, Sirius is still considered evil, but it doesn't leave Harry in the middle of having his soul sucked out by Dementors. The story has a resolution that I don't have to buy the next book to know. That makes it more satisfying. And it makes me want to read more of the books in a way that no cliffhanger can.

Just my two cents on cliffhangers. With that said, I don't think you should let one low rating freak you out. You wrote the story the way you wanted it so trust that and don't feel the need to constantly modify it, especially just based on one single rating or review!

Hellooo, Miss Erica!

*waves*

Hmm. I just took a peek and I think it might be a bit confusing cuz your prequel is clearly titled "Book 2" instead of "Book 0.5" or whatever on Amazon. With that being said, even after fixing it up, you could still get a neg for the ending or any other bazillion reasons.

I've gotten docked for having a cliffy too even though I don't personally think it's a cliffy at all *shrugs* and I've gotten docked for too much swearing even though I have an f-bomb right in the blurb *giggles* At the end of the day, writing is our prerogative and ratings/reviews are the readers', eh? I'm just happy to have any readers period ^_~

I'm with Noor that a single rating or review is kinda a blip on the map. I mean, if you change something, chances are good that someone else is not gonna dig the new version, ya know?

Personally, I'd leave it up cuz that was obviously YOUR vision for YOUR story. But I also understand wanting to pull it down. Let us know what you decide, ma'am! Best of luck!!

Hugs,
Ann

Hi Erica,

I think that having a cliffhanger is fine - as long as you are really clear upfront that there is one. I don't think there is anything wrong with putting a disclaimer at the bottom saying 'Warning: This book is intended as a prequel to the full length novel XXX, and ends in a cliffhanger'. Then, people that don't like them don't have to read it. Romance is a genre built on expectations, so just meet the expectations and everyone will be happy. ;)

I do agree that it being labelled 'book 2' is confusing though.

In addition to what everyone else said regarding cliffhangers, keep in mind that free books tend to attract a higher percentage of negative reviews. Usually, it's because readers who may not even like the genre will try it simply because it's free.

Ken wrote: "In addition to what everyone else said regarding cliffhangers, keep in mind that free books tend to attract a higher percentage of negative reviews. Usually, it's because readers who may not even l..."

I've heard this before, but my prequel novella (which I put for free fairly often) is my most and best reviewed release. So I think it can vary.

Cliffhangers aside, don't be afraid of a bad review, I run a book review book and interestingly it seems more people look at books that I have given a bad review than the good ones!
Think along the lines of there's no such thing as bad publicity. It may not make you feel better, because negative reviews can make you angry and feel down, but just think -at least they took the time to read it and contribute their thoughts. Maybe use it as motivation to change something in your style for future books?

Looking at Amazon, you have a five star, four star and one star review. This is going to happen. Some will love your work, some will not. No matter what you do, someone is going to hate it.

There are people out there who hate cliffhangers with a passion. This does NOT mean you shouldn't do them, but understand that if you do, there will be some who will complain.

The way you have it now does seem to adequately prepare the reader for this book being a prequel. My one nitpick would be that you have the prequel listed as "book 2" and the novel as "book 1". If the novella is meant to bring people into the novel, you might want to switch that around.

Hi everyone! Firstly thanks so much for all of the great suggestions and help. Secondly I did write the prequel after the full length novel which is why I called it book two. I wrote the prequel after the first novel came out because the novel wasn't selling well and I had hoped the prequel would help people get a better understanding of the story. I guess I could take away the book 2 thing to make it more clear and see what happens. It's my intent to give my readers of full story that can be enjoyed. At the very end of the prequel I actually included the first two chapters of the next book and wrote that this was a novella of survival tactics right on the front so I guess it just surprised me that it was still not clear. I will see what I can do to fix the title because it does get downloads but only about 5 to 12 a day sometimes less, sometimes none. No sales hardly on the big novel at all during its life(and I've lowered the price twice already), although according to authorgraph my ranking on all three of the books is going up daily which I find strange because I can't find out how that's happening lol. I think my biggest weakness with this entire thing is in adequate marketing tactics. I have no idea what I'm doing and it's a shame because once people actually give the story a chance it's a good one or so I've been told. Oh well, back to the drawing board. Heading over to KDP right now to try to make a change! Thanks again!

Bad sales don't indicate a bad book. Unknown authors like you and me are part of a mass of millions of authors trying to get noticed. My best-selling book has no reviews, and my worst selling book has great reviews. If this is part of a series, continue to write and don't worry about sales. If people like the series, they'll follow it, and you'll eventually get readers. If it's a stand-alone, aside from the prequel, just write more books. The more books you have, the more likely it is you'll get noticed.

As an aside, have you considered combining the two books, and making it a 2nd edition? You don't have to let Amazon in on the fact that it's a new edition, and that way you won't lose your good reviews. I did that with my first book, added chapters and scenes, deleted others, tightened it up, and labeled it "2nd Edition" without making a big deal out of it.

Erica, I would label it a Prequel in the title. People can't be annoyed when they know exactly what they're buying.

Don't be discouraged by one negative review. I think that it adds balance to the overall product and helps us improve. But like the others said, you can always take it down.

A lot of us are in the same boat, Erica. As Ken pointed out, there are many of us unknown authors, all trying to get attention to our books. I read a little of your work and your writing seems solid. The prices are about where I would put them if they were my books. And you have a lot of four and five star reviews. Don't let an occasional negative review get you down. Keep promoting and keep writing!

Christina wrote: "The way I see it, a story should have some resolve or else it's a chapter/episode in a serial. I don't mind story arcs that stretch out over a series,but for me, if each story doesn't have its own subplot that wraps up nicely ..."

Seconding this. My preference in multi-book stories, whether they are serials, or trilogies, or whatever is for each book to have its own sub plot that gets resolved in a satisfactory way (doesn't have to actually be a happy or pro-MC way). And they must advance the overall plot.

Think about TV series. Each episode has its own plot structure. Shows which are NOT episodic (i.e. where each episode a self-contained whole, where at the end of the show there is no real change from where you started) will often times expound upon or advance the overall series' plot as well, the overarching plot. They may actually end in a cliffhanger as such, a shocking reveal of something bigger than the episode's own plot.

I'm thinking of shows like X Files or Lost or Walking Dead.

It's not the cliffhanger/reveal that's a problem, but rather when there's no sense of any resolution at all. If you've read 300 pages and are just left hanging with nothing brought to a satisfying close, it just feels like the book isn't complete...even knowing the book is one of many.