Novel vs. Novella: A Question of Time

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So Blood of the Falcon has been out for a month or nearly and checking the Kindle sells daily has resulted in my overwhelming astonishment. The actual numbers are not the point; the point is that a novel so fat that it has to be broken into two volumes keeps selling steadily, when a skinny, convenient, fast read like Mists of Blackfen Bog stagnates at tiny numbers. In comparison, I've marketed Falcons far less than Mists and the novel's sells keep rising.

Now, I have discussed this question with a writing friend and we cannot come to a satisfying reason why, in our fast-paced culture in which people with shortening attention spans are expecting quick results, that short stories and novellas would be largely ignored while novels, that take up so much more time, energy and devotion to reach the end, would continue to sell like hot cakes. The best I can come up with is that readers who are following this trend are those bookworms who prefer long-term commitment to a character and a situation rather than a one-night stand with a briefer story. Any other theories out there?

From a writer's standpoint, then, considering all the numbers, is it more worth my own time and energy writing full-length novels rather than novellas? Novellas are hard to sell, few markets exist that accept them. Yet fewer publishers take chances on unknown novelists. So the results will most likely end up in a self-publishing venture.Which leads me back around to while novels sell better, I can have more novellas out on the market in far less time, but if few are buying them (aka reading them), why bother? As you can see, I'm torn. Any opinions or encouragement or personal experience to share?
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Mists Climbs the Charts!

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Experimenting with this self-publishing thing prompted me to enroll my novella, Mists of Blackfen Bog, into the Kindle Select program. Whatever your feelings may be about this potentially ebook-monopolizing program, I found that it allowed me to experience a momentary high. Mist's first "free" campaign just ended, and while it lasted, the novella rose to #37 on the free Fantasy ebook list. What a glorious sight it was. 

Next weekend, the novella will be available for free once again. Just saying. *wink-wink*

How well will it do on the 11th? We shall see.

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I'm An Amazon Author!

I'm excited to announce that "Mists of Blackfen Bog" is finally available at Amazon. It only took a couple of weeks longer than what I anticipated. Figuring out formatting solutions in Word is not the easiest, but reverse engineering skills come in handy.

Digital copies for the Kindle may be found HERE. The print edition is found HERE.

I'm very excited about the print version. It's an adorable little volume that one can cuddle with. Really, it's no bigger than the Kindle itself, but just snugglier.

"Mists" on Sale at Smashwords

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Smashwords is having their Summer/Winter Promotional Sale this month, and "Mists of Blackfen Bog" is enrolled to participate. So until July 31, the fantasy novella can be purchased for only 99 cents. Just follow this >LINK< to the novella's purchase page and use the following coupon code at checkout: SSW50 (that last digit is a zero, not an "O" by the way. Kinda hard to tell.)

Because I can't stand sounding like a commercial, here's some art to contemplate:

(anyone know the name or artist of this peaceful work?)

Japanese Traditional Art-16
by MoonyKitten

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"Mists" Reviewed at the Examiner!

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I was flattered, but a bit nervous, when I received a note from Larks Fiction editor Daniel Pool, that he had read and reviewed "Mists of Blackfen Bog." I was tickled pink by his reaction and his opinion of my novella. I'm not sure I believe the list of intimidating writers he compared my writing to, but I will take it and run with it. Check out the review here: Mists of Blackfen Won't Bog You Down.
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My First Interview!

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I'm pleased to announce that Jeff Chapman of The Midnight Diner approached me this week and asked for an interview about "Mists of Blackfen Bog." I was astonished and thrilled. So, of course, I accepted. He sent me several thought-provoking questions that really struck at the heart of the story, and I loved getting to answer them. The interview is now posted on his blog, along with a review of the novella. Please hop on over and check it out, HERE.

Thank you, Jeff, for this amazing opportunity.

On the other hand, it's Cinco De Mayo and this is the first time I've posted this month! Part of my absence is purposeful. Last week, I came to the difficult conclusion that I've got to back away from the social media to get some writing done. Both my social life and my online life have picked up in tempo, which means the writing has suffered. And a dragon with a panic attack is not a good sight. So I've determined that Thursdays and possibly Mondays are my days to post in my blogs, and only on those weekdays do I get to drop by LegendFire as often as I want and cruise all the other blogs and websites that are of interest. All other weekdays are reserved for writing exclusively. Three out of seven days still sounds like too little time to devote to the novel project, but that's all I can promise myself. There's still a big stack of paper waiting to be touched. But the panic attack is over, and discipline is back on the table.


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Scribd Disappoints...

Well, I have officially lost my patience with Scribd. So here' s a review:

The site is unbelievably slow and tedious when loading every single page and function. Even those that ought to be fresh in the memory b/c I was just there. Clicking the back arrow, at the least, should load the last page almost instantly, but this is not the case. I'm not sure if this is a common, everyday occurrence, or if Scribd is experiencing prolonged trouble, but since joining earlier this week, I have experienced the issue every time I've tried to navigate the site. As a result, I actually uploaded the same document twice. Oops! But even though I have decided to delete them both, they still show up in my uploads thingy in the sidebar. What's that about? I've deleted these docs. They are no longer available. Why show them there? I don't get it, nor do I like it.

The rest of the layout is pleasing to the eye, the functions easy to find. But only bother with this place if you've got time to waste, or a book in hand to read while you wait for the pages to load. As a result, I seriously doubt I'll have much to do with the site in the future. Which is sad to say, b/c I fully expected it to be a good venue to promote and sell copies of "Mists" and my upcoming novels. Not so sure it's worth the hassle after all.

