Why are we chasing our short stories into the gutter?

[Doomed Muse]

I polled my friends (none of whom are writers but all of whom read a lot of SF/F novels and magazines) and asked them what a 15,000-20,000 word story would be called in their minds.  After I translated that into pages (60-100 pages) for them, they all said "novella" except one smart-*ss who said "a good beginning".  None of them knew what a novelette was until I reminded them that word exists and pointed to some in issues of Analog and F&SF.  Apparently they don't read table of contents, either.  That's why I've decided to stop labeling things novelettes and either go with "short story" or "novella" depending on the length.

[nomesque]

I don't think the short story (and novelette) market has really been that affected by 99c novels. Instead, there are a lot of novel-readers discovering short stories - and those unfamiliar with the market will often react badly to the length. *shrug* People who already liked reading short stories will want to read them, and will generally be willing to pay for them. Some people who've previously always read longer works will adjust to shorter. Some of those will be willing to pay, some won't. End result: more short story readers.

[LisaGraceBooks]

Yes, it's difficult to price a short story.

I have short stories for 99c, compilations for $1.99, and plan novels for $2.99. $3.99, and $4.99 price points.

That number, "6", is interesting.

Many mmpbs are priced around $5.99. $6/6 reads = $1 per read.

The most acceptable price for a non-lendable ebook for a lot of people is 99c.

I think that books that are available as mmpbs should be 99c, and I plan to price that way.

Trade paperbacks, usually priced around $12, should be $12/6 reads, or $1.99.

New issues, like hardbacks, should be $23.99/6 reads = $4, or $3.99.

Really excellent, large novels should be $29.99/6 reads = $5, or $4.99.

I think people are subconsciously doing that math, and I think that's why the price points have settled out at those numbers.

Short stories should, really, be 29c or 49c, at most. I wish Amazon would let us do that.

TK Kenyon

While those are your guesses, the Verso poll (which is highly respected) doesn't back it up.
http://www.versoadvertising.com/DBWsurvey2012/

You can charge more, and the public expects it.

[Krista D. Ball]

I find the most vocal reader group of the "short stories should be free/25 cents/etc" are the ones who don't like short stories. This group also has a core group who doesn't read blurbs, don't look at file size/word count/page count, and then get mad because they didn't get a 200,000 word novel for a "deal."

 

[Kevis 'The Berserker' Hendrickson]

I thought a novelette and a novella were the same thing.

Not even close.

[Feenix]

Here's what I may start doing in response to this very interesting thread...

I'm going to grab a short story a week, one that hasn't been reviewed that much, and review it.

I suppose since I'm cranking out about one short story a week, I might as well read and review some. 

Dave King

[MD_James]

I have priced mine at both $0.99 and $2.99, and they seem to sell better at $2.99.  Maybe before the Select program began, $0.99 books sold, but I cannot sell anything at $0.99 now.  At $2.99 though, I sell several copies a day, and recently had a surge of sales...so things seem to be going great for me. 

[Krista D. Ball]

Erotica supports a higher price.

[MD_James]

Erotica supports a higher price.

I was curious about writing Erotica books.  I hear amazon will ban or delete your books if they are pornographic.  So, how do you find a happy medium? 

Also, do Erotica books sell well? 

[Krista D. Ball]

I was curious about writing Erotica books.  I hear amazon will ban or delete your books if they are pornographic.  So, how do you find a happy medium? 

Also, do Erotica books sell well? 

Well, if you read some erotica and some porn, you can generally see the difference (usually it's the difference of plot ). I recommend reading some highly rated erotica by Samhain and the like if you are considering the genre.

As for if they sell well, it's like anything else. If they are crappy, no, they don't.

[George Berger]

As for if they sell well, it's like anything else. If they are crappy, no, they don't.

A possible exception being ones that, erm, serve(?) less-mainstream fetishes, and are tagged or otherwise promoted appropriately.

Or so I infer from what I like to call "Object Lesson No. 1 on Why Randomly Downloading High-Ranking Free Kindle Titles May be Hazardous to Your (Mental) Health".

--George, there's watersports and then there's watersports...

[JamieDeBree]

In my experience, erotica sells better on All Romance & Barnes and Noble than on Amazon. Or mine does, anyway.

I've always liked short fiction...and I do buy/read stories in those lengths quite often, have since college. I don't sub to pubs simply because I don't want to - I just like doing things myself. I started writing short for practice with structure, pacing, voice, etc...and decided I may as well publish them since I'm writing them anyways.

I have one novella at .99 cents, but it will be going up in price soon. My current pricing structure is:

Flash collections of 4 stories (4k words or so) - .99 cents
Novelettes (8k - 20k words) - .99 cents for the latest release, $1.49 when the next one comes out
Novellas (20k - 50k) - $2.29
Novels (50k & up) - $3.49
Collections of novelettes (2-3 stories, 20k - 40k words) - $2.49 to $3.99 (slight discount from buying them separately)

If I wrote long (over 60k or so), I'd probably have another higher price, but I don't, so this works for me. I don't typically write short stories (1k - 8k or so), which is why I don't have a price for those, but I'd probably put that at .99 cents too.

