Q.  What is a Book Snip?  

A.  A book snip is simply a snippet from a book. It’s usually combined with a graphic for visual appeal.  Book Snips are used on social media and blogs or in articles to increase visibility and awareness.  Here are a few samples:

In this Book Snip, I used a quote from the book and attributed the character who said it, and the novel it’s from, then offered a free preview of the first three chapters. Of the types I’ve done, this is my favorite. Which performs best with readers, I can’t yet say, but in the future, watch to see which kind I do. It will be the type my readers liked best. Know your readers might prefer a different type. You’ll have to test a few to see which they prefer.

This Book Snip snagged text from the novel. It gives readers a little more information, but takes a little longer to digest.

Also a “snagged text” Book Snip.

This Book Snip has Tracy Keener, the protagonist, talking directly to readers. Calling the questions she’s called on to answer in the story.

This is actually a Mini Book Snip.  It asks a question. Since the book it relates to isn’t identified, that’s done in the text above or below the image.  This works well for universal questions that most readers can relate to with or without a book. So this type of Book Snip can be used to encourage conversation, discussions, or to increase book awareness (or issue awareness), depending on what you include with it.

The bottom line is Book Snips can be creative and used for all kinds of purposes. As I mentioned earlier, you should test types to see which your readers react well to and which they prefer. Also be mindful of how you use them.  Your purpose in creating a Book Snip, I mean. Visibility and novel awareness is different from igniting conversation.  So look at what you want to accomplish with the Book Snip, and then create one that best fills those needs.

Hope this helps!

Blessings,

Vicki