I’ve always preferred to read and write novel-length fiction, but the ebook has brought back the short story, the novella, and the serial (among other things), story formats that were never that practical outside of magazines (and even then, it had been a while since you saw many novellas and serials). Space was always a consideration, with certain page counts being more feasible (financially speaking) than others.
With ebooks, it doesn’t cost any more to deliver a 200,000-word epic novel than it does a 10,000-word short story. Oh, sure, editing will be pricier on the bigger tale, assuming you hire outside eyes for that task, but that’s a one-time cost. Authors now have the ability to write in whatever story format they prefer and even get creative with how novels are crafted and delivered.
And more than writing preferences may come into play. As independent authors, we’re responsible for our own marketing and for figuring out the best ways to satisfy the reader and make a fair wage from our work (a living wage, if we’re lucky).
For example, the single novel can be a hard sell. My experience with multi-book formats suggests it’s easier to market and sell a series because you can play around with free or 99-cent “loss leaders” while leaving later tomes at full price. Right now, there are a lot of venues that like to advertise bargain books, which works perfectly for those of us with a series and an inexpensive Book 1.
If all you have is a single novel, you can put it on sale and try to gain traction with advertising, but even if a reader enjoys it, there’s nowhere to go from there. Oh, you might have other unrelated ebooks out, but jumping to a new world and/or new characters isn’t, for most readers, as automatic as buying the second book in a series.
So, what do you do with that single stand-alone novel? If the stars align right and the tides are favorable (AKA if it’s a big enough book), should it perhaps become two?
This is what I’m mulling over with my current project (working title: Republic). For those who have followed along with my Emperor’s Edge novels, this idea might sound familiar. Last summer, the sixth and final book in my six-book series turned into Forged in Blood I & Forged in Blood II (making it a seven book series, I suppose). Even being broken apart, those books were as long or longer than the rest of the novels in the series, so I thought it made sense.
Now I’m working on a transition novel that can either provide more closure for the EE series or work as a launching point into a new series (we’ll see how the reception is). From the beginning, I had only envisioned it as one book, but at the same time, I knew it was going to be a big one, because it has six point-of-view characters. I guessed it would be around 150,000 words when I got started. Well, I’m at 160,000 now and I have the big end battle yet to write, along with a long (and I hope fun) epilogue that I’ve had in mind from the beginning. I’m beginning to think Republic will be 200,000 words by the time I’m done.
For comparison, a new fantasy novelist is encouraged to submit novels between 80,000-100,000 words to agents. The first Emperor’s Edge book is around 105,000 words.
There’s this thing about epic fantasy though… it likes to be big. I’m not sure what the word counts are on those Jordan or Martin books, but they call them Chihuahua killers for a reason (fortunately with ebooks, you don’t need to worry about dropping super thick tomes on small dogs). Many fantasy readers enjoy these big meaty books, so I’m hoping I won’t get too many complaints about length. (People might not dig the new storyline or the departure from two POV characters to six, but that’s a different concern.)
So, what’s the problem?
There’s not really, aside from the fact that I’ll be spending a lot more time on a novel I can’t necessarily charge a lot more for, but I am wondering if turning this into two books might offer some opportunities from a marketing perspective. I never bother advertising Books 2-7 in the EE series, because I assume nobody’s going to jump into the middle without having read the first book. That means EE1 has been through BookBub and many of the other big sites that offer sponsorships multiple times already. In short, it’s old news.
With Republic, even though it has most of the characters from the EE series (along with Tikaya and Rias from the Encrypted/Decrypted books), it’s a spot where someone new might be able to jump in without being lost. Or at least not so lost that they couldn’t enjoy the story (maybe new readers would even want to later pick up the earlier books to catch up and get all the inside jokes).
I’m already planning to do something completely different with the cover art (illustrated), so it’ll feel like the start of something new. And I think the blurb might sound appealing to those who specifically seek out epic fantasy (I’ve never described my stuff as epic fantasy, but with the political emphasis in this one and the multiple story lines, it feels closer to it than many of my others). Also, the first chapter, which people might download as a sample, starts off with Amaranthe and Sicarius getting out of a little trouble on a tropical island before being called back home by the president, is on the fun and entertaining side, and I could see it drawing new folks in.
But, if I keep this as one big book, I’m not going to be particularly interested in bargain pricing it (hey, this puppy represents a lot of hours!), so I wouldn’t be able to advertise it on the big book sites, and I don’t know how many new people would try it at full price. (Since I usually price based on word count, I expect I would go around $6.95 for the ebook on this one.)
If I turn it into a duology, I can have more room to play around with pricing. I can essentially charge the same amount but make the first book less expensive, maybe $2.99 for the first part and $3.99 for the second, with a launch/sale price of 99-cent sales on the first. The downside is I would doubtlessly get new readers who didn’t like part 1 enough to buy part 2, but those are people who probably wouldn’t have plunked down $7 for an ebook from an author they hadn’t tried anyway. As far as regular readers, they might find the lower prices more appealing as well. Even if it’s technically the same $7 either way, folks are used to paying $5 from me, not $7, so that might be a bit of a balk. This way they could pick up the first part now and grab the second later. Like FiB1 & 2, it would end up feeling more like two books rather than one big expensive book.
At this point, I’m just tossing ideas around. I haven’t finished the novel, and I haven’t gone back to see if/where there might be a logical breaking point if I were to divide it. If you, as a reader or author, have an opinion on all this mulling, I would love to hear it.
