It's 1:30 in the morning, and a woman in Cleveland has just finished your book. She meant to go to bed hours ago, but she just couldn't put it down, and now she's at the end, feeling that particular ache that comes from finishing a book you loved. She turns the page to see what you have for her next.

What does she find?

In some books, she finds nothing.

In others, she finds a page Amazon has filled with books by other authors. And in still others, she finds so many options, reviews, reader magnets, next chapters, and newsletter links that she gives up and goes to bed without taking any action at all.

Back matter, the pages at the very end of your book, can be your most valuable marketing asset. When done right, your back matter can keep selling your books and growing your email list for years after you stop actively promoting them.

But doing it right has gotten harder, because Amazon has tightened its rules. Get your ebook's back matter wrong, and you risk getting your book banned from the platform entirely.

So how do you make the most of your backmatter and avoid getting banned from Amazon altogether?

I asked Laurie Christine, who serves as producer of the Novel Marketing and Christian Publishing Show podcasts and hosts her own show, The Sword and Story Podcast. Laurie is also the author of the Dragon Slayer Bible series and has spent years refining her own back matter across prequels, companion books, and reader magnets.

What exactly is back matter?

Laurie: Back matter is everything in the back of your book that comes after the story, but its purpose is specifically marketing. You can use it to catch the reader right when she's most excited, when she's lying in bed thinking, "What else does this author have for me?" There are many different options, but the goal is always to turn that excitement into a marketing opportunity.

Thomas: Authors most often offer a reader magnet in the back matter. But there is a distinction we need to make between a reader magnet for your fans and a reader magnet for strangers.

In the back matter of your book, you want a fan magnet, something that appeals to a reader who's already a fan. A short story or nonfiction bonus that works as a fan magnet may not work as a stranger magnet.

A stranger magnet, by contrast, works on someone who hasn't read any of your books yet. For a nonfiction book, a quiz can work as a stranger magnet. A quiz can help a reader figure out which version of a problem they have, and that is good to know before buying a book.

However, it is often a mistake to offer a reader magnet at the end of your book. When you overload a reader with decisions, she won't make a decision at all.

For most authors, especially early in their career, and particularly for your first book, the main goal of your backmatter is to get more reviews.

In your first book, your one backmatter request should be to ask for reviews. The first book in a series is really the only one where review count matters for a purchase decision. If I loved book one, I'm not checking book two's reviews before I buy it. I'm just going straight to the next book, which is also why later books in a series carry higher star ratings. Readers who buy them already like the author.

Reader magnets matter more for second books and beyond, where getting a reader onto your list becomes the priority.

Laurie, you've offered many fan magnets for your own readers. What do you do in your back matter?

Laurie: At the back of my books, I offer a free prequel that works as both a stranger magnet and a fan magnet, since it's a standalone story set in the same world. I also have QR codes for my companion devotional books for each of my middle-grade novels as well as discussion questions families or book clubs can use.

I am curious about something you've said before, though. Why wouldn't I want to get a reader onto my mailing list first, before asking for a review? Once she's on my list, I can tell her, "Thanks for reading. Can you leave a review? Here's what's next." That way, I can keep marketing to her long-term. If the only thing I ask for is a review, I might miss that opportunity entirely.

Should your back matter chase reviews or email subscribers?

Thomas: That's a great question, and it really comes down to math and your particular strategy. Say you convert 20% of readers into subscribers. They get your magnet and your onboarding sequence, and in your second or third email you ask for a review. Maybe 20% of the first 20% will actually leave you a review, which means you need 100 people to subscribe to your list to get a single review.

Compare that to asking directly for a review at the back of the book. If 10% convert, you only need 10 people to get that same review. If reviews are your primary goal, and for authors who advertise, they usually are, that gap matters.

However, if you're not advertising and not really playing on Amazon's algorithm, building your email list might be the better first goal.

But if you are advertising, you need your review count in the triple digits as fast as possible, and everything should point toward "leave a review."

I have a free Patron Toolbox tool that generates a direct link to your book's review page, along with a QR code generator that works for a paper book.

For an author selling mostly at homeschool conventions or other offline events, where Amazon and ebook sales matter less, I'd flip that and make "join the email list" the first-book ask instead. You can always make a different request on the next book.

