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Book Size
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JeanieandJayha
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Jul 11, 2009 10:00AM
what size book do you prefer to read?
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I generally like full-size novels. I sometimes feel a little gypped with a short story...especially if it's so short that there is no time for character or relationship development.
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I can stand a book that a little over 100 pages and even in the middle 200's or even close to 300.
But, when a book starts to get up to 400 + that's when I find it hard to read. I mean, I'll probably read a book, but like I have said, it better be a fast pace book. Even book with large prints.
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But Arch you are much more savvy book buyer than I, sadly.
I love the full length romance novels and I also love the shorter Harlequin Blazes and Silhouette Desires.
I enjoy both short novels and full length romance novels. It seems there are more short than long novels lately.
I usually prefer standard paperback size for romances though some books are paced well at slightly less. For fantasy, I like them chunky. :D
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Traci I wish more of the IRs were longer. It's kind of frustrating that you pay $4-6 for an ebook and it's only 200 or so pages.
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I've always said that I don't care for anthologies because the stories are just too short and don't always tell you what a "new to me" author can do with a story, but I find myself still getting them from time to to time if is a story or stories but authors I do know and something catches my attention.
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Gatadelafuente (Danielle) wrote: "I like to read short story horror and fantasy collections. It's nice to be able to pick up a short story and finish it and put the volume down until you have time again. For romance, I prefer full ..."a short story is the most difficult for us to write...the only way we're generally able to pull it off is if it is a spinoff of characters we already have developed...that way we don't have to do the whole background etc...
we like HEA over HFN ending also...
Eugenia wrote: "It depends, for noir I can do full size or short story, I have a ton of books that have short story noir. Mystery, which is really my favorite, I like full novel, preferably a series with a main ch..."i am smiling b/c while jeanie can read long stories...anything over 150 pages scares me off...that's not good for a writer...smile
Gatadelafuente (Danielle) wrote: "I haven't been able to bring myself to read the really long books unless it's an anthology. That's why I haven't read Outlander yet. The Count of Monte Cristo is ginormous too."same and it's just too long for me to even consider using it for anything other than a paperweight despite the great reviews...
Eugenia wrote: "Arch wrote: "Oh okay Eugenia. I can stand a book that a little over 100 pages and even in the middle 200's or even close to 300.
But, when a book starts to get up to 400 + that's when I find..."
Eugenia wrote: "Arch wrote: "Oh okay Eugenia.
I can stand a book that a little over 100 pages and even in the middle 200's or even close to 300.
But, when a book starts to get up to 400 + that's when I find..."
camille anthony has a few long ones...so does raelynn blue, savannah j frierson, and even we have a couple...
for me it's word count, but readers indicated that they base things on page numbers...which is fine but page numbers can be manipulated by changing font, size and margins...b/c we self-pub, we used a smaller font and single spacing to make the print version as cheap as possible since our books are more expensive than standard trade books...dell doubleday/simon shuster can sell books for five bucks b/c they sell so many books per month...
but readers indicated that the print was too small etc so we changed to 14 pt 1.5 spacing with standard margins...makes the book longer as far as pages but more expensive..
we have several books in the 200 page range...we have one that is a hefty book (400 pages)...we have some in the 100 page range.
Debbie wrote: "I love the full length romance novels and I also love the shorter Harlequin Blazes and Silhouette Desires. "so many writers are opting for shorter ones b/c it takes several months to write a long one...then you send out your queries to book companies and that is a 30-90 day process to see if someone is interested...
then once you sign contracts, it can be up to a year until your book comes out...meanwhile, you're not making any money...traditional print the writer is lucky to get 10 percent...
ebooks the author gets more...but you don't necessarily sell a lot of books as ebooks are easy to pirate...
that is why most authors have a day job and to keep your name out there you have to keep writing but it's hard to write 400 page novels and put out four a year...a lot easier to write 100 page shorts.
Gatadelafuente (Danielle) wrote: "Debbie you are not alone. I am a huge Harlequin/Silhouette addict, back from my young days. NU pace is what matters. A short book can be just as boring if there's nothing going on. A long book ca..."we feel you as readers ourselves but as authors it makes no sense for us to spend several months and several hundred dollars for cover art etc only to make 600 bucks for an entire book...
most e-pubs give authors somewhere in the 30 percent range of cover price...and unfortunately most ebooks don't sell as much as peeps think...my best-selling ebook The Wild Wild Mess: Atlanta sold around 1500 copies but that took a year and a half...and it was rejected by everyone ... then when it was finally picked up it was a year until it came out... many authors (and i'm talking good authors) only sell about 400 copies of a book..
marie rochelle is a prolific author and she is always busy writing and editing ... but she still has to have a job even putting out as many books as she does...
most ebook authors are lucky to make 4 grand a year...
editors are paid by the number of copies a book sells so if the book doesn't sell, they get no money...one editor i know made 18 dollars in three months b/c the books she edited didn't sell...and she edited several.
j and i are readers as well as authors so we ALWAYS strive to write a book that we'd want to read...we know we charge more so we always try to make it worth the reader's TIME and money...
i don't mind paying money for a good ebook but i mind reading a poor book...even if the book was free my time was spent reading it and i can't get that back...
hope that made some sense...
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Gatadelafuente (Danielle) wrote: "Wow. That was great information. Thanks so much, ladies."you're welcome...
