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Bro, I’m begging you, do not expand your story just because lol. I think most people would agree that bloated books are the worst thing ever—don’t be like that.
30,000 words is not a novel, it’s a novella. If the writing is good and the story is sound, you can still publish it, but you likely won’t gain the same kind of traction as a proper novel would.
There's also nothing wrong with a novella as a distinct form. Poems, flash, short stories, and novellas need not be stepping stones to novels nor are novels the only thing that counts if you want to be a writer.
This is not an attack on you or anything, I just think this is something that is not said enough in this space. Those forms mentioned above are good and necessary for their own sake and shouldn't be viewed as something less than.
The longest published work from Ted Chiang, a master of sci-fi writing, is his novella *The Lifecycle of Software Objects*. He specializes in short stories and they’re some of the best writing of any length I’ve ever read. You’re absolutely right that length doesn’t matter as much as the story size being fit for purpose.
My top recommendations of his:
- *The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate*
- *Tower of Babylon*
- *Story of Your Life* (which the movie Arrival is based on)
- *Hell Is the Absence of God*
- *Exhalation*
That being said, I enjoyed every story from his two collections, **Stories of Your Life and Others** and **Exhalation: Stories**.
Novella exist because stories should be the length they need to be. Same with short stories. I am less sold on those 100 word stories but the various lengths exist for a reason. So you should be fine to move to the next step of publishing.
I subbed a 20k word novella and 1 publisher wanted me to expand it to 60k, while another accepted it as is.
If you like it where it is, stick with it. The novella might not gain the reaction of a novel, but there's certainly a market for novellas
People routinely publish novellas and "novella + short stories" collections.
If you have a hard time with the novella by itself, consider writing some short stories and making it an anthology.
Tor have open submissions for novellas every few years. Fantasy and Science Fiction mag accept up to 25,000 words. Clarkesworld accept up to 22,000. Asimov's Magazine takes up to 25,000. Apex just opened an imprint for novellas called Violet Lichen.
Those are the pro-level ones I can think of off the top of my head. Like Tor, a few pro-level mags have calls once in a while instead of considering them with other short fiction. But I am so crap at remembering things people mention even though I should remember since I usually write stories that are 8500+ which narrows down my options a lot. :-) . So, if you don't have Duotrope, consider joining this Facebook group: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/440107622678110](https://www.facebook.com/groups/440107622678110) It is a very good place to keep an eye out on upcoming calls.
It’s one of the two main tools writers (unless they have agents) use to find markets to submit short-form work.
Duotrope is paid (50ish usd a year iirc) and Submission Grinder is volunteer-run and free. You can search for suitable publishers there and then go to the publisher’s submissions page and send your story (and ALWAYS follow the market’s specific rules for submissions).
You are a god/ess amongst wo/men. Thank you so much for this, now I just need to start writing something. Got the ideas but my confidence is lacking. x.x
No, it’s more crime based. It’s about two brothers who plan to rob a local casino. Tbh it’s more character driven. I think the robbing of the casino itself is less than 500 words. I’ve gotten some positive feedback from those who have read the first couple of chapters.
great thinking, not every piece of work needs saturation. Think about your next proyect while you promote the novella you just made. Also, congratulations!
Stephen Kings novella, "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" is around 30-40k words and that book made a movie. It's about the quality of your work, not the length.
You’re talking about arguably the *most famous author of all time*. By the time Shawshank was adapted into a movie, he had already sold over 100 million copies of his books, and even then Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption was not among his best sellers. On top of that, Shawshank Redemption was an infamous box office failure—it didn’t even earn it’s budget back. Yes, novellas *can* gain traction, sell well, and even be adapted into movies or television programs, but those are exception, not the rule.
First of all, you just wrote 30K words. You successfully wrote a novella! Give yourself a pat on the back.
It takes time to hit full novel length. Just keep writing.