This is a shift from my own earlier thinking. I once did an episode listing seven things to put at the back of your book, and I now think that's too many. Readers do better with one clear ask per book, each one different, as you walk them through the customer journey.

Laurie: That will also change depending on format. eBooks, audiobooks, and print books each behave differently, and I'd say that one-ask strategy is primarily for ebooks.

Does back matter work differently in print than in an ebook?

Thomas: That's the key distinction. Paper doesn't create the same decision fatigue as a digital landing page, because flipping through a book feels more like flipping through a menu than being overloaded on a single screen. Ebooks follow landing-page rules. Paper books can offer more options at once.

The real limitation with paper is the cost. Every page adds to your printing bill, so you're effectively paying for your own in-book ads. For maximum impact, I'd give each ask a full two-page spread. The first spread is a letter to the reader with a QR code to leave a review, then comes a spread about your reader magnet, and so on. It comes down to what a review is worth to you. In most cases, the math favors adding the extra pages.

I'm also working on an episode about the Diderot effect and how it applies to the "also by" page where you show your other book covers. When that list of book covers includes the cover of the book the reader just finished, it triggers something psychologically powerful.

Laurie: That's interesting. I was just talking with another author about whether the "also by" page should include the book the reader is currently holding or leave it out. I told her to include everything, since it shows readers what they're missing and where the book they picked up fits in the series. Leave one out and readers get confused trying to figure out where it belongs.

Thomas: Exactly. The Diderot effect works on people at a level that predates language.

Children's books utilize this strategy. Before my kids could talk, they would look at all the little cover images on the last page of a board book and point to the one book they didn't own.

Our brains want the set to feel complete. You want to trigger that sense of incompleteness in readers.

Should you print the URL next to a QR code in a paper book?

Thomas: You can't really use hyperlinks in print books. It's fine to include one, but QR codes work much better, since people would rather scan than retype a long URL. Plus, you want that URL to be something you can track, which is why I recommend the redirection plugin for WordPress. I have a free QR code maker in the Patron Toolbox, in addition to the one built into the review-link tool, so you can point a code at any page you want and see exactly how many times it's been scanned.

Laurie: I have a two-page spread at the end of one of my books. It has the full cover of the next book, a QR code, and the actual URL printed in small type underneath it. Some readers don't have their phone handy, or they're skeptical of QR codes and want to see where a link is actually going before they scan it.

Thomas: There was a moral panic over QR codes a few years back. People were convinced their phones would get hacked. A little of that panic persists.

So yes, you want that printed URL to be something you control, something like www.lauriechristine.com/goody or the title of the reader magnet itself. That way a reader can type it in by hand or scan the code, whichever they prefer.

Laurie: You can still use QR codes in ebooks. Plenty of readers are on a Kindle with their phone right next to them, and they can scan a code off the Kindle screen just as easily.

Thomas: You'd rather send someone to your website from their phone than from their Kindle anyway because a Kindle doesn't browse the web well. Plus, there's a growing list of rules about what you can and can't link to inside Kindle. One safeguard against those rules is that they don't currently apply to QR codes. That could change, but for now, a QR code is fairly safe and gives you device separation. Whatever happens next is happening on a phone Amazon doesn't control, which is a way of escaping their walls entirely.

What order should your back matter go in?

Laurie: If it's an author's first book and they're not sure what to lead with, it depends on whether it's book one or two, whether the goal is reviews for advertising, or in-person sales. Say someone's on Amazon with Kindle Unlimited. You said the review request should be first. But the print book gives you room for more, since readers don't get that same decision fatigue.

What order do you recommend?

Thomas: I'd prioritize based on your marketing goals. Your first priority is either a review or a fan magnet for your email list, and whichever isn't first becomes your second ask.

After that comes the more substantive material, which isn't strictly marketing but does improve the book itself. You might include items like maps, a glossary, and discussion questions.

I have a glossary generator in the Patron Toolbox. It reads your book, finds unusual words or invented terms, and drafts a definition for each one. You'll want to review it, but it gets you most of the way there quickly.

Maps can go in the front or back.

