Novellas As the Future of Publishing. Huh.
Over on io9, there’s a post about Tor’s newest brainwave: Novellas as the future of publishing. You should read the whole Tor theory, but boiled down to TLDR: Readers don’t have much time and they want to be able to finish a story fast, so novellas will dominate the future of digital publishing.
I have some thoughts on this:
1. The guy who decided this isn’t a writer or he’d know that good stories tend to be the length they need to be, not what the author decides. For proof of this, read the short version of Flowers for Algernon and then the long version.
2. The guy who decided this isn’t a reader or he’d know that people who really love reading do not consider shortening that experience a plus.
3. The guy who decided this isn’t a bookseller or he’d know that the idea that there’s One Reader who wants One Thing all the time not only grossly underestimates the vast variety of readers out there, he grossly underestimates how the desires of any One Reader will change depending on circumstances, environment, how the day went, what he or she just read previously, and above all, why he or she is reading now. If there was One Reader who wanted One Thing, bookselling would not be the blood-stained casino it is now and always has been.
Granted, he does specify “our readers,” aka readers of Tor-published fiction, aka science fiction and fantasy readers, because everybody knows they don’t read doorstop-sized books of epic proportions . . . oh, wait.
It’s not that I think there’s no market for novellas; there’s a market for every form of fiction. It’s not that I don’t know that digital publishing has made novella more viable than ever before, that’s just common sense. It’s not even that I don’t like novellas, although I have a helluva time writing them. I think it’s great Tor is doing novellas, more markets are always good.
I just don’t think novellas are the future of publishing.
Now tell me I’m wrong . . .
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I don't read novellas (the inbetween books in book series) but I do read books that are novella length. That's not all I read though. The best books tend to be the longer ones for me. What I read really just depends on if it's something I would like or not. If it takes me a month to finish a book because it's really long but I'm enjoying then I'm going to read it. Books aren't really meant to be read over night anyways, it just so happens that some people find the time to do so or they do so with the "novellas". I didn't know that many people read them until you posted this.Kym, Bet Me is an amazing book! I have it in hardcover and have read it numerous times.
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Regarding "good stories tend to be the length they need to be, not what the author decides" - I have to agree 100 percent. My choice to read a story is not based on it's length. It's based on how well the story has been sold to me. I'm an avid reader of anything that can hold my interest. Be it contemporary, historical, non-fiction or any other genre.Regarding wanting to finish a story fast - there is some merit to that, however, everything has it's place. It is human nature to want to be happy immediately. Instant gratification is what many people want in the short term. This is also where fads come in to play. In the long term, truly memorable and cherished things tend to be items that we work for the hardest.
I can sit here for however long it takes and read a short story. And it may be memorable. But I can tell you, that for me personally, when I'm so invested in a good long book that I forget to eat or sleep, that is a book I will never forget. It is difficult to be consumed by a novella or a short story. The world building and characterization just isn't there.
On a side note - I too love Bet Me. Anytime I'm feeling a little blue, I pull out my copy and remember that good things are made with butter.
All that said, I generally prefer full-length novels, but ones I can listen to and finish in one day (if I don't finish, I have dreams in which I complete the story, then I'm dissapointed - though maybe delighted - when it turns out different). So if I've got only 5 hours or so until bedtime, I'll pick up a novella or a novel I've read many times (Bet Me is one of my "go to" books).