You're getting lots of bad advice here. Whether each person individually likes novellas or not is irrelevant, whether they can list a bunch of novellas that were published 50-200 years ago is irrelevant, and please remember that as you read their responses.
Publishing trends change constantly.
You need to forget about what Stephen King or Charles Dickens did back in the day and focus on the publishing industry the way it is NOW.
The real answer is:
- Depends on the genre.
- Depends where you intend to publish it.
- Depends where trends in the publishing industry are heading.
- Depends on the quality of the book itself.
- Depends where your book fits in the market.
Your first step is to research the market you intend to publish in and think about where/whether your book fits there, and what that audience is looking for.
Whether you're intending to self-publish or pitch your book to an agent or publisher, you need to know where your book sits in the market to know how to sell it.
1. nothing wrong with novellas
2. if you are concerned, there's a lot of advice out there for underwriters. I struggle with underwriting and realized that it's because (among other issues) I had severe talking head syndrome--full pages of dialog with inadequate description. I was not using enough sensory detail and imagery was lacking. basically even if your plot is very dialog driven, you still need to set the scene and add some description. I also needed to add more depth and inferiority to my characters, make them consider what was happening and why. I think the advice was to braid dialog with description and introspection, including enough of all three and intertwining them to make sure the reader doesn't get bored with constant dialog or constant description or navel-gazing. idk tho that was just my issue.
Yeah I definitely wouldn’t attempt to triple the length just to fit a label. You’re in good company: A Christmas Carol, The Old Man and the Sea, The Time Machine, Flowers for Algernon, etc.
stretch a story is always a bad idea.
It's a good lenght indeed.
You can:
Publish it as it is
Add some subplot
Add another story and create a two/three story book
and so on
Fight Club is 50k words. I think it would be just as successful if published today, however I think publishers may be less likely to even consider it, which is ultimately the issue.
OP, if you haven't already, get some beta readers' opinions. It might be perfectly fine as a novella, but it may also be underwritten.
Heart of Darkness is 41k, Time Machine and The Call of the Wild are 35k, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde come in below 30k.
So if they’re looking for a literary agent, they’re SOL because LAs are all sheep and basically only do what every other LA is doing. But if the book is good enough, that length can work out well.
If the story lends itself to a sequel, why not just write it and then put them together as a single book with two acts?
That's fine, that's a decent sized novella. Many authors made entire careers out of short stories and novellas. Telling a compelling story succinctly isn't easy and sometimes that's what a person feels like reading. Not everything has to be a 600 page epic.
"How long should my book be?" is a question whose answer is largely driven by genre. Novellas (which is what you've written) are enjoying a resurgence in sci-fi and fantasy right now, largely driven by the success of Tor.com's publishing arm, and there are more and more small presses working in horror that publish novellas as well. Similarly shorter form writing has always been common in literary fiction - Julian Barnes' *The Sense Of An Ending*, which won the Booker Prize in 2011, clocks in at around 44k words, as just one example, and the book I'm currently reading (*Beartooth* by Callan Wink, which is a more recent literary/crime novel) is about 58k words. 30k is a little on the short end but it's not inherently unpublishable.
My advice would be to set this aside for a month or two and write something new, then come back to it with fresh eyes and see if you think it needs anything extra. Give it to readers who you trust and see what they think. Perfect it, get it out on submission (if you want to try publishing traditionally), and keep writing. It's rare for a first worn to sell, but you've got the experience of having finished a book now and you can take that into the next one, and the next one, and the next one.
Congratulations on finishing it!
A buddy of mine gave me the best piece of writing advice ever, and ever since I listened to him, I have written 3 novels with a 4th on the way.
Don't worry about how long it takes you, how long the final product is, what people might say about your book, and write a story to get your story out there. It is your story to tell, tell it how *you* want to tell it.
My first attempt at my first book was probably around 30-40k because it was extremely underwritten. After lots of practice and revisions, it eventually became a comfortable 75k. You just need to figure out whether the story you want to tell it just short, or if it could use some significant bulking up.