I understand the monetary reasons behind splitting it up and I have to agree with you. However, as a BIG fan, I have to ask what the release delay would be between book 1 and 2. Because if it’s more than 48 hours I will have to hunt you down.
Not much of a delay. I’m writing the whole thing before I go back and edit and decide if I want to break it in half. Also, I promise the breaking point (ahem, cliffhanger) wouldn’t be nearly as evil as the one in FiB1, heh.
Here are my ramblings – (which are just my random thoughts on the subject, and should be taken with grain of salt 😉 )
Personally as a reader I have no problem buying a $7 e-book especially when it’s tied into a series I love, however I know I am not the norm – in that many readers (especially first-timers) will not pay more than 2.99$ for an e-book.
So although I would want it all-in-one as a reader as I don’t have to wait for RII. I think you should break it up into two books.
Beyond pricing and publicity – I also wonder about 6 pov in one novel. Now, you’re an amazing writer and you handle POV really well – but I remember reading of another author of epic fantasy (Alisson Croggon) who split the book (book 2 and 3 of a 4 book arc series) in which one book dealt with one main character and the other with another main character. Although Book 2 was realised a year before Book 3 – both occurred at same time. Now that worked for her and her story (as the two characters were separated), but I wonder if it would be possible (as I obviously don’t know the structure of Republic) to split it into 3-pov and 3-pov, if you can’t find a chronological place to split it? Anyhoo like I said, this is just me rambling!
But beyond these random thoughts (because you as the author know what’s best and what’s true to the story) I think you should split it! Subconsciously (psychologist coming out in me) even if two books = same price as 1 big book, people will more likely pay out two smaller amounts at different times than one big amount once. And I honestly think that most people will pay for the second (especially if you have a cliff hanger – which you do very well!) and those that don’t – well they were probably not going to become readers anyway!
Anyhoo – I don’t know if that helps things or not. Best of luck with it 🙂
Thanks for commenting, Emily. Aside from a side adventure here and there, everyone is interacting with everyone else throughout the novel, so the POVs and storylines are pretty entwined.
I wouldn’t normally do this many POVs at once, but regular readers will already know everyone and, I hope, care about what’s going on with all of the individuals. 🙂
That’s great Lindsay – Like I said, I’ve no doubt you’ll be able to do it really well 🙂
Can’t wait to read it !
I’ll say the same thing lots of people say about serial : if it wasn’t planned as a duology from the start, cuttun it in half might be harder and make it look like just one big novel cut in two. So, everything depends if the separation feels organic or artificial 🙂
In any case, I can’t WAIT to read that behemoth. Cheers!
Hehe, which is exactly what FIB1&2 was. I’ve set the precedent!
Thanks for commenting. I’ll see what works best when I finish the rough and go back for edits.
As I’ve followed along with your journey into writing this highly anticipated book (even more highly anticipated by me!) I even said to myself and told my husband (who, by the way, thinks I might be obsessed with the EE universe!) that it would be even more awesome if it were two. Why? Because you can always add the details you’ve undone to crunch it down. You can also add a few more of “those scenes” between my favorite couples. (Wink wink) Instead of making one epic adventure. Make two! Heck, I’d even spend $6.95 on each, shortened or not!
Thanks, Tiffany. Hah, I *do* have a scene or two I want to add when I go back to edit. Usually I want to trim things down, but it’s hard when there are so many stories to tell in this one. 🙂
I vote for one large book, even if I have to wait. I like a larger, more cohesive entity. And I’ll pay whatever you want, lol!
Thanks for commenting, Julie. Maybe I should do both versions, hah. I could put some bonus material in the big one… 😛
Yes! This!
I like the idea of one big book, and I would buy it for $6.98..but I would cringe a little. The idea of two books with a launch of 99 cents might be better for you though because I did start reading the EE serie
because of the free first book. I know any of your fans will be happy either way but new readers might balk at the higher price.
If you go with two books can put them out at the time?
I hate waiting!!!
Thanks for chiming in, Barb. Yes, they would either come out at the same time or within a few weeks at the longest.
Another idea might be something like what Bujold did with Weatherman and The Vor Game. Assuming you have an appropriate break point, you can pull a novella from the start to keep as free or low cost; and then have the larger book incorporate the beginning–but move on. I don’t think people will be upset as long as it is explicit that the bigger book includes the novella (and as long as it’s explicit that the additional content is still doorstopper sized). As long as the novella is self-contained I think it would work there–I suspect a cliffhanger would frustrate people here, and feel like a marketing ploy. Also, in the novella, you could do a lot more backstory for newcomers to the series–which then wouldn’t be as necessary in the full length book. And people like me would get both, and read them to see the differences (which is what I did with Weatherman and The Vor Game). I’m always happy to pay an additional “keep Lindsay writing” tax.
Thanks for the neat idea, Kryce. I’m not sure that would work for me in this case, as they story wouldn’t really lend itself to having a novella pulled out, but it would be interesting to try with something in the future. I know Moses Siregar (another indie fantasy author) did that with his first book, making the novella free. IIRC, Bujold wrote the Weatherman first (maybe for a magazine or anthology?), then expanded it into the novel. That’s probably a more natural way to do it. Thanks!
I think that having both books to release about a week a part would be just about perfect. and one big book sometimes for some people is just to much. I just released my first book and I am working on book two.
As much sense as splitting the book makes from an indie author perspective, from a reader perspective I would love love love if the book stayed together as one entity.
