Writers, in general, are a very creative species. We must be to craft such wondrous worlds to draw readers in and keep them there. To that end, this writer has come up with a work around to Amazon’s lack of “Look Inside” [for] my book, Fear Not!
I’ve put together a sample similar to what a potential reader would find in an Amazon “Look Inside,” including the front cover, table of contents, introduction, first session and back cover, which is available on Scribd.com. Really, the only thing lacking is the option to jump to a certain page, as far as I can see.
Why the work around? People like to “try before you buy.” I know I rarely purchase a book without first taking a peek between the covers. (My Dad actually sits in the coffee shop of the bookstore and reads almost the entire book before he decides to buy it. 
) There have been enough times where I didn’t preview a book and wished I’d saved my money only a few pages in. That’s why the option to “Look Inside” is so important, especially to Indie Authors.
Will putting a preview out there guarantee more sales? No. However, it might boost sales and that’s good enough for me. When the people you thought would help you on your journey don’t always come through like you hoped, then it’s essential to get your own creative juices flowing to find a way to do it yourself. That’s part of being an Indie Author on The Road to Writing.
This is a reprint from Virginia Ripple‘s The Road to Writing blog.