Series Numbering Question

[Miriam]

This is in reference to the Guardians Series by Valerie Twombly

I went to add the most recent book to the series and have a question about the numbering.

I noticed the 4th book got listed on GR as book 3.5, so I was checking to see what the page count was, but I'm not sure it counts as a novella.

Book #1 (Vampire's Mate) - 278 pages
Book #2 (Dragon's Fate) - 282 pages
Book #3 (Vampire's Kiss) - 278 pages
Book #3.5 (Demon's Destiny) - 171 pages
Book #4 (Hades) - 159 pages
New Book (Vampire's Desire) - 192 pages

What got listed as a novella is actually longer than the next book that got listed as a full novel, so something is listed wrong.

Rivka posted in another thread that 170 pages counted as a novel.

So even though it's shorter than the first 3 novels I'm thinking it should be marked as a regular novel.
Meaning the series should be renumbered from #3.5 & #4 to become #4 & #5?

I want to get it settled before I number the newest book.

Opinions?

[Sandra]

Looks like Demon's Destiny should be #4, but perhaps Hades should be #4.5 at only 159 pages. Then Vampire's Desire would be #5.

Interested to see what others think on this one.

[Miriam]

Sandra wrote: "Looks like Demon's Destiny should be #4, but perhaps Hades should be #4.5 at only 159 pages. Then Vampire's Desire would be #5.

Interested to see what others think on this one."

I was considering that as well. I'm trying to figure out what the cut-off should be for a novella in this case. The 159 page count is right on the edge for what I would normally consider, but needed some other opinions.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Miriam wrote: "Book #3.5 (Demon's Destiny) - 171 pages"

There is an older edition with a page count of 143 pages.

[Miriam]

rivka wrote: "Miriam wrote: "Book #3.5 (Demon's Destiny) - 171 pages"

There is an older edition with a page count of 143 pages."

So do we renumber based on the newer page count or leave it based on the older page count?

Also, would the 159 be a novel or novella length?

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Really, novel v. novella is determined by word count, not page count. Generally the cutoff is accepted to be about 40,000 words. For a book with 250 words per page, that's 160 pages. (Some put the cutoff at 30,000 words. That would be 120 pages at 250 words/page.)

But 250 words/page is an average, and many books have significantly more -- or less. Unfortunately, most books do not list their word count, and the KB count (which is listed for the Kindle editions) appears to have absolutely no correlation with page count.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Oh, and Hades is listed on Amazon as being 173 pages. The 159 was imported several months pre-publication, and is likely to have changed before it was published.

Demon's Destiny has several reviews that refer to it as a novella.

[Miriam]

rivka wrote: "Oh, and Hades is listed on Amazon as being 173 pages. The 159 was imported several months pre-publication, and is likely to have changed before it was published.

Demon's Destiny has several review..."

The reviews for Demon's Destiny that mark it as a novella are actually for Divine Destiny (the version of the book that was 143 pages). The book was rewritten and slightly expanded to become Demon's Destiny.

I updated the page count for Hades.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Miriam wrote: "The book was rewritten and slightly expanded to become Demon's Destiny."

Any idea of word count for either version? Short of that, I tend to lean towards keeping that one as a novella, even with the slight expansion.

[Miriam]

rivka wrote: "Miriam wrote: "The book was rewritten and slightly expanded to become Demon's Destiny."

Any idea of word count for either version? Short of that, I tend to lean towards keeping that one as a novel..."

I'm emailing the author to ask her if she can send me the word counts.

[Miriam]

So Demon's Destiny comes in at 47,070 for a word count, which would make it a novel (Just to note Hades is 46,418 and Vampire's Desire is 52,030)

So I'm going to renumber the series based on the updated version of the book.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Thanks for getting that data. I suggest change comments and Librarian Notes in as many places as possible.

[Miriam]

rivka wrote: "Thanks for getting that data. I suggest change comments and Librarian Notes in as many places as possible."

Added notes/comments to the books I updated and to the series page.

[annob [on hiatus]]

This was a very educational thread I'll make sure to bookmark for future reference. Thank you both Miriam and Rivka.