On Teasers in Books

by
Scott D. Parker

Yesterday, there was a great disturbance in the Force. It was as if millions of voices cried out in triumph and immediately started marking the days until December 2015.

Well, I did. I even wondered if I could just find a DeLorean and time travel to the future. Interesting thing to think about: next year will be the “future” year we saw in Back to the Future II. While we won’t get Jaws 19, we will get Star Wars VII. Who’d’ve thought that back in 1990. Or 1983. Or 2005.

I’m stoked.

The concept of a teaser is a mainstay in movies, but it has some legs in the book market as well. I love looking through some of the major paperback releases of major novels by major authors because there’s usually a teaser of the next hardcover. That concept is one I’m putting in to full effect when I start releasing my books next year.

I am making the changes that my editor found in my novel. Once that is done, I’ll also determine which teasers for my future books I’ll put at the end of that first book. In reality, once you get my first book in January, you’ll end up having a psedo-sampler for 2015.

The key is, however, giving just enough to whet the appetite but not so much as to render the story fully told in two minutes. That’s much easier with novels. I’ll probably just end up attaching the first chapters of completed stories in this first book.

Makes me need to double down and get those other first chapters up to snuff in a month. Ah, the joy of being both an author and a publisher. And, believe me, it is a joy.

Do y’all like ‘teasers’ of other books in books you buy?