Why Serial Novelettes Are Not For Me

There’s a new author-trend in town: back-to-back releases of novelettes.

By definition a novelette (for YOUNG ADULT fiction in which book lengths are usually 45,000 to 85,000 words) is a short story which is anywhere between 5,000 and 11,000 words (for fiction it’s 7,500 – 15,000 words).

The new serial novelette trend is usually chapters from one novel broken across a group of novelettes. A good example of this is Isobel Lucas’ Hell Bent, Heaven series.

The issue for me is not the length of the book. I’ve read some damn good short stories that were less than 10,000 words. 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 novelette/novella/book is in fact just the first 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.

Filed under: Novelettes, Novella, Writing