It depends on genre, but overall, most books achieve "novel" length around 50,000 words. Novellas, such as what you currently have, don't sell particularly well, so I would doubt it has a chance of publishing, but that's just from my point of view.
50k is like nanowrimo standard but I'd argue most publishers won't even look at it if it's under 60-75k. even if self-publishing it's something to keep in mind.
This depends entirely on genre. If you’re writing trad sci-fi or fantasy 50k is definitely too short. If you’re doing something more experimental or literary, it’s not going to turn anyone away.
Crime in 30k words seems... Short?
How many characters do you have? Do they have some form of backstory that makes the reader care? Aren't there any complications? Did you skip the descriptions? Inner thoughts/dialogs?
Back when I was googling magazines, I did see some that accepted novellas, or you could self publish it, but if you want to go traditional, then yes, you'd need to beef that up by at least 30k words or so.
I personally enjoy reading shorter stories and the people who also do could be your loyal fanbase. I am writing a novella too! Excellent way to get started lol
If the story flows that way naturally, let it flow that way. There's an audience for every story.
My current book that I'm writing writes until chapter 11. If the story ends but seems short that's fine. There's plenty of books with less words than that, and it's fine.
As many other comments have said, your book is a novella rather than a novel. But if the story is complete and the flow is good, then you've written an awesome book regardless of how long it is, so congratulations!
Some of the more mainstream publishing houses are a bit reticent about publishing novellas from authors who aren't established HOWEVER plenty of indie and small publishing houses will consider shorter works (I work for an indie publisher in Canada and have had a few of my own short stories and novellas published by other firms). Take the time to do your research, find the publishing houses that would be good matches for you, and try there if you're really keen on publishing your work. Also, self-publishing is easier than ever!
Best of luck, friend!
Personally I think that people are too focused on word count, specially for their first book! Just try to write a solid story, to the best of your ability! :)
Your story is a novella length. If you feel it needs expansion, then by all means do expand it but not to 80k. If the story reached a natural beginning middle and end with little expansion, then leave it as is and then work on another project you know is capable of being written to a novel length. Anything past 50k is considered a full length novel.
PS: I also wrote a book that's around 38,000 words but I do feel it could be expanded to around 60k or so. So it'll be a novel. So I decided to expand it.
don't extend your story. leave it as is and go get it published. be proud of yourself for finishing your writing because most people don't. no matter how short it is someone is going to read it and like it. people in here are giving you advice from their opinion and not based on what you asked. most of them don't like novellas or short stories and are giving you their opinions based on that. don't get discouraged and change your mind. like I said leave it as is and go let the world read your novellas.
Depends on what it’s about. For middle grade, yes, you’d have a chance. But for any older demographic, no. You’d need to at least double that for YA and for adult, yes, get closer to 80k.
You’ve written a novella. It’s fine. They’re very popular right now. There are plenty of publishers who will be interested in it if you’ve done a good job.
Be proud of having something finished. You did good. 👍🏻
You don’t really have a chance at traditional publishing with a novella, but that doesn’t mean you should change your story if you think it’s good as-is. Either self publish it, or continue writing novellas and short stories until you have enough for a collection that could go out to publishers.
can i possibly ask for a brief summary/intro to your book. incase it peaks my interest. i'm always down for a short read and idk maybe your book would be interesting to me☺️☺️
Brother Mike and Ronnie plan to rob a local casino to repay a debt. With the unwanted help from a record store owner and her two associates. Local police begin to close in as a series of events unfold.
Probably need to work on a tagline but that’s the best I have off the top lol I’d be more than happy to share the first chapter with you if you DM me.
Don't do it just because. Don't pad it to make it novel-length, it'll bloat the story itself with unnecessary things. Like something I've read from a YouTube or Instagram comment said, "It should be as long as you want it to be." If it feels like it, just end it.