I'd make discussion questions available as a downloadable PDF for ebook readers, but for print, I’d put them either at the very end or after each chapter, depending on whether the book invites discussion occasionally or constantly. I also have a Discussion Guide Builder in the toolbox that reads your book and drafts a starting set. Authors often find it hard to come up with discussion questions because they already know all the answers and struggle to guess what readers will want to discuss.

What kind of contact information should I include in my back matter?

Laurie: You can also include an "about the author" page with a link to your website. I have a contact page with my email address in my print books. Thomas, do you recommend an email address in ebooks too?

Thomas: Yes, but use one that will still exist decades from now, not a Gmail or Yahoo address. Get a professional address on your own domain, since you'll own that as long as you own the domain. Reader emails from someone who just finished your book are some of the best emails you'll ever get.

Laurie: They really are, especially from kids, though I'm always careful there. If a child emails me, I ask if they've checked with their parent first.

Thomas: That's more of an issue for middle grade. Most authors write for adults, where it rarely comes up, but a line like "If you're younger than 13, check with your parents before emailing me" is worth adding if you write for kids.

Should I include information about my podcast in my backmatter?

Laurie: You could also include a QR code for your podcast if you have one. I've heard mixed opinions on whether that belongs in the front or back of the book. What's your take?

Thomas: Information about your podcast or other avenues of communication always goes in the back.

At the front of your book, you want to pull people into the story as fast as possible. Almost nothing belongs in the front; not even acknowledgments. You have to sell a book twice. You sell it once for money, when someone buys it, and once for time, when they actually choose to read it. Plenty of books fail to make that second sale.

The more front matter a reader has to wade through, whether it's acknowledgments, a letter to the reader, or unnecessary backstory before chapter one, the more likely they are to give up before they start. Open with a bang. Put your finger on the pain point immediately.

Anything that might only be interesting to some readers belongs in the back.

What actually belongs in a book's front matter?

Thomas: If it interests everyone, put it in the front.

The only exception would be the dedication, which always goes in the front.

You can have as much back matter as you want, since you're only paying for it in print. There's no cost penalty in an ebook. Just use judgment. A contemporary romance probably doesn't need a glossary, and padding like that can feel especially out of place if you're leaning on Kindle Unlimited.

For nonfiction specifically, there's a long list of possible reader magnets, worksheets, printables, spreadsheets, and guides. It depends entirely on your book, which is part of why I built the Reader Magnet Brainstormer tool. Simply upload your manuscript, and it generates dozens of book-specific ideas.

Laurie: We also have a full episode on reader magnets specifically.

Why shouldn't your ebook and paperback share the same back matter file?

Thomas: The rules have changed around ebooks, so you should use the exact same interior format that you use for your print book. Vellum or whatever tool you use might generate your PDF and your EPUB from a single source, but your back matter needs to be different for ebook and print. If you're publishing wide, each retailer needs its own EPUB, with links and calls to action pointed at that specific store.

If a reader bought your book on Kobo, the end of that file should link to leaving a review on Kobo and buying the next book on Kobo. Don't ask someone who chose Kobo to also try Amazon. They picked a platform for a reason, and that mismatch simply won't convert.

Thomas: Amazon's rule says, “External links within Kindle books should be present only if they directly enhance the reader experience and the content of the title, as determined by Amazon.” That's subjective, but they do list clear examples on both sides.

Allowed: links to previous or subsequent books in a series, links to multimedia directly related to the book's content (a budgeting spreadsheet for a book on budgeting, for instance), links to ancillary material like checklists or assessments, links to topical websites (irs.gov from a book about taxes), and links to social media related to the book or author.

Prohibited: links to adult content are banned outright. Links to commercial ebook stores other than the one the reader bought from are the most common mistake I see, and Amazon runs an automated check specifically for links to Kobo or Barnes & Noble. If your back matter says "buy my book" with links to every store, that alone can get your book banned. Instead, link to your own website, which can offer its own store links, or link straight to the platform the reader already chose.

Also prohibited are links to web forms that request customer information, such as an email or physical address. This is where a typical reader magnet can accidentally get you in trouble if it's framed the wrong way, since it sits right next to the "multimedia content directly related to your book" category that is allowed.

Can a web form in your back matter get you banned?

Thomas: Here's how to navigate that line without getting banned. Build a genuinely nice landing page for your reader magnet and link to that, not to a bare form. The page should be full of information about the book or bonus content, with the actual sign-up form minimized or placed at the very end.