Jordan, Martin, Sanderson, Rothfuss, the big traditional pub giants of epic fantasy are writing at 300k-400k a pop, so even though 160k feels like a lot to you as a writer, it doesn’t feel like a huge amount for an epic fantasy to me as a reader.
I say keep it together. It will keep the story’s flow the way it was meant to be read, without forcing a cliffhanger on us or breaking up momentum.
Thanks for commenting, Laura. I believe a new ebook runs $12.99 or so from any of those names, which might seem worth it at that word count, but that’s not a price I feel I can ask as an indie (nor would it make sense since Amazon pays us a smaller royalty percentage for books over 9.99).
That’s true, but I never buy their books for $12.99. I think most of those books that debut at $12.99 eventually drop down to $9.99 and then $7.99, whereas most of the regular-sized books debut at $9.99, then drop to $7.99, then drop again to $5.34. I generally wait until they dip to the lowest offered prices, (or wait until there’s a sale to get them.)
So, since you generally have your books at the $4.95 range, you could think about debuting Republic at $4.95 as well, then wait until it’s got a good amount of reviews and raise it up to the $7 range, which would both reward your fans and give newbies a chance to be introduced to it without shelling out $7 for an unvetted book with few reviews.
I vote for one book and would be happy to pay $10 for it. As a reader I find books that end in cliffhangers irritating. It feels like a marketing ploy at the reader’s expense and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
I got over this with some of the EE books because (a) I was already invested in the series and understood (likely from your website) when I began the books that they would end in cliffhangers; (b) it made sense you were doing it that way because the series was already in progress and readers were anxious for the next installment, see, e.g., Talia; (c) unless you convince me otherwise by writing a series of horrible books, I plan to buy whatever you write.
But if you mean to appeal to new readers with Republic, having that type of ending in the first book they read could be off-putting. Even as a series reader who is anxious for Republic I would rather wait for a complete story (assuming we don’t have to wait TOO long).
I think a lot of people find them irritating, yet they work really well for selling books, heh. Since my plan would be to release them one after the other and not charge any more for the split work than I would for one individual book, I would hope it wouldn’t feel too gimmicky, and would ultimately just be a matter of having two kindle files instead of one.
We’ll see. At the rate I’m going, I may have to do it anyway, just because I’m not sure how well CreateSpace paperbacks hold up past a certain page count. I don’t want to have to use an itty bitty font, heh.
Someone else suggested you could release both a two book and a one book version, at least for the e-books. This seems like a good way to make everyone happy. I defer to you as to what works best for marketing purposes, but I’ve seen several good books end up with a bunch of one star reviews because readers were surprised and upset to find they were actually “half a book.” So if you go the two book route, I would make sure it’s clearly labeled as Part 1 and Part 2 or similar to (hopefully) avoid that issue.
As a reader, I’d prefer a single book. But as a fan, I’d like for you to optimally profit from your work to encourage you to keep writing!
I was also wondering whether it’d be possible to do both versions: the part I and II option for those who don’t want to fully commit to Republic (or the one-shot cost) and the single book (full cost) for those who know they want it and/or prefer the uninterrupted epic flow.
My 2 Cents and other mad ramblings
I found Lindsay Buroker’s work while attending a two day business class. At lunch, I was reading my kindle and the woman partnered with me was reading her nook. We started talking about the differences and moved onto suggesting books to each other because we had similar tastes. She had just downloaded a free copy of EE1 and had nothing but good things to say about it. I downloaded a copy to add to my reading list because, heck it was free and if it was bad; well I could just delete it later.
I won’t say that I wouldn’t have considered it at 0.99 – 2.99, but free was right up my alley at the time I came across the book and it ensured I’d give it a good chance.
It was about a week before I got to the book and when I did, I plowed through it and wanted more and I wanted it now. I had not read anything as interesting, fun, witty, and set in a fantastic world in a long while. I quickly had purchased and read everything in the EE World.
I loved the stories and most of all I loved the cost point they were sold at. I really enjoyed getting the first book free and the others were all priced at a reasonable cost to length value that made it all that much more attractive.
Personally, I would welcome longer books set in the EE world. I also understand cost concerns, drawing in new readers, etc. First one is free, get’em hooked, works for all sorts of things.
I’ve noticed (I do read a good deal of epic works), that many authors of Epic Books will have a second listing for the first few chapters of new series (longer than that normal free sample is – normally ends at some key point where you just will toss down any amount of money to find out what is going to happen next – ), or a short story that introduces people to the world, giving them a taste of what that new epic read will be like. Ease their fears about handing over those larger dollars, etc.
This entire rambling means – I would be much happier with a longer fuller story even at a higher cost. However, given that you will want to gain new readers as well, having either a short story/prolog type introduction for free, or even the first several as a separate free listing.
If you do indeed go with two (or more) separate books, please don’t take long between releases – we do need our fixes 😉
Thus ends my latest mad ramblings
I like the two book idea, with release dates fairly close…maybe a month? I admit it makes me squirm, just thinking about the wait, but it would give you two opportunities to do release bashes in close succession.
The bigger the better! I really don’t like getting HALF of the story 🙂
As long as the division between books makes organic sense, with a whole story for book 1 (and better novel length than novella, I think) I can entirely understand your desire to have two marketing pieces.
Here’s how I would look at it… A year from now, if you had never had this discussion on your blog, would anyone know or care that the first two books came out at about the same time? If not, then by all means set it up that way and reap the benefits of having them both ready at the same time.