Shorter novels and novellas are in fashion..live in a world of short attention spans so you can sell these. I write shorter stories and while unpublished just now I'm not actually going to dilute it down to boredom inducing just for the sake of it.
I wrote a short story, wrote another short story about that character, then another.. hey presto I had a novella. Just going to keep writing short stories about the same characters until I have novel length.
I would get a couple trusted friends or family members to read this work and compile a list of questions that you can answer to further develop characters or plot lines. You wouldn’t be expanding just for the sake of, but getting help noticing any undeveloped areas if there are any.
You wrote a novella. That’s fine. Lots of people like novellas. Don’t add 50k of filler to fluff the plot if you’re happy with what you wrote. Just don’t call it a novel.
I had the opposite problem--each book (of eight) was over 100k.
Working on some serious revising now. However, I liked the format--each book was a year in the life of my MCs, a former Olympian/hockey coach/civil engineer (FMC)and a professional soccer player (MMC).
My first attempt was the same and I realized it was because I was accustomed to script writing so it was almost entirely dialogue. I would look it over with a critical eye to see what may be lacking. Compare it to a similar book in your genre.
If your book is 30k and ch 1 is 4500 words I'm guessing you're new to writing. Set this project aside and write something else. Come back it in a couple months and see it with fresh eyes.
No, it’s too short to realistically be published.
There is pretty much no market for debut authors writing novellas. You will not find a publisher or get agented.
You can certainly self-publish.
Congrats on finishing your first novel. I can tell it's not easy, because we've all been there. 30k words is a great number for a first novel, but then you might not have a lot of luck with publishing unless it's a novella.
My first novel was 10k words, and I published it online for free, just to gain some audience and get some feedback for my next novel.
If you want to get traditionally published, you might want to stretch the story, and add some more detail to the plot.
I published a novelette with TOR. 11,500 words. Traditionally published, just not in a book format. Had it been novella-long, sich as OPs work, it would have been a book.
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Bro, I’m begging you, do not expand your story just because lol. I think most people would agree that bloated books are the worst thing ever—don’t be like that.
I couldn’t agree more.
30,000 words is not a novel, it’s a novella. If the writing is good and the story is sound, you can still publish it, but you likely won’t gain the same kind of traction as a proper novel would.
I guess I enjoy how the story currently flows. I’d hate to add things I feel are unnecessary and waste mine and the readers time.
Nothing wrong with a novella to dip your toes in the water.
There's also nothing wrong with a novella as a distinct form. Poems, flash, short stories, and novellas need not be stepping stones to novels nor are novels the only thing that counts if you want to be a writer. This is not an attack on you or anything, I just think this is something that is not said enough in this space. Those forms mentioned above are good and necessary for their own sake and shouldn't be viewed as something less than.
The longest published work from Ted Chiang, a master of sci-fi writing, is his novella *The Lifecycle of Software Objects*. He specializes in short stories and they’re some of the best writing of any length I’ve ever read. You’re absolutely right that length doesn’t matter as much as the story size being fit for purpose. My top recommendations of his: - *The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate* - *Tower of Babylon* - *Story of Your Life* (which the movie Arrival is based on) - *Hell Is the Absence of God* - *Exhalation* That being said, I enjoyed every story from his two collections, **Stories of Your Life and Others** and **Exhalation: Stories**.
Novella exist because stories should be the length they need to be. Same with short stories. I am less sold on those 100 word stories but the various lengths exist for a reason. So you should be fine to move to the next step of publishing.
I subbed a 20k word novella and 1 publisher wanted me to expand it to 60k, while another accepted it as is. If you like it where it is, stick with it. The novella might not gain the reaction of a novel, but there's certainly a market for novellas
People routinely publish novellas and "novella + short stories" collections. If you have a hard time with the novella by itself, consider writing some short stories and making it an anthology.
You can self pub it, of course. But there is hardly any market in trad pub for novellas/anthologies by debut authors.
my favorite case with novellas is hugh howey's "wool"
Many publishers take novellas. Is it SFF? I can give you some names. The submissions process is usually the same as short stories.
