Strategies for 2015

[Alp]

This may be of interest

http://www.npmartin.com/self-publishi...

Alp

[T.D.]

Interesting! Thanks for sharing!

[Bobbi]

Thanks, Alp! Very interesting.

[Adan]

I guess it all comes down to the old advice: If you want it badly enough, you're going to do what it takes to get there. Thanks for sharing, Alp.

[Paul]

Thanks, Alp. An insightful article. :)

[Philip]

Thanks for the article. On one side I agree with the business philosophy of write what sells. I do not make a living as a writer so I have the luxury of writing what I want, even need, to write.

On the other hand, do I want to amend what I write just so that I can fit in with a marketing strategy.

There are plenty of discussions about story length. I'm currently reading War and Peace 1500 pages apparently. I have just finished what I started writing as a novel but has finished as a short story about 40 pages. My other writing had been much longer 95,000 and upwards words.

Of course what seems to be happening is the serialisation of books into volumes. That itself is the marketing technique to which I am not immune. But my volumes are volumes of 100,000 not one story split into three 30,000 efforts

Perhaps I am missing a trick and associated income.

[Anne]

I'm writing in the mystery genre. While I can certainly write shorter books to go along with what all the marketing whizzes are currently telling us sells (sagas, serials, sets), I can't take a 65,000 word story and make it two stories. Mysteries must tell the full story.

I am bowing to the marketing pressure though and writing shorter - complete - books. My first book had a few different story arcs. The second one, due out in January will not have so many paths to tie together at the end.

[Philip]

Anne wrote: "I'm writing in the mystery genre. While I can certainly write shorter books to go along with what all the marketing whizzes are currently telling us sells (sagas, serials, sets), I can't take a 65,..."

Yes perhaps that is the way, only I fear that it will make the overall read less satisfying. I like complex stories with large casts as a reader. Something totally involving, but perhaps I am odd compared to most readers. My own spy thrillers have been described as too complex.

[Adan]

Philip wrote: "Yes perhaps that is the way, only I fear that it will make the overall read less satisfying. I like complex stories with large casts as a reader."

I agree. I think that with the shortening of books can come a simplifying that won't be as enjoyable to read. We may be the odd ones out, Philip, but I've always expected a lot more from certain genres that shorter stories with fewer arcs aren't sure to satisfy.

[P.D.]

I like longer. And I tend to write longer. I figure there are plenty of readers out there who are like me and will choose longer over shorter. But I do have a few shorter works that are not published yet and I won't feel guilty about putting them out!

[Mike]

Alp makes a very good point about the length of books. Back in the pre-digital days it was assumed that "book" meant something of 70,000 words and up, but that was not because people didn't want anything shorter; it was about the economics of publishing. If the book was shorter, you probably wouldn't be able to price it high enough to recover your costs. That isn't true any more.

I like to read, and want to write, novellas - say about 20-30,000 words. The main reason is just that I like that form and find it satisfying to read. But as Alp says, there are good marketing reasons too now.

It does raise the question of how much you should charge for a 30,000-word novella. Also, you need to make it clear to the reader what you're buying; if someone thinks they're getting a 100,000-word book, they're going to feel cheated.

[Felicity]

I think its more about how much time the reader has to wade through longer novels. My historical novel offers about 60,500 words and can be easily read in a week end or as a holiday read and definitely a one off,no sequel.

[Mike]

I like to think that most of us can curl up with a book by the fire, but when I look back I found that I read more on long distance flights, and therefore wanted a novel I could read in eight to ten hours. 30,000 is ideal for that.

[Lenita]

My first fantasy book was 29,000 words. It was a children's or, more specifically, a middle grade book, but then many middle grade fantasies are extremely long like the Harry Potter books or the Inkheart trilogy.

[P.S.]

Bugger... mine are both 150,000 #$@#$

... let's hope 2016 is the year of the epic novel :-)

[Philip]

Not sure how I should describe two of my current efforts nearing publishing then - advice welcome. I have a collection of 5 short, sometimes very short stories. The total is 19k words and the stories vary from 2k to 6k. I have a second short story which is 15k words on its own. My current 5 books all have a minimum of 95k rising to 150k.

I have thought about combining the two but whereas the longer short story is pure fiction the 5 are very loosely based on personal events.

[P.D.]

Have you looked at Singles?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html...

And then I would also bundle the 5 together as well.

[Philip]

P.D. wrote: "Have you looked at Singles?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html...

And then I would also bundle the 5 together as well."

Thanks for the link, I had not even thought of submitting via that route.

[Alp]

I haven't written anything longer than 30k words for a while but as it happens, the latest project has just sailed past that, so who knows, there may be another epic on the shelf this year. But alongside that, I am still - with Chambers - producing the shorter works to keep the pipe reasonably full - the advice to publish little and often I have seen too many places to ignore - but as we all know - you write what you're inspired to write - hang the rest!

[Alp]

Does anyone have any experience of putting a collection/anthology together - I wondered if a group of us who had not done anything like before might like to do one in 2015 ...

[P.D.]

I haven't, but would be interested.

[Alp]

Cool!

A wider broadcast maybe needed to get a few more on board - I guess ten stories would be a reasonable pitch - you think?

[Susannah]

Thanks, I'll stick to the "write what you want to read" adage. Not in this for the money, obvs!

[Alp]

Some good advice here
http://www.selfpublishingadvice.org/h...

[Carmen]

My bread and butter is the mystery novel, but I also write short stories using the same characters. It helps to build interest in between bigger releases and short stories can be free marketing. I posted 2 on free-ebooks.net and together they have been downloaded over 300 times with no advertising. I also took 5 stories and combined them into a collection that is available on Amazon. Finally, I give away a short story that is the story setting up the main character as the first and only female detective in Acapulco, as a gift for people signing up to my email list.

[Mike]

Great inventiveness, which we will all have to think seriously about.