I was considering working on a sci-fi novella or Noveletta but I don't really know what kind of market there is for that. I mean are there agents and publishing companing that that are willing to take on work that is less then 50,000 words, and if so who. I was thinking of something like the adventures of ... and have like a whole series of little books. Kind like little books like in spiderwick only a completely different genre, story, different everything really except the books would be little. I have an idea I just want to know if it would really be worth the effort to write or should I just stick with working on novels.
What kind of market??
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Check out Duotrope. You can search for magazines or small presses that will publish novella length work. You'll also find that quite a few SF magazines will take up to 10,000 words, which is the mid-range of a novelette (7,500--15,000 is the usual range for what's called a novelette). Under the Search function choose the length to be either Novella or Novelette.
You won't find any agents who'll represent novelettes, and very few who'll represent novellas (usually they'll only do so if they're already representing the author for other projects and have been doing so successfully). But that's okay, because all the places listed in Duotrope are places you can approach yourself.
If you manage to sell a few of your series, that'll open the door later to perhaps bring out a collection of the stories together.
You won't find any agents who'll represent novelettes, and very few who'll represent novellas (usually they'll only do so if they're already representing the author for other projects and have been doing so successfully). But that's okay, because all the places listed in Duotrope are places you can approach yourself.
If you manage to sell a few of your series, that'll open the door later to perhaps bring out a collection of the stories together.
Also check out agentquery.com.....
It will take some research and going to web sites to see what size agents are looking for in that genre.
Good luck......
It will take some research and going to web sites to see what size agents are looking for in that genre.
Good luck......
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Champagne Books published both of my shorter works (next one actually comes out in January), but I've heard they're closed to submissions now. I'm sure if you check out Duotrope or Ralan.com you'll be able to find some smaller presses as well.
I agree with the earlier sentiments. You're likely not going to find too many agents interested. Most of those I query won't even look at anything that isn't at least 70K words.
I agree with the earlier sentiments. You're likely not going to find too many agents interested. Most of those I query won't even look at anything that isn't at least 70K words.
I'm newly published, and the work that put me through is a novella. Loved writing it and I'm very proud, but it was the last work I ever thought I'd get published due to its length (22K words). Novellas are a tough sell, at least in the suspense market, and I know I'm lucky. Don't write Sci-fi so I couldn't say, but anything's possible, and I echo checking out duotrope, where I found the ezine that published me.
Well, technically speaking, anything over 30K and up is a novel outside of SF and fantasy, and anything 40K and up is a novel inside SF and fantasy, but in reality, it's all about what publishers want.
It really depend on what type of book you write. The Bridges of Madison County was only 35,000 words, and it set the all time sales record for adult hardcover, staying at the top for nearly a year. It actually hit the top again in paperback, and yet again when the movie was released.
So you never really know. It's a heck of a lot easier to sell something that falls within publisher's guidelines, but get the right book to the right publisher at the right time, and anything can happen.
It really depend on what type of book you write. The Bridges of Madison County was only 35,000 words, and it set the all time sales record for adult hardcover, staying at the top for nearly a year. It actually hit the top again in paperback, and yet again when the movie was released.
So you never really know. It's a heck of a lot easier to sell something that falls within publisher's guidelines, but get the right book to the right publisher at the right time, and anything can happen.
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