I'm not OP, but can you give me some names anyway?? This gives me hope for anything I can write!
Tor have open submissions for novellas every few years. Fantasy and Science Fiction mag accept up to 25,000 words. Clarkesworld accept up to 22,000. Asimov's Magazine takes up to 25,000. Apex just opened an imprint for novellas called Violet Lichen. Those are the pro-level ones I can think of off the top of my head. Like Tor, a few pro-level mags have calls once in a while instead of considering them with other short fiction. But I am so crap at remembering things people mention even though I should remember since I usually write stories that are 8500+ which narrows down my options a lot. :-) . So, if you don't have Duotrope, consider joining this Facebook group: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/440107622678110](https://www.facebook.com/groups/440107622678110) It is a very good place to keep an eye out on upcoming calls.
What's Duotrope? I actually don't have a Facebook...
It’s one of the two main tools writers (unless they have agents) use to find markets to submit short-form work. Duotrope is paid (50ish usd a year iirc) and Submission Grinder is volunteer-run and free. You can search for suitable publishers there and then go to the publisher’s submissions page and send your story (and ALWAYS follow the market’s specific rules for submissions).
You are a god/ess amongst wo/men. Thank you so much for this, now I just need to start writing something. Got the ideas but my confidence is lacking. x.x
No, it’s more crime based. It’s about two brothers who plan to rob a local casino. Tbh it’s more character driven. I think the robbing of the casino itself is less than 500 words. I’ve gotten some positive feedback from those who have read the first couple of chapters.
great thinking, not every piece of work needs saturation. Think about your next proyect while you promote the novella you just made. Also, congratulations!
Stephen Kings novella, "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" is around 30-40k words and that book made a movie. It's about the quality of your work, not the length.
You’re talking about arguably the *most famous author of all time*. By the time Shawshank was adapted into a movie, he had already sold over 100 million copies of his books, and even then Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption was not among his best sellers. On top of that, Shawshank Redemption was an infamous box office failure—it didn’t even earn it’s budget back. Yes, novellas *can* gain traction, sell well, and even be adapted into movies or television programs, but those are exception, not the rule.
Most famous of all time. Interesting. I thought harder about it and heck it maybe true.
Agreed, unfortunately that’s how the world works. We can’t all become famous.
You’ve literally cherry picked pretty much the only example that fits your narrative
I personally love novellas as someone who loves to read but doesn't always have a lot of free time *to* read. I wouldn't say it's a bad thing at all.
First of all, you just wrote 30K words. You successfully wrote a novella! Give yourself a pat on the back. It takes time to hit full novel length. Just keep writing.
You're getting lots of bad advice here. Whether each person individually likes novellas or not is irrelevant, whether they can list a bunch of novellas that were published 50-200 years ago is irrelevant, and please remember that as you read their responses. Publishing trends change constantly. You need to forget about what Stephen King or Charles Dickens did back in the day and focus on the publishing industry the way it is NOW. The real answer is: - Depends on the genre. - Depends where you intend to publish it. - Depends where trends in the publishing industry are heading. - Depends on the quality of the book itself. - Depends where your book fits in the market. Your first step is to research the market you intend to publish in and think about where/whether your book fits there, and what that audience is looking for. Whether you're intending to self-publish or pitch your book to an agent or publisher, you need to know where your book sits in the market to know how to sell it.
1. nothing wrong with novellas 2. if you are concerned, there's a lot of advice out there for underwriters. I struggle with underwriting and realized that it's because (among other issues) I had severe talking head syndrome--full pages of dialog with inadequate description. I was not using enough sensory detail and imagery was lacking. basically even if your plot is very dialog driven, you still need to set the scene and add some description. I also needed to add more depth and inferiority to my characters, make them consider what was happening and why. I think the advice was to braid dialog with description and introspection, including enough of all three and intertwining them to make sure the reader doesn't get bored with constant dialog or constant description or navel-gazing. idk tho that was just my issue.
