Novellas

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Thekherham

Is there still room for novella-length stories? You know, the ones that are longer than novelettes, but shorter than novels. Or will editors not accept this length?
 

William Blake Bradbury

Go to the library

and open up any copy of The O'Henry Award or Best American Short Stories or Best New American Voices anthologies and you will find at least three 10,000-word+ stories per book. As for literary journals which buy top-quality novella-length-7,000-30,000 words-short stories, send to: The North American Review, The Missouri Review or, I think, The Paris Review and Boulevard. As for publishing novellas, unless you're Anthony Burgess ("A Clockwork Orange") or Joyce Carol Oates ("Rape"), the only way you're going to get a novella published is if you fatten the offer with a batch of already-published true short stories: 7,000 words and under:hat
 

Jamesaritchie

novellas

There's room, but not much. Only selected markets use stories of this length, and most novella spots are reserved for writers who already have a name readers will know. It isn't impossible for a new writer to sell a novella, but it's awfully tough.
 

veingloree

Re: novellas

I think they sell more as long shorts, and of course to electronic markets where novella collections do ok. It depends on the genre as some have more of a novella tradition (like romance).
 

AprilBoo

Not impossible

I think there's still a place for novellas, they just aren't always called novellas - last year, "Property" was a big hit, and it was a novella masquerading as a novel. If your novella is good, it's got a shot.
 

Jamesaritchie

Re: Not impossible

A novella is 15,000-30,000 words, (or 17,500-40,000 if SF)and that's a an extremely tough length for any magazine. It must be serialized, which means it takes up valuable space in several issues. Nor do novellas do particularly well online or elctronically.

There are simply darned few novellas pubished as novels. I can't remember one.

Novellas can be sold, but they are the toughest length of all to sell by far, the least wanted by magazines, and the few novella slots that do exist are usually are given to established writers.

It's almost always better to write something longer or shorter than a novella.
 

Fresie

the few novella slots that do exist are usually are given to established writers.

James, do you mean that once you're an established writer, you can get them published? Same problem for me -- I just seem to think in novellas.
 

veingloree

Do you every write sequels -- you could make a novel with several novellas?
 

Fresie

Do you every write sequels -- you could make a novel with several novellas?

Jeeeeesus! Now that's a thought! :D I definitely can think something up.

But two or three novellas under one cover won't automatically become a novel, will they?
 

veingloree

It wouldn't, but it could be submitted as one and get you past the first hurdle. I have read several books. that were clearly novella collections -- like 'stardance'.
 

Jamesaritchie

I mean that since novella slots are rare, most editors reserve them for writers who already have something of a name. A novella is risky when published as a standalone book, and even riskier when published in a magazine, so it will sell better if it has a name on the cover a number of readers will recognize.

This doesn't mean it's impossible for an unpublished writer to sell a novella, it just means it's much tougher. But if you write anything well enough, it stands a chance, no matter who you are. The novella is simply a very tough sell for a new writer because the odds are so high that a publisher will lose money on it.

As for putting novellas together to make a novel, I've only seen this done once, and then it was the same story told from different points of view. There's more to a novel than length, and just putting novellas together for length doesn't mean you have a novel. It usually means you have a collection, and collections are even tougher for new writers to sell than novellas.

Most collections are made up of stories that have already been published in magazines, not of new stories by new writers.

The novella may be the best length for fiction, as far as storytelling goes, but it is a very tough sell, even for established writers. If a story demands to be a novella, that's how it should be told, but it's always good to be aware of how tough it is to sell anything of this length.
 

Fresie

There's more to a novel than length, and just putting novellas together for length doesn't mean you have a novel.

Yes, that's exactly what I meant.

The novella may be the best length for fiction, as far as storytelling goes, but it is a very tough sell, even for established writers. If a story demands to be a novella, that's how it should be told, but it's always good to be aware of how tough it is to sell anything of this length.

