Here is a question for everyone. My next series is called Gemini and the reviews are pretty good. The total story has around 100,000 words. I’m debating if I should release it in 5 books at about 20K per book, or if I should publish it as a full novel.
If I release it as 5 novellas priced at 99 cents for the first 3 then $2.99 for the last two, the total price would be $7.96 for all five. If I publish it as a full book, then I’ll likely ask about $6.99 for it.
Should it be 5 books or would everyone prefer 1 book?
Please let me know.
Not sure where the natural breaks happen, but why not consider a trilogy or two part series?
I can go in a couple of directions. I have breaks to provide the 5 books, but I’m wondering if readers prefer smaller, larger books or if a series of 5 100 page books are interesting quick reads.
I’m an all or nothing person.
Good point. I tend to like ‘complete’ stories, and I’ve tried to make each of the books a complete story; to a point. I’ve read that people are tending to buy smaller ebooks. In the ‘old days’ I would have a nice rainy weekend and I’d settle down for a good read, but now that reading devices are so convenient, people may be reading for shorter periods, between other activities. Maybe that’s why they’re buying smaller books.
Regardless, I’m writing a story that can be read in smaller increments or all at once and I’m wondering what the people who have bought my work in the past prefer? If I do release in 5 books, I’ll also release a 6th book that is the complete story, that way people can go either way.
All inputs welcome.
I think it’s true that more people are reading more of the time but in smaller increments, although I’ve been doing that since at least 1977.
After I graduated from Texas A&M University and moved to Houston, I got season tickets to professional hockey, basketball, and baseball. Hockey and baseball were boring, with so much downtime, so I would take books and magazines with me and reading a paragraph or two during the down time.
I still do that, taking books and magazines to the post office, grocery store, doctor’s office, etc. Even if I don’t think there’s going to be lines and delays, I still always have with me something to read.