I rarely read snippets. If I’m glancing at an unknown author’s work in a bookshop or online I might look at a few random paragraphs to see whether the grammar and style are to my taste. (For example, I personally don’t enjoy long books written in the present tense.) But snippets that appear in my inbox or on social media are something I avoid. I only see them if I already know the author and am following their work, so presumably these are writers whose style already appeals to me. So that reason for reading an extract vanishes. I also like books that have some kind of mystery, preferably though not necessarily crime, and some sort of developing relationship and that means I really really don’t want spoilers. Nor do I want to recognise a passage when I read a book for the first time. I like my first reading to be ‘fresh’!

So if I see a snippet or extract I move rapidly past, averting my eyes!!

But so many authors do put snippets out there and I’m wondering whether it’s a good marketing ploy or not. Just because I don’t like them doesn’t mean other readers won’t. Recently I actually chose an extract to put on a review blog a friend publishes. It took us ages to choose the sections she used. I don’t think the post garnered any sales at all but it might have made my name known. Here it is!

GROWING UP FAE – Extract from the novel by Jay Mountney

What do you think? Worth the effort or not?