There's no human at Amazon reviewing the millions of books submitted every month. The automated check is looking for direct links to something like forms.google.com. A link to authorname.com/booktitle is almost certainly safe, even if that page happens to contain a form somewhere on it. You'll be even safer if there's a click between the landing page and the form itself, so you're never linking directly to the form.

Laurie: I wonder if wording matters too. Instead of "click here to sign up for my newsletter," something like "click here to learn about my other books" or "click here to download my reader magnet" might read differently to an automated check.

Thomas: The word that jumps out to me in Amazon's language is specifically "web forms." I think they're trying to catch links that lead to nothing but a form and exist only to collect information.

A link to a page on your own website that happens to have a form on it seems fine, and I haven't heard of that getting enforced. But remember, this is entirely Amazon's judgment call. We have a full episode on staying out of Amazon jail.

Laurie: A BookFunnel landing page hosted there should be safe on its own, but your best practice has always been not to link directly to BookFunnel from the back of a book. Send readers to your own website first, and let your website link out to BookFunnel.

Thomas: Your book should never link anywhere that isn't on your own domain, even a redirect to BookFunnel. Everything needs to live on a domain you control, because a paper book needs to keep working for the next 50 years, and only a domain you own can guarantee that.

A few more categories from Amazon's list round this out:

Links to illegal, harmful, infringing, or offensive content are banned (that "offensive" clause is vague enough to drive a truck through), and so are links that are malicious in intent, like viruses or phishing. If a link fails the sniff test, it's prohibited. Again, this is a subjective, automated check with no clear indication it scans QR codes specifically. That said, a QR code pointed at something genuinely offensive will still get flagged the moment one reader complains, so don't treat QR codes as a total safe harbor.

Laurie: Amazon's language also warns against wording that looks like you're offering gifts or rewards.

Would a reader magnet fall into that, or is that aimed specifically at incentivizing reviews?

Thomas: I'm not seeing that exact wording on this page, though it does show up elsewhere, and it's enforced most strictly around reviews. Bonuses and gifts tied to multimedia content related to the book are explicitly fine. A book on archery can link to bonus videos demonstrating proper form, framed as a gift. What's forbidden is tying that gift to a review, saying something like, "Leave a review, and I'll send you this video." Attach a bonus to a review request, and you're in violation.

What's the easiest way to increase your page reads by 10%?

Thomas: There's one advantage ebooks have that paper doesn't. Bonus pages are free. Here's a technique that can raise your Kindle Unlimited profitability by 10%: Always include the first chapter of your next book at the back of the current one.

Amazon allows up to 10% bonus content in a book, and that content gets paid for twice, once as part of the current book, and again when the reader moves on to buy the next one and reads that same chapter again. If the book is also on Audible, the extra length even nudges the audiobook's list price up, since Audible's pricing ties to total runtime, which makes the audiobook look like a better deal for a credit.

This is the single biggest, most buried takeaway in this whole episode. Kindle Unlimited pays per page read, so if a reader finishes the first chapter of book two at the back of book one, then later reads that same chapter again inside book two itself, you get paid twice. It doesn't conflict with the one-ask-per-book rule either, since it comes after your main call to action. I recommend it for nearly every author, fiction or nonfiction.

Even a parenting book can end with the first chapter of a book on marriage, framed as helping the reader become a better parent.

Laurie: Those extra pages are also less likely to get cut, since Amazon sometimes randomly drops back matter. But 20 or 30 pages of bonus chapter signals the book isn't over yet, which helps those calls to action survive.

Thomas: The math is worth running. It comes out to roughly four cents per book per reader for 10 pages of bonus content, which adds up fast across a few thousand readers, and could potentially mean thousands of dollars. Just stay within the 10% cap. A decade ago, some authors gamed the system with absurdly long books to inflate page reads, which is why Kindle Unlimited introduced that limit in the first place.

Where should your map live in an ebook?

Laurie: What about maps? In print, especially epic fantasy, the map traditionally goes at the front, and skipping that placement almost feels like a genre faux pas. But in ebooks, readers on Kindle Unlimited often jump straight past the front matter into the story and miss it. Plus, front matter doesn't count toward page reads anyway.

