What Reader Magnets does
A reader magnet is the free bonus content you give away to grow a mailing list — a deleted scene, a character interview, a prequel, or a world guide that fans pick up through BookFunnel or StoryOrigin. The usual way to make one is to write it in Word and hand-style an export that never quite matches the book.
Bookshaper's Reader Magnet exporter drafts the piece from the project state you already built — a scene's POV and characters, a character's arc, your locations and notebook world-building — then sends it through the same EPUB/PDF pipeline as your book. The result inherits your interior typography, ornaments, and palette, so the giveaway looks like it belongs to the book, because it was made from the book.
Each magnet is saved with your project as its own document. You can re-open it, edit it, regenerate it, or export it again at any time.
The four magnet types
Open the Market section of the sidebar and click Reader Magnet, then New Reader Magnet. Pick the type that fits the giveaway:
- Deleted / Extended Scene — a cut or extended beat drafted from a chosen scene's POV, location, and characters, written to sit alongside the real manuscript.
- Character Interview — a Q&A answered in a character's own voice, drawn from their profile and arc. One click from a character you've developed.
- Prequel / Backstory — a self-contained piece set before the book, seeded from a character's pre-story history and your notebook world-building notes.
- World / Lore Guide — a compiled reference to the book's world, drawn from your locations and notebook world-building entries.
Choosing a seed
Each type asks only for what it draws on: a deleted scene takes a seed scene, a character interview and a prequel take a character, and a world guide can anchor on one location or compile from all of them. Bookshaper pre-selects a strong default — the latest scene inside your spoiler limit, your most-developed character, your most-referenced location — and each type remembers your choice if you switch between them.
The spoiler limit
A prequel or interview is usually low-spoiler, but a deleted scene from late in the book — or a guide compiled from late material — can give away the ending. So Keep the ending out is on for every new magnet, holding back the last 25% of the book; the Last part of the book slider widens or narrows that.
Everything the magnet draws on respects it: the chapter summaries handed to the model, the scenes you can seed from, and the characters and places you can pick — anything that first appears past the limit is greyed out. Uncheck the box when the piece is safe.
Generating and editing the draft
Click Generate Draft. Bookshaper assembles the relevant context — book metadata, the seed, and chapter synopses within your spoiler limit — and drafts the piece, matching your book's established voice and POV. The draft lands in a full editor where you can revise it like any other document; regenerate any time for a fresh take.
Generation is a guided first draft, not a finished file. A deleted scene or interview usually arrives close to final; a long prequel is a strong starting point you extend in the editor.
Reader Magnets reuses the manuscript analysis you've already run — there's no second ingest of your book.
Exporting for BookFunnel or StoryOrigin
When the draft reads the way you want, click Export EPUB (or Export PDF). Bookshaper exports the magnet through your book's active style template, so the typography, ornaments, and palette match your interior, with a title page that names the piece and ties it back to the book.
The EPUB is ready to upload to BookFunnel or StoryOrigin as your list's free download; the PDF is there when you need a fixed-layout version.