Haha, that is a good point, Karen. I just *did* it with FiB1 & 2 without the discussion before hand, and nobody’s emailed me to complain that it should have been one book. 😀
It’s kind of nice to publicize these things, though, for other authors who may be thinking of serializing a novel or breaking a longer one in half. And I’m still on the fence myself here, so it’s nice to get the input. 🙂
As a reader of epic fantasy, I don’t much care if a story comes as one book or two. But as an author, I’ve considered the very same issue from a marketing perspective and arrived at some tentative conclusions.
Epic fantasy is different from other categories. Bigger books are accepted – even sought out. It’s what many people are used to in the genre and what they like. And they don’t mind paying a fair price to get it. I think it’s possible that releasing a single large tome might actually increase sales.
It’s hard to back that opinion up with statistical facts. However, I’ve noticed a few trends. It’s very difficult for a debut author to hit the Amazon bestseller lists with their first (and only) book. And it’s even harder to stay there.
One book that I’ve been tracking (A Cruciable of Souls) has done both. It’s hit, and stayed, on the bestseller lists for over six moths. It also happens to be a very large book. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.
Also, a higher priced book has an advantage when it comes to ranking on the popularity lists.
Cheers,
Robert Ryan.
Thank you for the comments, Robert. One of the bummers with ebooks is that it’s not as obvious to readers at first glance whether a book is BIG or not. Word count doesn’t mean a lot to non-writers and file size is meaningless. It is nice that Amazon puts a page estimate in now (though it never seems accurate), but that’s not quite the same as being at the bookstore and seeing and feeling the heft of the book!
I guess my question would be if you split it how long will the wait be for the second part. I have no problem paying for the book as a whole but for marketing purposes if it is easier as two then I understand the only bad for me as a reader is the wait. The waiting is the hardest part.
Not a long wait, Oona. I’m writing the whole first draft before I make any final decisions. 🙂
Alright so I think I follow the dillemma, and I read all the Robert Jordan books, so here is my tale: I hate putting a book down, I will start and finish a book in one sitting, if I have to put it down I obsess about it the entire time I’m away. So personally I like a shorter book, so long as there isn’t too long of a wait in between, if you could release them right after the 1st and then the next right after the 15th, that would be awesome! As a personal Preference I love Trilogies. So if this just keeps going I say work it into 3.
Haha, so mess with everyone and turn it into THREE books? Even better. 😉
I joke, of course. It’s not that big of a story. I’m doing a trilogy for my Nuria series though. Thanks for chiming in, Coco!
I vote for one big book. Majority of the readers of Republic will be those who have come to know and love your writing style and the characters in EE. I was kind of expecting Republic to be a more “grown-up oriented” book in the sense that it will be thicker and more expensive. 🙂 We readers expect a great storyline that you can’t hash out in a thin book, and you the writer deserve the money for your hard work. Strangely, I think the combination of great ratings from us loyal readers and the higher price of the e-book might attract the attention of those who tend to stay away from “cheap” books.
Thanks for the feedback, Jean. I hope folks will enjoy the bigger story and that it will get good reviews, heh. It’s always a little scary when trying something new, especially with familiar characters. 🙂
Initially, when I first read your post Lindsay, but before I was reading all the feedback comments, I was going to say that I think that you should do it in 2 books, with the first one being shorter/cheaper to try and lure in new customers that way. That’s what I thought initially… having read through all of the feedback and discussion however, my opinion has changed a bit.
Personally, I like the idea of only having a single file to read since it’s a single story (although I’m not a fan of e-book anthologies because it’s a little harder to jump directly to a middle story, especially on my old 1st edition nook which wasn’t a touch screen – but that’s more of an outdated technology thing…) and I don’t mind it being a really long one to read, as I’m not intimidated by page count. Also, reading through the feedback by other posters, I’m seeing that even for some new readers, bigger is actually better, even if it comes with a bigger price tag.
Perhaps as a compromise between the 2 (and hopefully not too much extra work) you can put out a brief summary + intro story (let’s call it a teaser-trailer) of the emperor’s edge series along with grabbing a reasonably sized chunk (small since the price is going to be little/nothing) of the beginning of the Republic to whet new readers appetites, and put that up as free – new readers will get a bit of the back-story quickly in time for the new release, and existing readers will know that the teaser-trailer story is simply covering what they’ve already read in brief along with a bit of new content that will be re-represented in the main story.
Ok, I think I’ve done enough of my own rambling and I hope that you found my ideas to be worthwhile, I look forward to reading the next book(s) in the series 🙂
Lindsay, I love your books and I would buy your new one regardless of price point or whether it was one volume or two. I realize that that’s not particularly helpful in aiding you to make a decision, so I am answering this as if you were an author that was completely new to me.
I would never try an unknown indie author at a $6.99 price point. There are a lot of terrible books out there with relatively little or no plot that are filled with grammar and spelling errors (I know this is not the case with you, but we are playing let’s pretend I’ve never heard of you).
Splitting it into two volumes with a cliffhanger ending is also problematic as LRV mentioned. I have read books that are perfectly good and they still get one star reviews for having the horrid cliffhanger ending. I know that if I am going through reviews and am warned of a cliffhanger ending, I almost never purchase the book. It didn’t matter so much in Forged in Blood because by this point in your EE series, the readers were already invested. Even if both books are coming out at relatively the same time, this is often viewed as nothing more than a marketing ploy. If you were splitting it into two, I would suggest finding a point in the book where some things are relatively wrapped up, even if it’s just some of the sub-plots. This way, the reader wants more but doesn’t feel as if they have been tricked by a marketing ploy.
