Are Short Reads Still Selling Well?

schttrj

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I am talking about novelettes still selling well? Something under 17,500 words. If yes, which genres are working well for you?
 

cool pop

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I am talking about novelettes still selling well? Something under 17,500 words. If yes, which genres are working well for you?

They do in self-publishing. All genres of short stories can sell well. I do romance shorts and mystery shorts. I doubt an agent or publisher would be interested in something that short unless it's a small press. One of the big five won't want a book that short.
 

Gillhoughly

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Echoing cool pop's reply!

Agents don't waste time on short works unless there is a commercial anthology involved centered on a theme. I recently bought a Regency Christmas romance collection, each story by a madly popular pro writer in the genre. Unless you are a madly popular pro writer with a solid track record of sales, don't expect to get an invitation from the editor. They are interested in sales numbers and unknown writers don't get invited. Acquire an agent for long works. She will let you know if an anthology is looking for contributors.

OTOH, indie writers can do all right for themselves with short works and lots of them, but they have to make sure not to overprice. A reader will pay .99 for 7500-17,500 words, but not 2.99 for a work they may finish in less than an hour. What you do with the low price point is build an audience of loyal readers who love your writing and buy your new stuff as it's available.

Now, I know of a madly popular mystery writer who has been in the industry since the 1950s. He is an excellent instructor, has won lifetime achievement awards and republished his out of print works. BUT ---- he wants 9.99 a pop, even for novelettes. I love his stuff, but will give that a pass!

Be upfront about length and make sure the work packs a punch in terms of likeable characters and fresh plotting starting with the first line to hook them in the "Look Inside" feature. An idea to aim for is at least 10K words, and translate into a 250 words/page count: 40 pages. Invest in good cover art. I like browsing selfpubbookcovers.com since a bit of art can inspire a story and their prices are reasonable.

The best-selling genre is always going to be "mommy porn." :D Ladies enjoy something hot to spice up their lives. Writing these is harder than it looks. Readers can tell when a writer is just phoning it in, and many can even tell if it's a male or female writer slinging the words. Male writers tend to skip over the emotions of a nookie scene and focus on the visual. Female writers tend to include all the senses and feelings.

After that, then regular romance from spicy to sweet also has a good audience. Some readers prefer sexual tension over graphic sex, others want the suspense of a developing relationship. Again, you have to be sincere or they sense it. If you enjoy the story, they will too.

Last time I looked, the overall romance genre accounted for about 50% of all book sales. That may have changed, but it IS steady about being the favorite.

https://bookstr.com/article/book-genres-that-make-the-most-money/

Amazon is picky about genres. If once a book is labeled as erotica there, then it won't be changed. Read their rules and discussion threads thoroughly!
 
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Arden

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OTOH, indie writers can do all right for themselves with short works and lots of them, but they have to make sure not to overprice. A reader will pay .99 for 7500-17,500 words, but not 2.99 for a work they may finish in less than an hour. What you do with the low price point is build an audience of loyal readers who love your writing and buy your new stuff as it's available.

Thanks for this -- it's very helpful. I write slightly longer works (lots of them, yet to be published) in the novella range, 20,000 to 40,000 words (50 to 100 pages). The lower range are true crime histories, the longer ones are actual novellas. Can you suggest a price point for these short works? (I have purchased cover art, via the site you've suggested for them all so, so far so good!)

Thank you!
 

schttrj

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They do in self-publishing. All genres of short stories can sell well. I do romance shorts and mystery shorts. I doubt an agent or publisher would be interested in something that short unless it's a small press. One of the big five won't want a book that short.

Though I know it's a big taboo, may I ask you how well are you selling these shorts? If not specific, a ballpark figure, perhaps? :)
 

schttrj

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Be upfront about length and make sure the work packs a punch in terms of likeable characters and fresh plotting starting with the first line to hook them in the "Look Inside" feature. An idea to aim for is at least 10K words, and translate into a 250 words/page count: 40 pages. Invest in good cover art. I like browsing selfpubbookcovers.com since a bit of art can inspire a story and their prices are reasonable.

The best-selling genre is always going to be "mommy porn."
biggrin.png
Ladies enjoy something hot to spice up their lives. Writing these is harder than it looks. Readers can tell when a writer is just phoning it in, and many can even tell if it's a male or female writer slinging the words. Male writers tend to skip over the emotions of a nookie scene and focus on the visual. Female writers tend to include all the senses and feelings.

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I hear this everywhere. Erotica and romance are ruling the 'short reads' segment, as you said. Just curious, at 40 pages, they are basically novellas. What about novelettes and short stories? Are they salable at 99 cents?
 
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mafiaking1936

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A small two-person operation called Mannison Press publishes "minibooks" that max out at 20K words. They're about to do a collection of six of my short stories. You might watch out for their next submissions call.