1. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    Novellas and Novelettes

    Discussion in 'Self-Publishing' started by SapereAude, Mar 9, 2021.

    All the way back in 2004 I got a brief flash of inspiration and cranked out something that I have always considered to be a short story. I never did anything with it other than to share it with friends (a couple) who, in a couple of ways, helped inspire aspects of the story. The file is still on my computer and, until last night, hadn't been opened for many years.

    Last night I dredged it up and re-read it, thinking that I might possibly think about considering submitting it for critique in the Workshop or enter it in the Contest area. After reading the guidelines, I checked it to see how many words it is. I had never done that--never had any reason to do so-- and I was more than a little surprised to see that it's 18,900+ words. In other words, my short story isn't a short story at all. Depending on whose criteria you use, it's a novelette or a novella.

    Not only that, apparently in the age of e-books there is a market for novelettes and novellas. Is that true? If it's true, I might as well just break the story into chapters and go ahead and publish it.

    It's a soapy, sappy love story in a war setting. It's totally different from anything I ever wrote before, and from anything I have written since. I have no idea where it came from--perhaps my muse was on vacation and this came from her temp replacement. But, there it is. After re-reading it, I found one typo that I fixed. Other than that, I still like it, so I don't think I'll meddle with it.

    If I go ahead, I'll have to pay someone to do a cover. I'm not prepared to do a cover for something in this genre. All I'll need is an e-book cover, so that shouldn't break the bank. The question is: at 18,900+ words it's short for a book. It's a novelette, or a short novella. What sort of price might be appropriate for something like this?

    Thanks.
     
  2. Bruce Johnson

    Bruce Johnson Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    Edit: I guess you mean what the selling price of the novella to the consumer should be. I have no idea, but I'd think it would be more a ratio of whatever the price for a novel by the same author sells for. So for me that would be 1/3rd of 0.00. Is this valid?
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2021
  3. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    I would suggest you could throw in a short or 2, but you said you haven't written anything similar. I'm not sure if throwing together stories of different styles is a good idea or not.
     
  4. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    Yes, I am asking what the selling price of the novella to the consumer should be. Are you suggesting that I should give it away?

    Why would I do that?
     
  5. Bruce Johnson

    Bruce Johnson Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    No, I'm saying for me it would be 1/3rd of zero because that's all my novels would go for, assuming a ratio is a valid approach.

    Or is the price between novels and novellas, etc. nonlinear?
     
  6. marshipan

    marshipan Contributor Contributor

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    Here is the location of "short reads" on Amazon to give you an idea of their prices, genres, success: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-Short-Reads/zgbs/digital-text/8584457011

    Depends. Erotica is really the only successful genre to sell individual short stories. Then there are several genres that offer collections (grouping of short stories), like horror. Novella romance is definitely a thing though and some authors have entire careers with them but when it comes to those, there is a very specific type of romance story that does well. Very tropey, very trendy, always insta-love, often either very sweet or very sexual. Although take my word with a grain of salt because I haven't done a whole ton of research.

    I still think it's worth you publishing it, but I'd try to spend the least amount of money to do so (depending on what this project is to you--but expect to lose money if you spend money). Publishing something really helps clarity about the process though and I know you've been researching that a lot.

    Novella romance is almost always .99 btw. Of which you get 35%. Not great. You could offer it for 2.99, of which you get 70%. It's a common price point so it won't startle readers, but it will be higher priced than other short read romance.
     
  7. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    That's very helpful, thanks. I didn't know they had a "short reads" section. I'll have to spend some time perusing the listings, because I see they also list the target reader age range, and I'm considering whether or not this short story/novelette/novella could or should be classified as Young Adult. It's definitely not erotica -- I don't roll that way, so it's either Fiction/Romance/ Clean & Wholesome or it's Young Adult Fiction/Romance.

    Thanks again. As always when I ask for help around here, I learn more about how much more I need to learn than I expected. And that's a good thing (I think).
     
    B.E. Nugent likes this.
  8. marshipan

    marshipan Contributor Contributor

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    Unless the characters are teenagers I wouldn't classify it as young adult.
     
  9. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    The protagonist is about 25.

    Okay, then -- Young Adult is out. Thanks
     
    marshipan likes this.

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