Three Things to Include in the Back of Your eBook

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3-things-back-of-ebookWhen writing your eBook, one thing to consider is the content you will include in the back of your book.

This is major “real estate” within your book that you can use to connect further with your readers.

Here are three simple things you can include in the back of your eBook:

 #1:  Opt-in URL to Your E-mail List

You do have an e-mail list, right?  If not, I highly recommend you start a targeted e-mail list of readers as this has been my most successful book marketing technique.

Once you have an e-mail list set up, I recommend putting a link to your opt-in page at the back of your book.  I usually offer something free I think my target audience will be interested in as an ethical bribe to encourage them to sign up for my list.

Let me give you a couple of examples of how I add a link to my opt-in list in the back of my books.

For my books for authors, I include a blurb like this:

Sign up to our exclusive newsletter and get access to our author’s training ($27 value) for FREE at the link below.  You will get access to our PDF training, templates and more.  Plus, you will never miss out on new tutorials, tips and updates!  You can sign up here.

I also write Christian non-fiction books and use this blurb in the back of my books:

Love getting FREE Christian books online?  If so, sign up to get notified of new Christian book promotions and never miss out. Then, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy reading the free Christian books you download.  You will also get our FREE report, “How to Find Free Christian Books Online” that shows you 9 places you can get new books…for free!  Sign up here.

I now have thousands of targeted readers subscribed to both my author list and my Christian book list.  I then set up an autoresponder series that automatically goes out to each new subscriber to continue building a relationship with them.

You can sign up to my list to get an idea of how I set up my autoresponder messages.  Then, when I have a special book promotion, I am able to send out an e-mail broadcast to my list about it, which almost always yields good results.

For fiction authors, you can simply create a “New Release Mailing List” and include something like this in the back of your book:

To hear about my latest books first, sign up for my exclusive New Release Mailing List here: Your URL goes here.

OR

Want to find out what happens next?  The next book in my series will be released later this year.  Sign up to my mailing list to be the first to know when it is out.  Your URL goes here.

#2:  Blurbs for Your Other Titles

Another option you can include in the back of your book is information about your other book titles.  This is especially helpful if your book is part of a series.  You can include an excerpt of the next book in the series along with links to buy it.

I have done this with my book series on gratitude.  After sharing an excerpt of the book “21 Prayers of Gratitude,” I then include this call to action:

This was an excerpt from the eBook, “21 Prayers of Gratitude:  Overcoming Negativity Through the Power of Prayer and God’s Word.”

Read all 21 prayers for only $0.99 here.

Prefer print?

A compilation of all three books in the series, “A Life of Gratitude” makes a great gift.   Get the paperback version of the entire series here.

You can take this technique a step further and include links that you can track.  You can do this through Hootsuite’s ow.ly links, bit.ly or the Pretty Link Lite plugin for WordPress.  You then create a specific link to include in your book so that you can track the number of clicks that you get.  This will help you to know if including an excerpt in the back of your book is an effective marketing technique for you.

#3:  Short Note Requesting Reviews

We all know that getting reviews is helpful for sales.  More and more readers (myself included) are starting to depend on reviews to help them decide if they want to buy a book.  However, getting reviews can be tough.

One way to encourage reviews is to add a simple request at the back of your book.   All you have to do is ask.  Here is an example from the back of K.M. Weiland’s books (fiction and non-fiction):

Note From the Author: Reviews are gold to authors! If you’ve enjoyed this book, would you consider rating it and reviewing it on www.Amazon.com?

You can also replace the link to Amazon with the direct link to your eBook’s listing.

 Conclusion

How are you using the back matter of your eBook?  Are you using it to its greatest potential?  The back of your book is some of your most valuable “real estate” within your eBook, so I encourage you to include one (or all) of these options in your books.

If you already include information like this in the back of your eBooks, what have you found to be the most effective use of that space?  Please share in the comments below so that we can learn from each other.

Shelley Hitz
Shelley Hitz is an award-winning and internationally best-selling author. She is the owner of TrainingAuthors.com and is passionate about helping authors succeed in publishing and marketing their books. And she teaches from personal experience. Shelley has been writing and publishing books since 2008 and has published over 30 books including print, eBook and audio book formats. She consistently ranks in the top 100 authors for her category on Amazon.com.
Shelley Hitz
Shelley Hitz
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Comments

  1. Thanks for the great tips!

  2. These are outstanding tips, Shelley, and not ones everyone would expect. Each has huge potential value for connecting with a qualified target market. Thanks so much.

  3. I came across your book when I was publishing mine! (Prayer Practice)

    Something else I’ve seen recommended that seems counter-intuitive but is actually kind of brilliant (assuming you’re publishing on Kindle) is links to other good books (that aren’t your own) in the niche. When readers buy them, it gets your book into the “customers also bought” section on those books’ pages.

    • Rachel – it’s a small world, isn’t it? Thanks for sharing that idea as well. It does sound counter intuitive but I can see if done correctly, could potentially result in getting your book advertised more on the “also bought” section. Interesting!

  4. Great tips and I am glad to say I include each of these in the back of my eBooks! I love the flexibility of digital publishing and also make use of back matter to announce new books, and periodically review and polish my books as I continue to grow and improve my writing skills. Thanks for the inspiration!

  5. Hi Shelley,
    Great list! I will admit I haven’t done this in my print books, but it makes sense for those too. Will be bookmarking this one for sure.

    I do have a question though. Since you direct people from some of your Christian books to be able to find more free books, do you generate sales from this list?

    I was just reading another author’s discussion today that with the glut of free or .99 books, it’s easy for people to read all day long paying nothing or very little so wondering how this strategy has turned into sales for you. Do they respond well to new offerings even though the initial info was about free?

    • Cheryl – you’re welcome! I have been updating what I add at the back of my books as well. One of the things I tend to leave out is the review request…and it is so simple to do. So I am working on adding that into my eBooks. But, yes, it will work for print books as well.

      Everyone has to choose the method they will use with marketing. For my Christian books, I have chosen to offer many of them free through KDP select to reach as many people as possible with the message and also to take advantage of the boost Amazon gives afterwards. I now have thousands of targeted readers on my “Free Christian Books” list. Therefore, I can simply send out one e-mail to this list, get initial downloads to enable my eBook to rise in rankings on the free list, and get noticed by other readers on Amazon. I have also developed a relationship with many readers on my list and now have hundreds in my book reviewer program that are willing to review new books for me. I also do see sales generated when I run a special promotion from this list, so overall it has worked well for me. However, I don’t recommend all authors take this route. As you can see with my author list, I approach that target audience very differently.

      Thanks for your input and questions!
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