My sales aren't huge, but they're generally steady, so I'm comfortable with that structure.

I don't particularly agree with novels priced at .99 cents and all the free stuff lately is...overwhelming, IMO, but other writers will do what they want, so I don't stress over it. If people like my stories, they'll pay for them. If they don't, they won't. Simple as that.

Or if they want free, they can read my drafts as serial stories on my blogs. Draft work is the only thing I regularly give away free, with the exception of newsletter subscriber deals. I don't see that changing anytime soon.

[Krista D. Ball]

A possible exception being ones that, erm, serve(?) less-mainstream fetishes, and are tagged or otherwise promoted appropriately.

Or so I infer from what I like to call "Object Lesson No. 1 on Why Randomly Downloading High-Ranking Free Kindle Titles May be Hazardous to Your (Mental) Health".

--George, there's watersports and then there's watersports...

True...if it caters to a um less common fetish, it might just get sales from lack of competition. However, if wanting to be more, erm, mainstream, I stick by my comment of needing it to be readable :p

[Andrew Biss]

Selling them alone might be tough, but collections do just fine, and are probably the best way to go about things.

^This

[scslawin]

I was curious about writing Erotica books.  I hear amazon will ban or delete your books if they are pornographic.  So, how do you find a happy medium?  

Will they? Here's a NSFW link to an Amazon search:

http://amzn.to/wRObp5

And yes, they sell very well with very little promotion. Apparently, avid readers of this sort of literature have an (ahem) insatiable appetite for fresh material.

ETA: I found the reviews of this particular story particularly entertaining...

(again, NSFW)

http://amzn.to/ycYkd6

[AJHamilton]

Also, do Erotica books sell well? 

Yes, if they are well-written. 

[twg144]

I decided to put my short stories into a collection, which in Paperback spans like 300 pages. I put 12 stories in one collection. I had sold the traditional way via agent, a few short stories before, one at a time, but in Indie I felt that releasing each story on its own was not a good idea especially since I wanted to do a traditional book. I am also at work on a second collection as well.

I have seen various opinions about the 1 short story vs. the collections. To my mind in the short story genre there obviously are two sorts. One that will buy 1 short story at the 0.99 cents, and one that is looking for a book collection. I think though, that if you are looking for good reviews in the traditional magazines, a collection is also the best way to go, as reviewers at the traditional mags will simply not touch 1 story for the most part. They want to see what the author can offer in a variety of settings.

All that being said, one publisher who bought a short story of mine, released it in their series, where they release 2 short stories from 2 authors in one Ebook, and it is doing fairly well. So it is kind of a personal decision and what you as the author want to gain in reputation in the short story genre, at least IMHO.

[Steve Vernon]

I've been averaging $3.99 for my novels and $2.99 for my novellas and/or short story collections.

I haven't released any stand-alone short stories yet - but if I did I'd put them at the 99 cent mark.

[Kevis 'The Berserker' Hendrickson]

I've been averaging $3.99 for my novels and $2.99 for my novellas and/or short story collections.

I haven't released any stand-alone short stories yet - but if I did I'd put them at the 99 cent mark.

I personally think that's smart pricing. I've seen lots of authors sell their novels and short stories both for 99 cents which makes no sense to me. It's got to be confusing and upsetting to readers to pay 99 cents for for a 80,000 word story from an author only to be asked to pay the same price for a book of only 6,000 words.

[Steve Vernon]

Well, thank you Kevis.

[scslawin]

Just an FYI for those who may be interested: a lot of short fiction writers in erotica are successfully selling 3,000 word short stories at $2.99 each. For those in other genres, especially those compelled to price their stories at .99 each, that may be difficult to swallow, but I can assure you that it is accurate. Apparently erotica buyers are willing to spend that sort of money because they're looking for material that gets where they want it to go as directly as possible.

[GlennGamble]

I beg to differ.  Its not difficult to price a short story.  Don't worry about 99 cent novels.  Just write your shorts and set the price that you want.  I personally don't think a short should be any less than 99 cents and can be sold individually for more than a buck.  Do your own experiments and see what works best for you.

[acellis]

I have one short story here, Ghosts. I priced it at 0.99, and use it to promote my novel, Shadow Run. It also appears in my short story collection, Spaceships & Brass Knuckles.

It's hard to decide what to do with short stories, but they are important, too.

[Edward M. Grant]

I have one short story here, Ghosts. I priced it at 0.99, and use it to promote my novel, Shadow Run.

That's pretty much my theory on short stories; I can write them faster than novels and they give people another way to find those novels. Before I get my first SF novel out later this year I'm thinking of writing a short story around each of the main characters to give potential readers a look at the characters and universe... if they sell well by themselves, that's a bonus.