I absolutely disagree with the idea of splitting the points of view (3 and 3 as Emily Cross suggested) because I recall when George R.R. Martin did this and it was very frustrating to have to wait two books to find out what happened to some of the characters. Of course, he is an incredibly slow writer and this would not be the case with Republic, but still I think it would detract from your story somewhat.
As well, I don’t think that I would go for the novella idea, but this is a personal bias. I never buy or even download an ebook under 100 pages (even if it is free) unless it is part of a series that I am already reading. It’s just a format that I don’t care for. Hope this helps.
I think the key point of your post is that this story could be the entry point for new readers to get to know your work. That makes the decision to split or not very different from FiB. By the time you get to book six, your readers are committed. As long as you didn’t split it mid-sentence, none of us would have been that upset.
But when you are trying to attract new customers, the bar is a lot higher for a split. The first book has to be a coherent story that is part of the larger story of ‘Republic’. I think the fact that ‘Republic’ will connect to the extended universe of EE is an advantage for the epic fantasy fans. We like the feeling that this world existed and exciting stuff happened before the start of the story.
If there is no good place to split, I would suggest you price ‘Republic’ at a slightly lower per word price than usual and throw in extras at the end (EE world short stories or extracts from your other novels that “star” each of the POV characters). Deliver value, show new folks who read to the end that there is more to the world, and give them links to the other novels.
If there is a good place to split the work, you have some interesting possibilities. What’s a good place to split? I would say at the completion of a story arc somewhere between 50K and 40% of the overall length.
Assuming this sort of split, you could come out of the gate with three ebooks; ‘Republic’ 1, ‘Republic’ 2, and ‘Republic’ boxed set. Pricing would be $2.99/$5.99/$7.99 or $3.99/$4.99/$7.99 (depending on the relative length of the two parts). The “boxed set” is for your current fans and you would eventually take it down. The idea here is that you use ‘Republic’ 1 to price pulse, advertise on BookBub, etc. If ‘Republic’ eventually becomes a series, you might even make it permafree. Or, you could put ‘Republic’ 1 in KDP Select and sell the “boxed set” on other retailers (if that’s allowed, I don’t know).
As side note, you should also update the back matter for your other works to include links to the newer books. And we really need a name for the world of Amaranthe, Sicarius, etc. That would make it easier to recommend, blurb, and market.
Yes to the I, II and boxed set options!
Lindsay,
Ha ha! I think I’m the LAST person who should be commenting on if a 200k book should be split. Personally, I think you should just go with keeping it whole– UNLESS there’s a really good splitting point that will give some sort of resolution to the first half. (Someone may have already said this; I haven’t read the comments yet.)
Brandon Sanderson’s “The Way of Kings” is the first book in a series and its’ over 400k words! Okay, not a great comparison in that he’s traditionally published (and a NY Times bestseller)– but Tor allowed that size totally because of his fan base. YOU have a fan base, too. Smaller than Sanderson’s, yes, but still a base that will buy your books.
Now, of course you’re going to have to do what you think works best for you. Still, if you ask me (and this post obviously WAS asking) I think you can do a monster book and have it work out financially. You’re not a debut author any more.
Thanks, Elissa. I’m pretty sure CreateSpace would have rejected that book even if Tor didn’t. 😛
Hey, when am I going to get to see that monster of yours in its entirety?
Wellll– I thought I was almost done, and then I realized I’m not. I need more tension here, less plodding there, more sensory immersion here AND there… sound at all familiar? BUT– I do see the light at the end, and since there are no trains in my world, I think it’s good news. It won’t be next week, but I think it’ll be before the next equinox.
As a reader and EE fan and a future writer I say split it in two. I survived the last cliffhanger without a problem so now worries there. I wouldn’t let the opportunity to have a new ‘entry to funnel’ for brand new readers to get them hooked pass you by.
Terry Pratchett did this with Discworld, you could start at any of the series (Watch/Witches/Wizards etc..) and its exactly how he made me an addict.
Here’s a thought. Have you thought of splitting it into three, not two? The reason I ask is because most books are plotted with an “act one, act two, act three” story arc. Therefore, you might find a more natural breaking point if you break it into thirds, not in half. Half is awkward. Three, and you have a trilogy!
Uh oh, then they’ll really lynch me! 😀
Hehe, j/k. Thanks for the suggestion, Margaret.
My opinion is not very different from several others who have already commented but I’ll chime in anyway.
I discovered your work because EE1 was free, I was new to the Kindle universe, and I am stingy with my money. You are a talented author and I loved your characters and their world so I happily stuck with them. As a fan, I am REALLY looking forward to a huge novel. I hate these novella/serial/short story things that are suddenly so popular. As a wanna-be writer, I sympathize with the financial side of this.
I say, ask yourself two questions. One, is there an organic, logical breaking point in the story that does not feel forced in any way? If so, go for it! If not, you risk pissing off both old fans and new. And two, is your goal to draw in lots of new readers? That question seems obvious 😉 I think the cheaper first book/slightly more expensive second book is the way to go.
Now that I’ve had my Kindle for two years, I have learned to NEVER pay more than $2.99 for an author I’ve never heard of. I have had too many bad experiences with indie authors who have the plot, grammar, and spelling skills of a really dumb fourth grader. It’s even hard for me to pay that much for a new author sometimes. I just get tired of taking a chance on crap.