Would you put it at the back instead?

Thomas: For paper, the front still makes sense. For ebooks, list it in the table of contents, link to it from relevant chapters, but place the actual map at the end.

As far as we understand Kindle Unlimited's system, it pays based on the furthest page a reader reached, so if a map sits at the very end and most readers check it, you get paid for the entire book, whether or not they actually finished the story.

That's based on watching how Amazon fights fraud over time. They haven't shown any sign of tracking granular data like time spent per page, since that level of analytics would be expensive to run, and their compute is better spent elsewhere. Putting the map at the end, for a Kindle Unlimited strategy, is a solid move.

Laurie: Would that work for a character compendium too? Someone forgets who a character is, sees it listed in the table of contents, and jumps to the back to check.

Thomas: Potentially. I have a Patron Toolbox tool that builds a character compendium, though you'll need to edit it, since it also includes narration notes meant for an audiobook performer.

For a first book in a series, put it at the back, since it may contain spoilers. For later books, especially with a large cast, putting it at the front can work. Jerry Jenkins did that with the Left Behind series, since it had an enormous cast. It gave readers a quick primer on who everyone was and what they were up to before diving in.

When in doubt, put it at the back and list it in the table of contents, so a reader can jump straight there. That also protects readers who'd rather avoid spoilers, since they simply won't stumble into it.

Laurie: Just don't reveal the murderer in your character compendium.

Thomas: If you use my compendium tool, know that it's built to help you plan future books and isn't the least bit careful about spoilers. Review the compendium yourself before publishing. At the back of the book, spoilers aren't a concern. At the front, they are.

How many things should you ask a reader to do?

Thomas: I want to talk briefly about landing-page thinking, because ebooks follow web rules more than paper rules. An EPUB is really just an HTML file, the same language the web runs on, so an ebook is technically one long web page. The rule of thumb for any landing page holds here too. Use only one call to action per page. When you give someone two choices, they'll often pick the third, unseen option, which is to do nothing.

Since an ebook doesn't have a fixed "page" the way paper does, and Kindle generates pages on the fly based on font size and device, you're really working with one call to action for the entire book if you want to maximize results.

I know some authors will want to include everything, but the more you focus purely on the review ask, the more reviews you'll get. If you're struggling to get reviews on a first book, try simplifying by using the review link and QR code. Without competing asks, you may see the numbers improve. That review count matters because everything else in your marketing is judged against it.

How should your call-to-action change across a series?

Thomas: In general, I recommend beginning authors write standalone books first, and if one takes off, write a sequel.

Learning to land a satisfying ending matters, and too many authors, especially newer ones, lean on a series before they've proven they can finish a single story well. But a series does open up real financial advantages, including the chance to vary your call to action from book to book.

Laurie, if you had a four- or five-book series, how would you plan each one's ask?

Laurie: Book one should ask for a review, since that builds the foundation for advertising and sales. Book two is where you shift to the mailing list, using a fan magnet, since these readers are already invested. They just finished the story and want to spend a little more time with the characters, so a downloadable short story works well there and gets them onto your list at the same time.

For book three, I'd lean toward word of mouth, asking readers to share the book with a friend, maybe paired with a shareable teaser story that works as a stranger magnet for someone new.

What would you do beyond book three, if a series runs longer than a trilogy?

Thomas: Additional reader magnets as rewards can work, as can something more community-driven, such as applying for a launch team or inviting readers into a wider fan community. It depends a lot on your story world and how many books you have.

I like the idea of a unique companion magnet attached to each book. If you're using Kit (Affiliate Link), you can even see exactly how far into the series a subscriber has read based on which magnets they've claimed. That allows you to build a campaign targeting anyone who has book three's magnet but not book four's.

Laurie: That's a fun idea, and it would work well for nonfiction too.

For fiction, a side story or a character's backstory that only appears in that book's back matter would work the same way. I especially enjoy this when an author has visited the real place their book is set, like sharing a personal essay or video about researching ancient Rome for a historical novel. That kind of behind-the-scenes material makes a great reader magnet.

What happens after the last book in a series?

Thomas: At the end of a series' final book, always promote book one of another series. The goal is to get readers to start something new, which can be a hard sell, since they may have picked up this series for very specific reasons. Plenty of readers finish an entire series by an author and never try that author's other work, simply because nobody made the case for it.