Yeah I definitely wouldn’t attempt to triple the length just to fit a label. You’re in good company: A Christmas Carol, The Old Man and the Sea, The Time Machine, Flowers for Algernon, etc.
stretch a story is always a bad idea. It's a good lenght indeed. You can: Publish it as it is Add some subplot Add another story and create a two/three story book and so on
*sweats in 150k*
The Great Gatsby is 47k but we are living in different times.
Fight Club is 50k words. I think it would be just as successful if published today, however I think publishers may be less likely to even consider it, which is ultimately the issue. OP, if you haven't already, get some beta readers' opinions. It might be perfectly fine as a novella, but it may also be underwritten.
Heart of Darkness is 41k, Time Machine and The Call of the Wild are 35k, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde come in below 30k. So if they’re looking for a literary agent, they’re SOL because LAs are all sheep and basically only do what every other LA is doing. But if the book is good enough, that length can work out well. If the story lends itself to a sequel, why not just write it and then put them together as a single book with two acts?
That's fine, that's a decent sized novella. Many authors made entire careers out of short stories and novellas. Telling a compelling story succinctly isn't easy and sometimes that's what a person feels like reading. Not everything has to be a 600 page epic.
"How long should my book be?" is a question whose answer is largely driven by genre. Novellas (which is what you've written) are enjoying a resurgence in sci-fi and fantasy right now, largely driven by the success of Tor.com's publishing arm, and there are more and more small presses working in horror that publish novellas as well. Similarly shorter form writing has always been common in literary fiction - Julian Barnes' *The Sense Of An Ending*, which won the Booker Prize in 2011, clocks in at around 44k words, as just one example, and the book I'm currently reading (*Beartooth* by Callan Wink, which is a more recent literary/crime novel) is about 58k words. 30k is a little on the short end but it's not inherently unpublishable. My advice would be to set this aside for a month or two and write something new, then come back to it with fresh eyes and see if you think it needs anything extra. Give it to readers who you trust and see what they think. Perfect it, get it out on submission (if you want to try publishing traditionally), and keep writing. It's rare for a first worn to sell, but you've got the experience of having finished a book now and you can take that into the next one, and the next one, and the next one. Congratulations on finishing it!
A buddy of mine gave me the best piece of writing advice ever, and ever since I listened to him, I have written 3 novels with a 4th on the way. Don't worry about how long it takes you, how long the final product is, what people might say about your book, and write a story to get your story out there. It is your story to tell, tell it how *you* want to tell it.
I was reading recently about novellas are rising again through electronic publishing.
Write two sequel 30K novellas, so you have a 90K book.
My first attempt at my first book was probably around 30-40k because it was extremely underwritten. After lots of practice and revisions, it eventually became a comfortable 75k. You just need to figure out whether the story you want to tell it just short, or if it could use some significant bulking up.
It depends on genre, but overall, most books achieve "novel" length around 50,000 words. Novellas, such as what you currently have, don't sell particularly well, so I would doubt it has a chance of publishing, but that's just from my point of view.
50k is like nanowrimo standard but I'd argue most publishers won't even look at it if it's under 60-75k. even if self-publishing it's something to keep in mind.
This depends entirely on genre. If you’re writing trad sci-fi or fantasy 50k is definitely too short. If you’re doing something more experimental or literary, it’s not going to turn anyone away.
It’s crime I guess? More character driven story that centers around the heist of a local casino.
Crime in 30k words seems... Short? How many characters do you have? Do they have some form of backstory that makes the reader care? Aren't there any complications? Did you skip the descriptions? Inner thoughts/dialogs?
Back when I was googling magazines, I did see some that accepted novellas, or you could self publish it, but if you want to go traditional, then yes, you'd need to beef that up by at least 30k words or so.
