Saturday, September 15, 2012

Vote on the Future of the Creepy Hollow Series!

You may or may not know that I've been planning to put the Creepy Hollow installments together in a longer-length book. But I don't want to put them aaaaaall in one book, as that would be a pretty long book, and it also wouldn't be available until I've written the very last installment (and I don't currently know when that will be!). So. My plan is this -- to ultimately produce three novel-length books made up of the individual novelettes. So 3 to 4 per book.

But then ... I started wondering. If I'm going to be producing three novels, is there any point in publishing each future installment separately? Or should readers just wait until they can read them all together in a novel? I've already published the first four parts separately, but that doesn't mean I have to do the same thing for the rest of them. That's the fantabulousness of self-publishing! I can change the journey along the way!

Some pros and cons of continuing with my current publishing model...

Individual novelettes + three compilation novels
  • Pro - it's easier to edit, proofread and format a smaller story
  • Pro - readers get bits of the story sooner
  • Pro - it's easier for book review bloggers to fit a novelette into their reading schedules
  • Pro - it looks like I've published more stuff ;-)
  • Con - more covers = more work
  • Con - more ISBNs
  • Con - can't exactly do a big launch and blog tour for every single novelette!
  • Con - novelettes are a bit too short to print as paperbacks, and paperbacks are COOL and REAL!
  • Con - many people who have read the Creepy Hollow installments have said they wished they were longer. ie. "Give me a whole book please!"

So while I'm still thinking about it all, I thought I'd ask you guys what YOU think :-) Yay, another poll widget thingie! And, um, try and think what you'd want as a READER and not a writer (don't know if that makes a difference to some of you!). There WILL be three novel-length books, so the question here is whether the individual novelettes continue or not.



THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!

22 comments:

Juliana Haygert said...

What you can do, and that's just an idea, is to keep publishing the novelettes as e-books, then, get some together (3 or 4 novelettes, like you said) and do the paperback version. You wouldn't have the e-version of the "novel" length book, see. But you would still have the paperback version of your work, which is cool.

Golden Eagle said...

Voted! And I think Juliana's comment above is a really good one--having longer paperbacks but shorter e-books sounds like it could work well.

Stina said...

Voted. I'll admit novellas do nothing for me. I prefer novels. I get more involved in them because they allow for complexity and subplots.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Cherie Reich just made a similar decision. I'd say release them individually and in packs. Someone two years from now will read your first one and then just download all of the packs for the rest. But those reading along now will want to read more NOW. So individual ones as well.

Elisabeth said...

Thus far, everybody seems evenly split. Oh, boy...

Andrew Leon said...

You're not paying for ISBNs, are you? You don't need to be doing that, if you are. Basically, it's money you don't need to spend.

Mori Lii said...

Voted!

It seems we are doing the same thing with out novelettes. I recently published the first installment of my e-book and I was beginning to wonder the same thing.

I think the decision is ultimately up to you in the end. However, in my own suggestion/opinion, I think that it would be fine to release them individually and eventually into print.

You made a lot of valid points about the pros and cons of it. It is something I would have to think about for myself also.

Cally Jackson said...

It's a toughie but I voted for novel-length. I prefer longer pieces - not that you could tell with The Big Smoke. ;-)

Sheena-kay Graham said...

I voted. I think the ebooks should be novelettes and in the future you can print them together as one book. Or two depending on how many.

Gwen Gardner said...

I voted for novel length. I love the novelettes, but I'd like to cozy down with a whole novel of Vi and Ryn. I don't know what your sales are like, but within the blogging community, you've set the stage, given us a taste, and now we want more. Have you built a fan base as well? Make us wait in anticipation! Ooops, did I say that? No - no - don't make us wait. We want it now!

Unknown said...

Thank you all for your votes AND comments :-) They've given me lots to think about.

Ellie Garratt said...

I voted for novel length. I prefer longer reads. Can't wait to find out what you decide!

Brooke R. Busse said...

The reader versus writer thing definitely applied to me. As a writer, I was going to vote for the first one because of the wide spread ebook boom. But as a reader, I don't like ebooks at all. >.<

I gave you an award, Rachel! http://brookerbusse.blogspot.com/2012/09/paper-mountain-awards-behind-scenes.html

Anonymous said...

Good question.
Good luck with the outcome.
I think Julianna is on to something with her suggestion.

Laura said...

Personally, I've been loving your short instalments as a weekend short-read - I'm rubbish at committing to longer books, so the short form is perfect for me - that said - I'd probably buy the longer versions if you released them as well as a way of keeping them on my kindle for future re-reading.

By the way - thanks for some fantastic reading hours and late nights- I'm loving your work
Laura x

Shannon Lawrence said...

I voted for releasing the novelettes in e-book form and then compiling in hard copy. I think novelettes are fun, especially in e-form. Good luck with your decision. And thanks again for the great guest post!

Carrie Butler said...

I voted. ;) It looks like the poll is pretty close!

Cherie Reich said...

Voted, and it looks like it's even right now.

Amazon is now creating serials, so it seems like things are heading more to what you're doing. Bits of story in novelette-length and then combining them for full-length novels. Although it's sometimes hard to wait for the next installment, I do find it a nice break to read a novelette-sized story now and again.

No matter what you decide, you'll never please everyone, so you'll just have to do what works best for you. :)

Unknown said...

17/17
Come on! You guys are not helping here! Hehe ;-)

Kristin Aragon said...

Voted! I un-evened the score a bit, but I'm sure someone will come through and even it back up. :)

I'm a novel girl, through and through. Novellas leave me hanging.

Saumya said...

Voted! It'll be wonderful either way!!

Unknown said...

I downloaded Guardian, can't wait to read it! :) thank you for letting me know.