Current fans who were going to buy the book will likely buy it whichever way you choose to release it. We will whine about how long we have to wait for part two, but like someone said above: unless you suddenly start producing crap, we’re sticking with you. We trust you and love your work so you’ve already got us.
Hope my opinion helps and doesn’t make your decision harder!
I agree with William above – have three books available now (no time-lag): part 1 and 2, and the complete version with maybe extra’s for those who buy it in full. The extras may turn into standalone stories later on.
Give readers what they want (not necessarily exactly what they want – you’ve got to keep them interested after all). But you’ve got to remember that if you put up an artificial barrier for them to jump over to continue reading (and buying your work) then they may not bother jumping over it, forget how much they like the story & characters, etc, and find someone else who will give them what they want. They owe you nothing. You are but one click away from losing their eyeballs.
If you do decide to have a time-lag between releases then you’ll have to redo your marketing again – “remember how much you liked book 1?”, “Yeah”, “well book 2 is out now”, “Oh right. I’ll stick it on my To Be Read list. I’m not sure how long it is now, maybe 3 or 4 figures. Don’t worry, I’ll try and get back to your one, it’s just there’s this other writer who I really like. I found them after I couldn’t get book 2. Hey, why was there a gap anyway?” “Um, legacy-style marketing”, “oh, right. I’ve got to a really good bit in the one I’m reading now. Bye”.
Just echoing the thoughts of others at this point…
As a dedicated reader, I would prefer a single book.
As a fan who wants you to continue to write full time, I also support efforts to increase readership.
If there is a logical break point in Republic that would make part 1 read like an independent novel and not leave new readers (old too, but especially new) feeling dissatisfied with a cliff hanger, then go for it if you think that will give you a new opportunity increase readership.
Pingback: Monday Must-Reads [1/13/14]
Gee-whiz, I’m getting tired of series. They’re at the theaters, on TV and in books. Nothing can just happen in one small amount of time, it’s all got to be dragged over eternity.
A Goodreads group this month was voting on the best stand-alone novel they should read. I hadn’t heard of many on the list and then I realized most authors are too focused on 1-2-3 to think about a compact story.
I liked the movie Willow. Today they’d have to have Willow the Return and Willow the Revenge. Maybe that sometimes ruins everything. Imagine if Willow was split into two movies? Ugh!
I wish there were more stand-alones of whatever length that just entertained me. If authors have a series out already a good stand-alone would only augment their arsenal of weapons use to attract readers.
I must say I do not understand a readers aversion to try other books from an author they found enjoyable, even if said books are very different from the initial read. I understand falling in love with a story/world/character set and wanting more. I still want to see more of EE, however as soon as I finished the first EE book, I was so impressed with the writing that I purchased the first Flash Gold novel as well. After reading that and being equally impressed with the writing and story I determined EE was not a fluke and you were actually a very talented writer and I proceeded to purchase and read everything you had available. I did not find a single piece of work that I did not enjoy and wish to read more about. So far you have yet to disappoint me with any of your newer releases and I would be a little sad if you chose not to continue Torrent due to lack of mass interest.
Thanks, Kelly.
I’m glad there are readers who will try new things from authors they’ve enjoyed before, but I can tell you from the sales numbers for Encrypted that it’s definitely not the case for everyone. That one always bums me out, because that’s still one of my favorite things that I’ve written. 😀
More in the Torrent world will be coming this year.
Thanks for the support!
I actually love Encrypted more than the EE series– all you slackers buy it RIGHT NOW! 😉 Seriously, you won’t be disappointed.
Hi Lindsay,
I broke my first story, I Bring the Fire, into three parts because I couldn’t imagine anyone buying a 600 page behemoth from a noob for a reasonable price. The biggest complaint I get for part I is that it isn’t a complete story.
(It kind of is, there is a major conflict that is resolved–but I include a longer lead up to part II than is typical in a denouement).
Did it work? Well, I still have the day job–but I also have kids and a mortgage–so some of that is self inflicted.
The three parts and the novella are currently at the top of their niche, at least. And I don’t advertise that much, or have a consistent blog. (See comments about day job)
As for advertising, so far the best luck I’ve had is advertising on Bookbub. Part I is free, but I’ve lowered Part II to 99 cents and advertised it on Bookbub. The months I did that were my best sales.
Other things that have worked well is doing an advertising Blitzkrieg. I described it here: http://ibringthefireodin.tumblr.com/post/70348825330/advertising-blitzkrieg-strategies-for-promoting-your
I’m about to release book IV, and I hope to do another BookBub promo of Part I…hopefully with 1.5 more parts of the series this time my BookBub promo will do even better this time around.
In my opinion, the most important thing is that each book is enjoyable when read on its own, i.e. it has a sufficiently self-contained story. The best way to get me to buy future books is to create a world where I care about the characters and/or what happens in the fictional universe itself. As long as the main storyline in each book comes to a satisfactory conclusion I’m fine with side plots left open for later resolution, but cliffhangers don’t tempt me to buy the next book… they just tick me off.
