When buying a book – whether online or at a bookstore – most people check out the cover, read the back cover blurb, and then open to the first page. Kudos to you for getting the reader that far, but you’re still not home free. If the reader doesn’t like your first page for whatever reason – can’t connect with the character, doesn’t like the writing style, spots a typo – you can forget the book sale.
Arguably, the first page of your book is the most important page. Those opening lines draw readers into your story, hooks them on it, makes them want to read on, and even allows them to put up with a scene they later find dull. With so many books, movies and other forms of entertainment out there, many readers won’t give you more than the first page to engage them in the story.
Given this, you must get your first 250 words or so of your story absolutely right. There’s no place in for a misstep or a throwaway line.
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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 300 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.