Tuesday Tidbit: It’s Not the Size of the Package & Giveaway
This contest is now closed; thanks so much to everyone who visited and commented! Cherri is my winner–I’ll email you separately about claiming your prize.
I went out for dinner with my husband last night, and we talked about whether or not size matters.
Um, no, not that. Although when you’re a romance writer, that *is* a serious question that deserves contemplation over Mother’s Day dinner.
No, we were actually talking about what length of stories people like to read. And whether length still matters, now that we read so much digitally.
He suggested that since so many people read digitally, you’d expect them to want to read more, shorter books. Maybe, he said, nobody wants big anymore.
I argued that romance readers are attuned to story length, even when we read digitally, and that most readers still prefer books that fit into length categories that we understand — big, single title books; small, category books; novellas; and short shorts. And I said that overall I thought readers still liked books that felt substantial — long novellas, category length novels, and full-length novels.
Do you like to read longer books? Shorter ones? Why? Are there times when you prefer one over the other, and what are they? Are you willing to pay more for a longer book? And do you have different expectations for different lengths of work?
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May 13, 2014 @ 10:07 am
A year ago I might have told you that I only liked full-length novels. But since then I’ve read more widely in the romance genre and find I like them all. I’ve been enjoying the novella-length stuff quite a bit, though I often find I’d like a bit more at the end. I like Blaze, though again, I often feel like I needed a couple of more chapters. The appeal of the novella or category is that I can read it in one day. I’ve been putting off Outlander for awhile b/c I know it’s gonna take me weeks to finish it.
May 16, 2014 @ 9:20 am
Oh, Outlander! You have so much wonderfulness ahead of you. And the eighth book comes out next month.
I think we’ve all had a chance over the last year or so to become more interested in shorter-length stuff because digital has really caused an explosion in that area. I’ve always had a tough time with short stories, partly because collections are overwhelming. But a one-off shortie–that’s my speed sometimes.
May 13, 2014 @ 12:17 pm
I need to get a better grasp on word count because I quantify my reading in pages. Pages aren’t an reliable measure of length because of typesetting and layout differences. For full-length books, I generally look for 300-400 pages. I cast a side-eye at books over 500 pages and I don’t pick up books over 1000 pages. They require too much stamina and delayed gratification to read. I’m referring to fiction here because I apply different length guidelines to nonfiction.
I’ve discovered in the past few years that I really like novellas because they’re comparatively quick and satisfying while providing enough depth. I get more annoyed at books that are too long than at books that are too short. I’ve read novels that were so repetitive that they should have been novellas.
I do think novellas should be priced less than other works, and for better or for worse, I lump all other novels together in pricing regardless of length.
May 16, 2014 @ 9:23 am
That makes sense to me–I bet most readers who aren’t writers don’t think in terms of word counts. And I’m not even sure what to think about word–>page count conversions any more because now that so much is digital-first, they don’t come out exactly the way I’d expect. But I think it’s GENERALLY around 75 pages per 20K words.
And yes, bottom line, the book should match the size of the story. That’s one of the hardest things for us to figure out as writers! how big a story we need to tell for the size of book we’re trying to write, and/or vice versa. 🙂
May 14, 2014 @ 7:53 pm
For me, it varies. Often times I will be reading a book and realize it’s coming to a close and I wish it were longer. Other times I’ll be reading a book and think it goes on too long. If the story really grips me and draws me in, I never want it to end, so I’m good with it being longer. I do, however, get into moods in which I see a book’s length and decide if I want to embark on reading it due solely to that.
I’m a big fan of novellas, especially when they revisit a story I already loved. I get frustrated with them when they are SO GOOD that I need more, but know that, nope, that’s it! I’m a book junkie though! 🙂 In general, I think novellas should be priced less because it’s a smaller story.
When it comes to paperbacks, I understand the price being higher for longer stories because of the amount of materials that go into printing it. Ebooks shouldn’t be affected by that in my opinion.
Judging by the overflow of all of my bookshelves, I’m not too picky about the price, though!
May 16, 2014 @ 9:26 am
Pricing’s kind of an interesting thing. I definitely think novellas & shorts should be less expensive than novels, and I’m a big fan of the $.99 price point for those. And I agree that a “long” novel isn’t necessarily worth more than a “regular-length” or even “short” novel. It does make me kind of sad, though–both as an author AND as a reader–to see so many books being priced at $.99. Because I think it will push down the value of books generally, which is GREAT short term and probably not so great long term. I think we’ll see a lot of upheaval in publishing and writing as a result of the $.99 price point becoming SO prevalent–because writers have to write so fast and publishers have to publish so much to make money at that price point, that inevitably quality HAS to drop. And ultimately, some people won’t survive at that pace/volume. But we’ll see!
May 16, 2014 @ 9:28 am
This contest is now closed; thanks so much to everyone who visited and commented! Cherri is my winner–I’ll email you separately about claiming your prize.