For example, even though I *LOVED* the Emperor’s Edge universe, had bought everything you had published up until then (except for Goblin Brothers), and had read them all in a matter of days, the ending to FiB1 annoyed me immensely and was a complete downer on the whole series. EE went from being one of my favourite series, to me not even being interested in FiB2. I didn’t buy FiB2 when it came out, and only eventually bought it when I’d totally run out of eBooks to read and wasn’t having any luck with samples from Kindle suggestions so thought I might as well give it a go. It rescued the series somewhat for me, but even now I wish I’d stopped reading at Beneath the Surface. Without the experience of reading all your other books except one before FiB1, I’d probably have written you off as an author and totally avoided your books in the future. (Yes, I do have an author blacklist!)
On books being split in general: if I’m not warned of a cliffhanger ending, I get totally cheesed off when I encounter one; if I *am* warned of a cliffhanger ending, I almost always avoid that book even if the concluding part is already available. And if the first book leaves too many things incomplete I end up feeling unsatisfied with the book and the author.
The ability to read a decent sample before buying an eBook largely eliminates the price issue from my perspective, even with authors that are totally new to me. If I could only read the official blurb, or only a few paragraphs as a sample, I’d be hesitant to plonk down more than about $3-$4 for a totally unknown author. However, with the sample sizes offered by Amazon with Kindle eBooks, for example, I frequently buy eBooks at around the $7 point from newly-discovered authors. I’ve actually been bitten by buying books from known authors just as frequently as by buying them from unknown authors — see FiB1 whinge above! 😀 — but it’s pretty rare in either case.
It’s possibly relevant that the impression I get from the first book I read by a particular author tends to stick. It’s generally one of “Ooooh, what else have they written?”, “OK, that was a decent few hours’ entertainment”, or “Argh! Where’s my author blacklist?”. With the rate of expansion of eBook market it’s really only authors that fall into the first category that get my repeat business.
I’m totally comfortable with $7+ eBooks. In fact, I often pay $15 for Baen eARCs (electronic Advance Reader Copies) and then buy the final version of the eBook on top of that. (And then buy a printed version too if I really really liked it.)
All of that is a long-winded way of saying that my preference would be for one large book. And I definitely like the idea in reply to Julie’s comment about “bonus material in the big one”!
Thanks for commenting, Sue. I guess it really depends on the reader. The first fantasy novels I ever read were trilogies that ended on cliffhangers where the story wasn’t complete until the third book in the series, so I feel there’s a long tradition of breaking up big works in fantasy.
Personally, I can’t remember the last time I picked up a book over 500 pages. I’m busy, and I know that’s going to be a big time commitment (possibly with a lot of descriptions of trees… and castles… and bucolic countrysides…). The authors who serialize or write shorter works are just more likely to get me!
If I had to choose I would vote for ONE book if it is one story/adventure, and not split it up due to marketing reasons or whatever. Hey, we fantasy lovers can’t wait to dig in to 800-pages (or more) books you know… and I agree with others here, cliffhangers may be more irritating than exciting. I have actually wondered why you split up FiB and wouldn’t have minded a longer last book in the series. Just look at the Harry Potter series, each book in the series just gets thicker and thicker!
You are an indie author and e-publishing, which leaves you the opportunity of experimenting and be free of publisher/printing requirements. Why not try one long story in one “thick” e-book?
And about pricing – I can’t understand how people can be reluctant to pay 6 bucks for a whole book! It is way cheaper entertainment than going to the movies for example (at least in my country), and lasts longer, hopefully. 🙂 I would happily pay 10 bucks for each of your books, you shall get paid for the good work you do. A few weeks back I bought an ebook (I thought) from Robin Hobb for 15 bucks, which turned out to be more of a novella (160-ish pages). THAT is overpricing, you are far from that even if you would charge 8 bucks for Republic in one piece.
So I just ask, who or what do you want to accommodate? Your fans (who may want to eat the whole story at once)? Promotion to new readers with a low entry-price for piece 1? Printing page limitations for those that buy print and not ebook? An idea of what readers or marketing people prefer?
And I say – do not think too much of what others in the market think 😉 and follow your own mind! The point with independent e-publishing is just that: freedom!
I also want to add an idea/request. Since you now have so many series, books, novellas and short stories in the EE-world, you should put up a graphic timeline on your site, that shows where each story takes place. That will make it easier for new fans to choose where to begin, and us already-fans to remember what took place when. 😉
Cheers from a devoted fan..
Thank you for the feedback, Sara. The goal is always to please current readers and draw in new ones. 🙂
In all honesty, I made more because I broke FiB into two books, but I felt it was fair all around because the individual parts were still as long as the other novels in the series (which are all already longer than the 80-100K average!).
That one was about 250K altogether, which may have also made it tough to do as a print-on-demand paperback. I’m not sure if CreateSpace has limitations, but I have a feeling that would have been some teeny tiny print!
Thanks for the suggestion on the timeline. I’m still using the free WordPress theme I picked up in 2010, so I’m not very good about tinkering with the website, but it would be nice to do something like that in the future. And have maps for the world. I guess writing is just my favorite thing to do and is what I prioritize!
I’d like to offer a different POV, if I may.
I, like many others, began reading the EE books when I found the first one for free. At the time, I was an unemployed student and couldn’t even afford the $.99 to try a new book. The first story had me hooked, though, and I managed to scrimp, scrounge and borrow for the next few. (Fortunately I found a job, so I was able purchase the last three on my own.)
Now I am a newlywed, yet again unemployed (due to an injury) and once again find myself in a position where I will be required to finagle my finances in order to support my favorite author.
I promise I’m not whining (truly, my life is very blessed) I’m just trying to point out that there may be other literary addicts like me who, although they may be too skint to dole out the cash to take a try on something, will do whatever it takes to complete the story once they’re hooked.
