Novelettes on the rise!
I released #1 (Suffocate) in my Breathless Novelette series in June. At the time, I had no idea they would become so popular in the indie world! Choke #2 comes out the end of Oct and Exhale #3 comes out in mid Dec. They will all be packaged as a paperback for the holidays.
But Isobel Lucas wrote her Hell Bent series and is releasing them 2 weeks apart. Smart idea!
Novellettes are becoming popular to indies because they are faster to write, you can release them quickly, and they grab your audience for the series because they come out faster than novels.
Indie readers tend to not like to wait for follow ups so the fact that Isobel is releasing them back to back is cool.
Hell Bent, Heaven Sent novelette series starts in October and will release every 2 weeks until the end of the year.
(NOTE: Due to sex and language, this is New Adult recommended for readers 17 and up!)
Hell Bent, Heaven Sent - #1 is On Raven's Wings (10,000 words)
Mary Joseph's family is going through a financial crisis and now she's forced to finish out senior year at the local public school. In an effort to erase her Catholic school girl image, she joins a rock band, gets a makeover from her best friend, and changes her name to Raven.
Ian, the hottest guy in school, notices her and she's plunged into a world she never expected to enter. His kisses are as steamy as his body, but Raven doesn't know if he's telling her the truth about his bizarre family or if he's just saying anything to convince her to go all the way.
When disaster hits Raven's family, she has to make a decision: ignore Ian's wild claims or take a leap of faith.
On Raven's Wings is the first episode in a series of five novelettes (10,000 - 15,000 words) releasing every two weeks starting October 23rd. Due to sex and language, this is recommended for readers 17 and up.
To celebrate, head to her blog - she is she is running a huge giveaway.
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I think that it is important for the author to be very up-front about how long the books are (as Johannes does). I think readers just want to be informed... and then they can make their purchasing choices as they wish. I do hear many readers really liking novelettes/novellas because they really want something they can read in an afernoon. I prefer longer works and love when smaller ones are between novels, but I can absolutely see the market for novelettes. I would love to write them! Informative post =) I look forward to reading yours =)
The issue is not always the length of the book. It's the fact that these new serial novelettes are not intended to be stand-alone works for the characters or the plot line.
Many times, authors won't advertise the fact that their book is really in fact 4 chapters of a full-length novel before you buy it. It feels a little petty to have go into Amazon and have to buy novelette's 1-5 to get the same reading material and characterization of an actual book.
I remember seeing an indie author who published 8 books at once. Each book was ONE chapter in her novel. She charged .99c for each. I think that's unfair and a clear way for indie authors looking to a make quick buck to pull one over on an unsuspecting reader.
I DO, however, support the trend towards Novelettes/Novellas in between full-length works. Some of my favorite authors have picked up on this trend and started releasing 15,000 - 20,000 word short stories. In this sense it's a brilliant bridge between books.