Random Written Word thoughts

[Glenn]

This is supposed to be the age of instant gratification. When a person wants something they want it now. So why do short story collections sell so poorly while the larger series like Wheel of Time or Game of Thrones consistently top the charts?

[clintmemo]

This is supposed to be the age of instant gratification. When a person wants something they want it now. So why do short story collections sell so poorly while the larger series like Wheel of Time or Game of Thrones consistently top the charts?

I don't think short story collections have ever sold particularly well.

Also, maybe readers are atypical people. Most people have distraction addiction but avid readers are not most people.

[Azhrei Vep]

This is supposed to be the age of instant gratification. When a person wants something they want it now. So why do short story collections sell so poorly while the larger series like Wheel of Time or Game of Thrones consistently top the charts?

I don't think short story collections have ever sold particularly well.

Also, maybe readers are atypical people. Most people have distraction addiction but avid readers are not most people.

And at least some of us don't find any gratification from short stories, let alone instant.

[Glenn]

This is supposed to be the age of instant gratification. When a person wants something they want it now. So why do short story collections sell so poorly while the larger series like Wheel of Time or Game of Thrones consistently top the charts?

I don't think short story collections have ever sold particularly well.

Also, maybe readers are atypical people. Most people have distraction addiction but avid readers are not most people.

And at least some of us don't find any gratification from short stories, let alone instant.

Maybe that's what it is. I get a lot of entertainment out of a lot of the short stories I've read. Maybe most people expect (or want) to be taken on the emotional ride that a novel provides.

Azhrei, have you ever read any of the Robert E Howard Conan stories? I find it hard to believe you wouldn't get anything out of those.

If I'm reading a novel, i like to read it in 1-2 hour sittings. If I don't have the time or am too tired I can read a good short story in 30 minutes or so. Just sitting here thinking about it, I can think of several stories that i've enjoyed just as much as any novel.

[Azhrei Vep]

Azhrei, have you ever read any of the Robert E Howard Conan stories? I find it hard to believe you wouldn't get anything out of those.

Nah. It's not even about the format, there. Conan has just never appealed to me.

[clintmemo]

Novels are about characters and their journey and growth. Short stories are about ideas and situations. Maybe one is just more attractive than the other to most readers.


Also, people with short attention spans have to internet to dig through.

[Leoff]

Also there's different forms of instant gratification. When I want a quick dose of good reading I often don't want to chance a new author; I want to dive right in to a style and maybe also characters that I know. So grabbing another installment of whoever hasn't been killed yet in The game of Thrones will be more appealing than this hot new collection of authors whose output I don't know yet.
However, a collection of short stories by one or more authors whom I know, when I need a quick fix, is appealing.

Speaking of which, I still think there were a number of really good stories I read back when the FtBWG was meeting that I wish we'd stuck together in an anthology. There was one about some sailors that was right up there with any of Lord Dunsany's short stories. And I myself have three good short stories and a sonnet just sitting there. And for the fun of it, some of our The Great Wizard Spooner chronicles would be fun stuck in here and there.
It's a lot of work, but if we didn't have a theme, and didn't want too thick of a volume (Sojourn 1 was my favourite length), I think we have enough material just waiting.

[clintmemo]

Speaking of which, I still think there were a number of really good stories I read back when the FtBWG was meeting that I wish we'd stuck together in an anthology. There was one about some sailors that was right up there with any of Lord Dunsany's short stories. And I myself have three good short stories and a sonnet just sitting there. And for the fun of it, some of our The Great Wizard Spooner chronicles would be fun stuck in here and there.
It's a lot of work, but if we didn't have a theme, and didn't want too thick of a volume (Sojourn 1 was my favourite length), I think we have enough material just waiting.

I'm wondering if, especially for short stories, that e-book publishing (via Amazon or some such) might not be a better way to go. It would at least be far less risky. You could, for example, sell stories individually for 99 cents and/or sell collections at a cheaper-by-the-story price (say, 8 for 5.99) and/or sell print-on-demand collections for some higher price (16 stories for 12.99) - or whatever makes sense for the numbers. Dividing up the revenue and dealing with taxes would still be a pain, though.
I'm sure the authors on this forum know way more about it than I do.

If you just want to put things out there for people to find, I'm sure there is no shortage of places to post things. If you want the material to stay together, I'd bet you could set up a website for little or nothing.

[Azhrei Vep]

Speaking of which, I still think there were a number of really good stories I read back when the FtBWG was meeting that I wish we'd stuck together in an anthology. There was one about some sailors that was right up there with any of Lord Dunsany's short stories. And I myself have three good short stories and a sonnet just sitting there. And for the fun of it, some of our The Great Wizard Spooner chronicles would be fun stuck in here and there.
It's a lot of work, but if we didn't have a theme, and didn't want too thick of a volume (Sojourn 1 was my favourite length), I think we have enough material just waiting.

I'm wondering if, especially for short stories, that e-book publishing (via Amazon or some such) might not be a better way to go. It would at least be far less risky. You could, for example, sell stories individually for 99 cents and/or sell collections at a cheaper-by-the-story price (say, 8 for 5.99) and/or sell print-on-demand collections for some higher price (16 stories for 12.99) - or whatever makes sense for the numbers. Dividing up the revenue and dealing with taxes would still be a pain, though.
I'm sure the authors on this forum know way more about it than I do.

If you just want to put things out there for people to find, I'm sure there is no shortage of places to post things. If you want the material to stay together, I'd bet you could set up a website for little or nothing.

That happens. That happens a lot. A whooooooole lot.

Sturgeon's Revelation is amply represented.

[clintmemo]

Speaking of which, I still think there were a number of really good stories I read back when the FtBWG was meeting that I wish we'd stuck together in an anthology. There was one about some sailors that was right up there with any of Lord Dunsany's short stories. And I myself have three good short stories and a sonnet just sitting there. And for the fun of it, some of our The Great Wizard Spooner chronicles would be fun stuck in here and there.
It's a lot of work, but if we didn't have a theme, and didn't want too thick of a volume (Sojourn 1 was my favourite length), I think we have enough material just waiting.

I'm wondering if, especially for short stories, that e-book publishing (via Amazon or some such) might not be a better way to go. It would at least be far less risky. You could, for example, sell stories individually for 99 cents and/or sell collections at a cheaper-by-the-story price (say, 8 for 5.99) and/or sell print-on-demand collections for some higher price (16 stories for 12.99) - or whatever makes sense for the numbers. Dividing up the revenue and dealing with taxes would still be a pain, though.
I'm sure the authors on this forum know way more about it than I do.

If you just want to put things out there for people to find, I'm sure there is no shortage of places to post things. If you want the material to stay together, I'd bet you could set up a website for little or nothing.

That happens. That happens a lot. A whooooooole lot.

Sturgeon's Revelation is amply represented.

I have no doubt.
I suspect that the ease of publishing makes people avoid gatekeepers like editors and response groups and proof readers and the like. I know that having an editor vastly improved both of my two Sojourn stories.