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How do you decide what excerpt to read?

A friend asked me a really good question...how do I decide on what excerpt to read. The thing is I really don't know the right strategy for this. I figure the early chapters hook the reader into the story and that makes sense. But maybe there's a better way of deciding and customizing the excerpt per the audience.

I had my first reading for my novel today. I read two alternating points of view from chapters three and five. They showed into different ways the love binds the characters and part of the quest of the novel.

I'm curious how others are approaching reading excerpts. Let me know how you decide.

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Permalink Reply by SusieSunshine on November 30, 2007 at 1:23am

Very good question! I, too, am very interested in this. Thank you for asking it!

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Permalink Reply by Maureen Fisher on November 30, 2007 at 5:58am

Hi Julie,

I like to read a couple of scenes that show a little humor and do not give away too much of the plot. I ended up doing exactly what you did. I read one scene from my heroine's POV where she's consuming chocolate, trying to elude the hero's moves, and thinking he's entirely too smooth for hos own good -- or hers. The next scene I read in my hero's POV, illustrating the fact that he is covering up his own insecurities while feeding her chocolate.

Maureen

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Permalink Reply by Lorraine Harris on November 30, 2007 at 11:14am

When I'm a guest speaker, I read the chapter that's going to get the reader hooked and therefore wants more, resulting in a book sale.

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Permalink Reply by Dennis AuBuchon on November 30, 2007 at 3:01pm

I have not read any excerpts from my current book but I would approach it by deciding what to read based on the audience to which I would be reading. One example is that I belong to a professional quality organization and I have a chapter on quality and integrity. If I would do an excerpt for that groupd I would choose that chapter. I would try to decide which portion of my book would interest my audience. I have actually done a presentation on my book to this group and they were interested in this chapter and also how you get published. Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Julie Ann Shapiro on November 30, 2007 at 3:30pm

Hi Dennis,
Thank you. This advice helps. I read to a seniors group and read a chapter about a special relationship between a grandma and her grandson.

Julie