For authors · Guide
Have you ever wanted to look over a reader’s shoulder?
Reviews arrive weeks later, if they arrive at all, and say “loved it” or “not for me”. They don’t tell you which scene made someone laugh out loud, which line hit hard, or where a reader frowned and disagreed. Beta readers help, but you can only ask your friends so many times.
What an Echo is
While they read your book in the LocalBooks reader, readers can leave an Echo on a passage: one of six reactions, Moved, Laughed, Wow, Nailed it, Hard or Disagree.
Each reader gets three Echoes per chapter, so they save them for the moments that really land. An Echo is a small signal that says: this line, right here.
- Moved
- Laughed
- Wow
- Nailed it
- Hard
- Disagree
What you see
Your book’s Echoes page shows how many Echoes each chapter received, and the passages readers reacted to, with the mix of reactions on each. You see your book the way your readers felt it, paragraph by paragraph.
What you never see: who
Echoes are private by design. You see totals, never who left them. Other readers never see them at all; each reader sees only their own.
Readers’ highlights, notes and bookmarks are separate and stay private to the reader. You never see those, not even as counts. See reading privacy.
What authors use Echoes for
Find the lines that work, and use them in your blurb, your trailer pitch or your next post. Spot chapters that get no reactions at all. See whether “Hard” and “Disagree” cluster around one scene. Compare how the opening lands against the ending.
Echoes stay put when you revise: when you upload a new version of the ebook, they move to the same paragraphs by their text.
How to get Echoes on your book
Upload your ebook
In My books, open your book and upload an EPUB in its Ebook section, preview it, then publish it.
Readers react as they read
Signed-in readers select a passage and choose Echo, then pick a reaction. They can move one later.
Open your Echoes
In My books, open the book and click “See Echoes”: counts by chapter, and the passages readers reacted to.
Pair them with your stats
Echoes show what moves readers; book stats show how far they get.
What it costs
Echoes come with every listing at no extra cost. Your first book is free to list.
Questions
Can I see who left an Echo?
No, never. You see totals per chapter and per passage.
Can other readers see Echoes?
No. Each reader sees only their own. Only the author sees the totals.
Why only three per chapter?
So each Echo means something. A reader who could react to everything would tell you nothing.
Do Echoes include highlights?
No. Highlights, notes and bookmarks are private to the reader. Authors never see them, not even counts.
What happens to Echoes when I upload a corrected version?
They move to the same paragraphs, matched by their text.
Have you ever wanted to look over a reader’s shoulder?