I vote for 2 books, for several reasons already mentioned, and for a really weird reason. I’ll give the weird one, since you’ve heard the others. So feel free to discount this, but…. here goes.
Amazon Kindle now has this feature that predicts how much longer you’ll be reading a book. I’ve found that I really like to use this feature, and time myself as I read.
Collections have been really popular lately. I like them too, for the value, but I hate not having my magic prediction about how long it will take me to read. On a normal book, I’ll see a cheerful little message saying, “6 hours” and know that I’ll finish it in two days. But on a collection it will say some weird thing like 41 hrs, and mentally I panic a minute that I will never finish this, before I remember this is for 9 books.
Really long books have the same thing. It’s like, hey, this is going to take you 12 hrs, and I am wondering why am I taking so long to read this book? Of course, if I knew that it was twice as long a normal book, I’d know, but boring books also take me longer to read (because I’m distracted more easily.)
Ok, now that I wrote this, it looks like a really stupid reason! 🙂
I wish Amazon would have wordcount listed instead of time, or in addition to time, but that’s neither here nor there….
Wow, that was probably not helpful AT ALL.
My vote: two books.
Hah, that’s interesting, Tara. I think I miss out by just using the Kindle app on the iPad. It doesn’t seem to have all the features the kindle itself has. 😉 Hours might be more useful to the average reader than words. I don’t know if I had much concept of what words translated to until I became a writer myself and started tracking them obsessively. 😛
You know, another option is to publish it as two books, for a lower price each, but higher price total; and also publish a two book set, for $9.99, lower than both other books together. Both parties pleased.
I apologize if this was mentioned already. I didn’t have time to read all the comments.
I will start off with saying that I am going to buy this whether you release it has one book, two books, or 400 books.
I generally prefer having one larger book, as long as it isn’t as long as the 5 book bundle of Game of Thrones which made my Kindle crash. 🙂
Have you thought about releasing it as two books and also releasing a bundled version?
By now I know I’ll buy it either way (as I’ve read all but the Goblin Brothers). If you went for the option of part 1 + part 2 or box set, I’d get the box set so I could just keep reading.
Unlike some other readers I was intro’d to the EE series by the Books1-3 set. Mainly cos I don’t have a kindle, but a kobo and didn’t notice a free first book. It was enough cost to not cry over if I hated it, but gave me 3 books when I knew there were more available with the last being published soon.
I’m kind of late to the party, but I think this is an interesting dilemma so I’ll chime in. I’ll start out with my idea. Break it into 1 or 3 books. Release them a week apart. Let your current readers know that Book 1 will start at a 99 cent price point. When you release book 3, only 1-3 weeks later, also release an omnibus edition that will be cheaper than 99 cents for book 1 + book 2 + book 3. That way your biggest fans give a boost to book 1 plus also aren’t out the extra money.
This way you get something to advertise AND if you put it out almost simultaneously, your biggest fans get what they want – a big version to read all at once.
I also base this on having a bigger book I thought I could easily split. And version 1 felt less complete than I thought it would. And um, I may have waited a little too long – okay a lot too long, to release book 2 (which is being launched today, in fact.)
And just now I ran across this quote (send a quote a day to my son):
Bill Gates is a very rich man today and you want to know why? The answer is one word: versions .- Dave Barry
Oops! That should be break it into 2-3 books.
I do not mean to offend anyone on a budget, but your ebooks are worth the extra cents. Moreover, the wait between any two books of EE was totally bearable (I enjoyed each book better the second or third reading). I could even wait a couple months before joining Talia and hunting you down.
Bigger fantasy books are way pricier and people still buy them. Yes, yes, it is because they have a higher word count, but let’s be honest, we could all do without the lengthy, superfluous descriptions. And we could do with faster releases (What? No, I am not talking about the SoIaF series!)
I will probably buy all the versions of Republic. I have no knowledge whatsoever in marketing, and therefore will not make any suggestion…which makes my comment half-pointless!
The big question is: when is the first book/part of the novel likely to be released?
When I did a rewrite on the first book of my new, upcoming series, I adjusted the plot so I could split it in half with it having a satisfying enough ending. But then, I plan on them all being episodic, like a tv show, and it’s for a younger audience. I split a 75,000+ book into two parts. Ah, the joys of not writing epic fantasy, I suppose.
I am very excited! I’m a fan of Sicarius, and I can’t wait for the new book.
I’m also a broke college student, and I love your prices. Thank you, Lindsay, for having so many books published, all of which I own, and still being willing to cater to my budget. If you want my opinion, as I am a dedicated reader I will not mind paying $7 for the big book, or the duology prices either. However, the day you ask $9 for your books, I might have to enjoy your books like I do fancy chocolate – very occasionally.
Thanks so much for writing! I enjoy watching how your writing style matures and ages like good cheese. ;D
i spent 9 months writing until i reached the “end” of the story (a cliffhanger b/c i want to write more); i later found out my manuscript is 254,000 words. having convinced myself that over 30 rejections from literary agents so far can’t be wrong, ive sliced up the manuscript into 3 books. the problem im running into is i personally dont feel the story starts to ramp up until halfway through.
im now considering ebook publishing only- which means no limit on word count. im on my 3rd edit of book 1 of the current manuscript and wondering if i should just chuck it all and work towards one big book? or should i continue w/ a 2-3 book series out of the current manuscript?