Eugenia wrote: "Jeanieandjayha wrote: "Debbie wrote: "I love the full length romance novels and I also love the shorter Harlequin Blazes and Silhouette Desires. "so many writers are opting for shorter ones b/c..."
exactly, but that is no reason to give readers some bs prose...when i stop trusting a writer to give me a decent story, i don't buy their books anymore...
you can often tell when writers simply write to get some cash, versus writing with their whole hearts...reminds me of shrek three...dym, they just should have called that movie 'give us your money' b/c they made money off of the shrek name...made no efford to write a decent movie...that is uncalled for...
we never want to cheat the reader ... or ourselves...even if someone didn't like our stories, a lot of effort and research and thought went into the story.
we might be authors but we are also readers...some of my fav stories hae taken us to places that we never thought we'd go but ah, the journey stayed with us
Eugenia wrote: "Jeanieandjayha wrote: "Gatadelafuente (Danielle) wrote: "Debbie you are not alone. I am a huge Harlequin/Silhouette addict, back from my young days. NU pace is what matters. A short book can be ju..."we've had a couple of years to learn the ropes...and we're still learning. the best education we had was as readers buying books...for so long in the IR game there were so few authors...so the content could be mediocre and that was acceptable to many b/c there wasn't anything else to choose from...but now the IR genre is exploding...so many good authors, so many new stories, so many more venues for discussion of the books, the authors and such..
but as much as an author goes through, a reader doesn't just pay in money; they pay in time...time invested in reading a book...and we never want to forget that....
i like going to chick fil a...not because i like their food but because i like the way i am treated when i go there as opposed to other places that act like they don't give a dym that you chose their establishment..
Eugenia wrote: "Oh, I understand where you're coming from. Just because it's a business doesn't mean you should just make a product for making the product's sake. You have to give people something worth buying and..."lucky we have a group of readers that will tell us that somehting is bs...we give them a few chapters at a time and ask their opinion to make sure we are writing a story that they comprehend and want to read...beta readers are important b/c they will tell you that your shyt stinks...smile
so many writers just want their azzes kissed and think that b/c they have a book or two they don't need to consider the audience...
i remember one year at the academy awards whoopie goldberg was on stage and i am not sure if she was presenting or receiving an award but the peeps in the balcony were screaming catcalling and all that...quite boisterous and while some actors were looking put out at their enthusiasm, whoopie leaned down to the mike and said, youbetter appreciate these peeps b/c they pay your rent
hey, send us the link to your literotia stuff..www.jeanieandjayha.com (our website)
http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcc... (our bookstore)
Eugenia wrote: "Oh here you gohttp://www.literotica.com/stories/sho...
This is my story Rendevous, first story I wrote came to me in the middle of the night, LOL
http://www.literotica.com/st..."
omg that is like us... we like to throw in lots of details so the reader is there with us...we like to toss in some history, something from teh Bible (though we have a liberal exegesis of the text)...and we like to spend time creating characters that peeps want to know...ty for the link...going there now...
Eugenia wrote: "LOL. I'll throw in everything and the kitchen sink. It can ridiculous with me so I'm trying my hand at writing concisely. You're welcome about the link. I checked out your website, I love it. T..."
thanks for the compliments...we like to have fun..b/c if we're not having fun, what's the point...we both already have day jobs (in my case a night job) that we don't have fun at...so if we're going to do this...it has to be fun...just has to be...that's how we roll...smile.
Eugenia wrote: "Yes, I know what you mean what's the point if you just can't enjoy yourself and it seems you two are really enjoying yourselves over there, LOL. "we do but you know what else it is...we enjoy the readers and we enjoy reading..we are so amped to meet our fav authors (yes we are groupies of so many authors) at next years RT...and our fellow group of authors (Badazz authors) are going to turn it out...and some of the girls in teh MFP Posse will be there too.
Full size novels. but not if the writer is contriving situations - especiallys ones that don't quite ring true
Justine wrote: "Full size novels. but not if the writer is contriving situations - especiallys ones that don't quite ring true"one thing that gets me upset about lengthy novels is when authors just keep writing to get page number...they drag it out and by that time i am tired of the book and usually don't finish it.
Eugenia wrote: "Jeanieandjayha wrote: "Eugenia wrote: "LOL. I'll throw in everything and the kitchen sink. It can ridiculous with me so I'm trying my hand at writing concisely. You're welcome about the link. I..."
i am guessing a lot of times authors do that to get a certain page number as book price is often determined by page number/word count.
message 40:
by
Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors
(last edited Jul 14, 2009 06:57AM)
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I know with my stories, I am pretty sure they won't appeal to about 85% of the population. That's okay, as long as someone out there reads them and connects with them and I know I wrote the story from my heart.
We readers really need to learn to view writing as a profession. To us it's just entertainment, but to writers it's so much more. It's a livelihood and a career. They have to take it seriously and it makes them vulnerable to the cruel, cutting words of fans who don't get that there's more at stake then their few hours of entertainment when the story is being read.
Just rambling here. Nothing directed towards anyone for what has been said. I just think of these things because I have just heard some terribly cruel and uncalled-for things said about writers.
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You are so right, Eugenia. People seem to feel a license to have bad manners on the internet. It saddens me.
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I thought we were talking about book size? LOL! xD
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dreamwild1985 wrote: "ugh, i should've kept my mouth shut, lol...here's the link to my blog where the videos are: check out my menz...
http://iwritesmut.blogspot.com/2009/0... "
Is that the guy from Eureka? Nathan?
I like a book that's worth my money, If I paid $1 for it that's ok it can be shortbut if I paid 7-15 bucks for it..I should be reading it forever lol
I like big books
Sharon wrote: "dreamwild1985 wrote: "ugh, i should've kept my mouth shut, lol...here's the link to my blog where the videos are: check out my menz...
http://iwritesmut.blogspot.com/2009/0......"
i feel you on good books...i have some books that i've read so much they are held together by grace and rubber bands...indigo, ransom are two examples