Absolutely (sigh). And still it's the best length for fiction, I agree!!

As an aside, I'm Russian and isn't it amazing that on the Russian literary market novellas are always welcome and most Russian readers prefer them both to short stories and novels? Quite a few young Russian writers I know have just had a collection of novellas accepted for publication. Strange, how tastes differ.

(And no, I don't write in Russian :rolleyes )
 

Jamesaritchie

I'm Russian and isn't it amazing that on the Russian literary market novellas are always welcome and most Russian readers prefer them both to short stories and novels? Quite a few young Russian writers I know have just had a collection of novellas accepted for publication. Strange, how tastes differ.

It's more a matter of money than of taste. I think readers everywhere njoy novellas, but it costs so much money to publish anything these days that magazines and books cost an arm and a leg, so readers want variety in magazines, and more length in books. The way publishing works, a novella published in book form just risks losing too mouch money, and one published in a magazine eats up so much space that publishing is always a risk.
 

Craig Shaeffer

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This belongs in the "Self-Promotion" forum, but since it pertains to novellas, I thought I'd mention it here.

As James mentioned earlier in this thread, novellas are a tough sell. I found this to be true after finishing one late this summer. When I researched potential homes for "Witching Hour Theatre," I was discouraged at the lack of possibilities for spec-fic novellas. Plenty of places for works under 10,000 words. Plenty of places for novels.

But very few places for the "tweeners." My story was like a 6'6" power forward trying to make it in the NBA.

So I submitted it to Creative Guy Publishing, which was a market I badly wanted to break into (based on what they'd published before).

Yesterday, it was accepted.

My point is that it is possible to sell a novella, even for a fairly-inexperienced person like me. However, the options are pretty limited, so I'm very thankful that I was able to find a home for it. CGP actually focuses on novellas, so that helped a lot.

(Mods, feel free to delete this if you feel it doesn't contribute to the discussion.)
 

Jamesaritchie

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Great!

Craig Shaeffer said:
This belongs in the "Self-Promotion" forum, but since it pertains to novellas, I thought I'd mention it here.

As James mentioned earlier in this thread, novellas are a tough sell. I found this to be true after finishing one late this summer. When I researched potential homes for "Witching Hour Theatre," I was discouraged at the lack of possibilities for spec-fic novellas. Plenty of places for works under 10,000 words. Plenty of places for novels.

But very few places for the "tweeners." My story was like a 6'6" power forward trying to make it in the NBA.

So I submitted it to Creative Guy Publishing, which was a market I badly wanted to break into (based on what they'd published before).

Yesterday, it was accepted.

My point is that it is possible to sell a novella, even for a fairly-inexperienced person like me. However, the options are pretty limited, so I'm very thankful that I was able to find a home for it. CGP actually focuses on novellas, so that helped a lot.

(Mods, feel free to delete this if you feel it doesn't contribute to the discussion.)

I think it contributes greatly to the discussion. Big congrats! Anythign is a tough sell, but a novella makes it doubly sweet.

And as tough as novellas are to sell, when you do manage to sell one, good things can happen, so don't get the notion its life is over.
 

Craig Shaeffer

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Thank you very much, James. Promoting one's writing and annoying the hell out of people are next-door neighbors, and the last thing I want to do is annoy.

I'm hoping that "Witching Hour Theatre" gathers momentum. CGP has the electronic rights, but its editor made it clear that I'm free to market the novella to print publishers. Hopefully, the two mediums will work symbiotically. I'll just need to do my homework so the story will have every chance to succeed.
 

Vipersniper

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I will read this again.

:confused: I admit that I was confused about novellas in that I understood they were shorter than novels but some editors have a confusing and vague description of what they want. Maybe I missed something on one inquiry that I checked into. Speculative fiction done in a novella what exactly is that definition?
 

veinglory

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There is no exact description, it differs between publishers. basically it is between short story/novelette and novel, as that publisher defines them.
 
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