Newsy Notes ~ Publishing Prediction #8: Books Won't Have a Minimum Length Requirement

Janalyn Voigt

Confused by rapid-fire changes in the publishing landscape? Here's a link to an article covering one of ten publishing predictions I'll cover on consecutive weeks on this blog. I give an analysis of the post and my own take on the prediction.

This week's link:

Ebooks that are too short to be print books will become a real factor in ebook sales, opening up new opportunities for publishers but even more for authors. ~ Mike Shatzkin; A baker's dozen predictions for 2010

Points of Interest to Writers:

Following the success of short fiction in the romance genre, ebooks too short to become print books will factor into ebook sales.
Some major publishers already do publish anthology stories separately on Kindle.
Short works will provide a platform for experimentation for authors.
Newspapers and magazines will access Kindle as a paid delivery mechanism.
Web sites ready to deliver shorter books electronically will spring up.

My take:

Yes, yes and yes. I wholeheartedly agree that, in our beyond-busy lifestyles, the time for shorter books has come. Electronic books now make them feasible, from a financial standpoint, to produce. With the price point of books dropping, a writer can use short fiction sales to make the most out of limited writing time and create a readership more quickly. This is one change in the publishing landscape beneficial to writers.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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