The sales pitch at the end of a series needs to sell the second series by highlighting whatever elements the two share. If series A is a thriller romance and series B is a mystery romance, sell the romance and keep the reader moving through that journey.

How often do you have to update back matter?

Thomas: Back matter has to differ across formats, but it also needs to change over time. Your "also by" page has to update across every previous book each time you publish something new. It used to mean manually editing Calibre files or working in InDesign. Now it's something AI or an assistant can help maintain.

Say you're partway through a five-book series and just finished book two. Book two won't yet have a first chapter of book three to include, but eventually it can. Go back periodically and make sure every book's back matter reflects the most current, optimized version available. That small bit of ongoing labor pays off for years.

Don't treat your back matter as fixed.

If you already have books live on Amazon, this is a great excuse to audit what's there, reorder it, trim the number of options, or add a bonus chapter where it's missing. Every previous book's back matter is an asset you can keep improving for free, or close to it. It costs time, not money, to update older books so they promote whatever's coming next.

Laurie: If you use a tool like Atticus, you can build master pages that carry across every book. Update your "about the author" page in one book, mark it as a master page, and it copies into your other books automatically. Change it again later and Atticus asks whether to update it everywhere or just in that one book. I'm not sure whether Vellum has the same feature, but it's a real time-saver in Atticus.

Can an audiobook have back matter too?

Thomas: Yes. I usually recommend hiring or becoming a professional narrator, since your book deserves professional narration. It's easier than ever to become your own narrator. Even if you hired a narrator, you should personally voice your audiobook's back matter.

First, a direct request in your own voice saying, "Hey, this is

, thanks for listening, here's where to find more," lands far better than the same request read by a narrator who sounds like they're performing a commercial for someone else. A personal ask from the author is simply more persuasive.

Second, voicing it yourself means you can update it later. Your audiobook file isn't static. The one real constraint with audio is that any URL has to pass the radio test, meaning it has to be easy to say and easy to remember. That’s another reason the WordPress Redirection plugin is so useful. A page like authorname.com/goody is short enough for a listener to actually remember.

Laurie: A PDF companion seems like a natural pairing for an audiobook, whether it lives inside Audible itself or lives on your website. I'd honestly rather send listeners to my website, so they can download things like a companion map or workbook pages that go with the book.

Thomas: Audible does support a PDF companion that lives inside the app and can link out to your website, so you can essentially turn your back matter into a PDF companion, maps included. Always use high-resolution maps. I've listened to plenty of fantasy series with no idea where anything was, because the author assumed everyone would eventually see the print map. I ended up buying paper copies of Brandon Sanderson's books just to see the maps I'd been missing for years.

That said, PDF isn't always the right format.

If you're writing nonfiction, a journal template should be an editable Word document, not a static PDF. Ideally, it should all live on your book's page on your own website. That page should double as customer support for anyone who bought the book, with discussion questions, the audiobook companion, and reader magnets all in one place. Making that page the single best resource about your book anywhere online helps both traditional SEO and newer AI-driven search.

If someone's listening to your audiobook, they're already in "audio mode," so an audio-native reader magnet, a bonus scene you've narrated, or an additional chapter can work especially well.

Links to podcast interviews about the book also fit naturally here. Hearing an author discuss a book you just finished, without worrying about spoilers, adds a layer you can't get any other way. If you host a podcast yourself, mention it in your audiobook's back matter, since audiobook listeners are exactly the audience most likely to subscribe to one.

Laurie: Especially if the podcast relates to the book's genre. A completely unrelated podcast probably won't convert, but a romance writer who hosts a Christian romance podcast has an audience that wants more of exactly that.

Thomas: If any of this sparked ideas, check out the Patron Toolbox at patrontoolbox.com. I've built more tools around back matter than almost anything else, aside from maybe blurbs.

Get Help With Your Back Matter

Thomas: Laurie, for an author sitting on a pile of back matter that needs updating across a dozen different files, is that something you help with?

Laurie: Yes, absolutely. I can help brainstorm ideas and update the files themselves. I won't upload anything to Amazon directly; you'll still need to do that part, but I can get everything ready. Reach out anytime at Laurie@LaurieChristine.com.

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