MisterOJ Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 This is a pretty interesting article. It makes sense, but, personally, I don't think I'll be shying away from big novels anytime soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Selig Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Let's hope so. I am really tired of all the brick-sized fantasy novels which have hundreds of pages of boring filler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterOJ Posted May 10, 2016 Author Share Posted May 10, 2016 Tor didn't mention the price point of these novellas, and that's a big deal for me. I won't pay the same price for a novella that I would pay for a 400-plus page novel. That's why I have not read Patrick Rothfuss's Slow Regard of Silent Things and probably never will. I'm not going to pay $8 for a 170-something page book when I could around that same price (or less) and get a book of comparable quality, but that gives me a lot more bang for my entertainment dollar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Selig Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Tor.com Publishing sells the ebook versions of their novellas for 2.99. Pretty good price IMO, especially since I lot of them have been over 100 pages (by the count of Calibre after I convert them in the preferred way for me, not sure about the page count for their paper versions). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrarius+ Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 I'm in the middle of listening to the audio compilation of Tor's 2015 novellas. At 1 Audible credit for 30 hours of listening, it's a great deal. I've been having a good time with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterOJ Posted May 10, 2016 Author Share Posted May 10, 2016 Yeah, $3 is a pretty good price. I'd jump on board and try out a couple for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrarius+ Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 11 minutes ago, MisterOJ said: Yeah, $3 is a pretty good price. I'd jump on board and try out a couple for that. Do read "Sorcerer of the Wildeeps" and "Last Witness". Neither is perfect, but both are pretty striking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AncalagonTheBlack Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 2 hours ago, David Selig said: Tor.com Publishing sells the ebook versions of their novellas for 2.99. They are also selling the novella's as ebook bundles for a cheaper price than individual ebook's: For example: For $8.99, the first ebook bundle contains all 4 novellas published in September 2015:The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson, Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell, Sunset Mantle by Alter S. Reiss, and Binti by Nnedi Okorafor. https://www.amazon.com/Tor-com-Bundle-1-September-2015-ebook/dp/B019N1PSUS/ Tor.com Bundle 2 - https://www.amazon.com/Tor-com-Bundle-2-October-2015-ebook/dp/B019N1PSU8/ For $6.99.Contains: The Last Witness by K. J. Parker, Of Sorrow and Such by Angela Slatter, and Envy of Angels by Matt Wallace. Tor.com Bundle 3https://www.amazon.com/Tor-com-Bundle-3-November-2015-ebook/dp/B01AGCMOSM/ Tor.com Bundle 4https://www.amazon.com/Tor-com-Bundle-Drowning-Patchwerk-Lustlocked-ebook/dp/B01C2SGAME/ Tor.com Bundle 5https://www.amazon.com/Tor-com-Bundle-5-February-2016-ebook/dp/B01D8EYDFC/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Writhen Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 This is accurate. Shorter downloads = less bandwidth appropriated of novellas which can be produced quicker by authors with denser overall worldbuilding. And also thus greater immersion and entertainment value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Tor is ALWAYS trying to find the next big thing, ever since WoT ended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 it's worth experimenting in the format and makes far more sense as an ebook endeavour. Podcasts are popular (there must be someone doing audiobook installments of books somewhere?) and it's probably as likely to convince people to buy 3 novellas for more total money than a book the same length (even if only a dollar). It's certainly a good way for publishers to test an author out and may be middle-ground to tempt authors away from self-publishing. I'd be curious id they are genuine novella's or are just serializations. I agree with some of the other posters that it may encourage tighter pacing in some books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
End of Disc One Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Boo. Keep giving me the door stoppers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 2 hours ago, red snow said: I'd be curious id they are genuine novella's or are just serializations. I read one of them, Paul Cornell's The Witches of Lynchford a couple of months ago, and it was definitely a complete story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrarius+ Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 4 hours ago, red snow said: it's worth experimenting in the format and makes far more sense as an ebook endeavour. Podcasts are popular (there must be someone doing audiobook installments of books somewhere?) [....] I'd be curious id they are genuine novella's or are just serializations. Ahem. I already posted about the audio versions. They're available both as single stories and in a bundle from Audible. I'm in the middle of the bundle right now. And they're genuine novellas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maia Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 I really enjoyed K.J.Parker's "Last Witness" novella from tor.com and a number of others from various sources that I have read for nomination purposes - such as de Bodard's excellent "The Citadel of Weeping Pearls", Bujold's "Penric's Demon" (which I would have read in any case), Corey's "Vital Abyss" (ditto), Cooney's "Bone Swans of Amandale", Malik's "The Pauper Prince and Eucalyptus Jinn", etc. I love my doorstopers, but I it turns out that I have been missing modern genre stuff at concise length, too, so I really hope that novellas catch on (again). Hopefully, it won't only help the publishers and readers to test new authors, but also allow established authors to try out new and different things. I already have some of tor.com novellas that came out this year on my TBR list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 Novellas could be the way forwards, since the market is now over-saturated to the point of lunacy. It's simply not possible to read even a tiny fraction of 1% of all the SFF works published in one year (including self-published works) if a lot of them are doorstoppers. Novellas and short stories are a clever way of being able to sample works and then jump into their longer novels. Some authors also really thrive at that length, such as KJ Parker. The Big Fantasy Novel is still a great thing when done well, but probably 90% of those authors who churn out a 900-page doorstop didn't need to. If this helps cut them down whilst still allowing doorstoppers for stories that need it, that's a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Selig Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 I think the novella is a great length for fantasy and especially science fiction works. Long enough to allow quite a bit of plot and character development and sufficient worldbuilding, but short enough that the writer can't get bogged down by too much worldbuilding details and too many secondary plots and characters. IIRC the likes of Robert Silverberg and Gardner Dozois consider it the best length for SFF works. Some of the very best SFF works I've read have been novellas. Some examples: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes Born with the Dead by Robert Silverberg Baby is Three by Ted Sturgeon Diary of the Rose by Ursula Le Guin The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe The Girl Who Was Plugged In by James Tiptree Jr. The Sun and I by K. J. Parker The Last of the Winnebagos by Connie Willis The Least Trumps by Elizabeth Hand The Dry Salvages by Caitlin Kiernan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 it's curious how long-form binge tv is ever expanding while there appears to be the opposite reaction to books. Wonder if people have less time for books because of netflix? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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