You see, I was supposed to write today, but it's almost 3 pm and I just gave up the struggle at Scribd and not a new word has been written. Did I waste my time? I feel like the day is wasted, but I guess it depends on your perspective. Wait while pages load to be able to sell copies there in the long run, or find a site that functions as it should and sell them there instead. Hmmm...

Edit: A new day, a new dose of patience, and I figured out how to make a properly sized PDF and uploaded it to Scribd. While the site is still slow, everything went remarkably well. "Mists" is now available HERE for $1.25. So it's still a better deal to go through Smashwords and use the coupon code below.

Progress Report, 4-25-11, and Promo Art

TODAY'S PROGRESS
Project: Falcons Rising
Pages Rewritten: 6
Pages Cut: 3 1/2
New Scenes: 0
Bad things that happened: Kelyn takes the blame
Good things that happened: When you fall off a horse ...

Best of all, we finished Part 4 today and tomorrow begin Part 5. In "Part 5: Interlude" we get to all the characters who were neglected during the tight flow of action in "Part 4: Slaenhyll" which will be a nice change of pace for the next few weeks. And because I cut more than half of today's content and rearranged the rest, I finished revising abnormally early. So now we get to work on book covers.

Some time ago, I confessed that I was painting a cover for my novel. I'm not sure I like the results, so now I'm experimenting with other options. The maps for the interior are finished as of Monday, which is a plus. Now just the cover remains.

Speaking of cool art stuff, I have got to post the promo art that Brian Fatah Steele worked up for "Mists of Blackfen Bog."


He really does amazing work, and I'm honored that he took the time to put this together for me.

Now, the coupon for downloading this ghost story is still valid for a couple of weeks. I'll post it again, b/c the conveyor belt is moving it too far down the line: TR89N

Remember, type that code into checkout at Smashwords for 50% off the regular price. You'll pay only $.99 for the novella.

Note how awesome that looks in the sidebar! Woohoo!
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"Mists" Now Available!

Okay, here it is! "Mists of Blackfen Bog" is now available for download at Smashwords in every format they offer. Find it for purchase >HERE< I've set the price at the stupidly low $1.99, but those who visit my blog between now and May 11 are invited to use this coupon code for the 50% off promotional price: TR89N

Ideally you should be able to enter that code somewhere prior to checkout and only pay $0.99 for the novella.

Also, as I don't own an e-reader of any kind, I need to know if the format is okay on those devices. So if you download a version for your phone or Kindle or other e-reader, it would be nice to know if there are any glaring problems with the way the novella looks or something. Please report any issues you find here at the blog, and I'll do my best to fix them for future issues.

Now, about celebrating. You don't publish a book just every day, so I was pondering how I was going to celebrate this big event. I have cocktails regularly, so popping open a bottle is nothing special. Going out to eat is too expensive these days, and too far away and gas is ridiculously high. So I was at a loss. James got home and said, Forget the diet, let's get ice cream and we'll go watch the sunset and just be happy. So that's what we did. I got a pint of Cookies 'n Cream, he got a box of Lil' Debbie brownies, and we drove out west to the highest hill in the area and we watched the sun go down and the stars come out and also got to see a pack of coyotes raising a raucous in a wheat field. They were yipping and chasing each other, and we got stuffed on junk food, then drove home. On the way, we stopped beside the place that has the miniature horses and watched them romp for a bit. Three little colts that are smaller than my dog came up to check us out. So it was a good time to just relax and be grateful.

I'm guessing that may sound a bit dull or weird to some folks, but it suits me just fine. Best thing of all, when the sun went down, I didn't see a single ghost walking out of the twilight. Maybe that only happens in bogs. What do you think?

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"Mists" To Smashwords

Well, it's been a while since I posted a progress report on the novel project, b/c writing on it has been hit and miss, and I need a new vision for the scene coming up. It's nasty. Really nasty. So I'm pondering.

In the meantime, I've decided to test the self-pubbing waters earlier than I expected. Sometime ago, CL Stegall and Brian Fatah Steele, two self-published writers at LegendFire, mentioned something about a place called Smashwords. I'm sheltered enough that I was clueless, so I checked it out and that knowledge has been stewing for months.

Recently, I got to freaking out about the size of this novel project and decided that I should test the whole process with something smaller first. "Mists of Blackfen Bog" was published in Silver Blade, an online fantasy journal, in 2009. The serialized thing was cool while it lasted, but now I would like to see the whole novella published in one streamlined unified volume. I tried to find another journal to do it the traditional way, but the prospects have shrunk to one or two unsuitable options. So, I said, screw it. I'll do it myself.

The last two days I've been studying the formatting guide offered at Smashwords and reformatting the novella to be compliant. (I am NOT looking forward to reformatting three epic-sized novels in this manner!) I've also been researching reviewers who might say something nice about the story. The reviews, of course, would go on the cover of the print version that I'm readying for CreateSpace.

Blah! This entry is all over the place. My brain is firing randomly b/c it's packed with so much new stuff. Sorry about that.

Anyway, the Smashwords edition first, then the print version at CreateSpace. Here's a sample of the cover I'm working on. Will likely alter a few more things, so advice would be handy at this point.



As soon as the first edition is available on Smashwords, I'll be tweeting and blogging like crazy.
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