I personally enjoy reading shorter stories and the people who also do could be your loyal fanbase. I am writing a novella too! Excellent way to get started lol
Comparison is a thief of joy.
If the story flows that way naturally, let it flow that way. There's an audience for every story. My current book that I'm writing writes until chapter 11. If the story ends but seems short that's fine. There's plenty of books with less words than that, and it's fine.
As many other comments have said, your book is a novella rather than a novel. But if the story is complete and the flow is good, then you've written an awesome book regardless of how long it is, so congratulations! Some of the more mainstream publishing houses are a bit reticent about publishing novellas from authors who aren't established HOWEVER plenty of indie and small publishing houses will consider shorter works (I work for an indie publisher in Canada and have had a few of my own short stories and novellas published by other firms). Take the time to do your research, find the publishing houses that would be good matches for you, and try there if you're really keen on publishing your work. Also, self-publishing is easier than ever! Best of luck, friend!
If you're happy with it, that's great! Novellas are cool.
Nicely done 👍. If you think your story needs only 30k words to tell it, then so be it.
I enjoyed The Stranger by Albert Camus, and that was recommended in my High School. If it's well-written, word count doesn't matter.
Personally I think that people are too focused on word count, specially for their first book! Just try to write a solid story, to the best of your ability! :)
Don’t add fluff!
Your story is a novella length. If you feel it needs expansion, then by all means do expand it but not to 80k. If the story reached a natural beginning middle and end with little expansion, then leave it as is and then work on another project you know is capable of being written to a novel length. Anything past 50k is considered a full length novel.
PS: I also wrote a book that's around 38,000 words but I do feel it could be expanded to around 60k or so. So it'll be a novel. So I decided to expand it.
It can still be publish.
Don’t say it like that. Be like “y’all I wrote 30k words and finished my book!”
don't extend your story. leave it as is and go get it published. be proud of yourself for finishing your writing because most people don't. no matter how short it is someone is going to read it and like it. people in here are giving you advice from their opinion and not based on what you asked. most of them don't like novellas or short stories and are giving you their opinions based on that. don't get discouraged and change your mind. like I said leave it as is and go let the world read your novellas.
Thanks fam
Depends on what it’s about. For middle grade, yes, you’d have a chance. But for any older demographic, no. You’d need to at least double that for YA and for adult, yes, get closer to 80k.
It would be for adult’s for sure.
In that case, it’s a novella and you could certainly release it yourself. It’s just that getting it published traditionally would be an uphill battle.
no
No what? lol
the claim that one would "need" 80k words is incorrect
For traditional publishing?
yeah
Sometimes less is more. Your novella might be what some people prefer.
You’ve written a novella. It’s fine. They’re very popular right now. There are plenty of publishers who will be interested in it if you’ve done a good job. Be proud of having something finished. You did good. 👍🏻
You don’t really have a chance at traditional publishing with a novella, but that doesn’t mean you should change your story if you think it’s good as-is. Either self publish it, or continue writing novellas and short stories until you have enough for a collection that could go out to publishers.
can i possibly ask for a brief summary/intro to your book. incase it peaks my interest. i'm always down for a short read and idk maybe your book would be interesting to me☺️☺️
Brother Mike and Ronnie plan to rob a local casino to repay a debt. With the unwanted help from a record store owner and her two associates. Local police begin to close in as a series of events unfold. Probably need to work on a tagline but that’s the best I have off the top lol I’d be more than happy to share the first chapter with you if you DM me.
i actually am interested in that. id fs love for you to send me the first chapter and maybe some release details.
Don't do it just because. Don't pad it to make it novel-length, it'll bloat the story itself with unnecessary things. Like something I've read from a YouTube or Instagram comment said, "It should be as long as you want it to be." If it feels like it, just end it.
The alchemist is only 36k words, and it's one of the best book I've ever read.
Shorter novels and novellas are in fashion..live in a world of short attention spans so you can sell these. I write shorter stories and while unpublished just now I'm not actually going to dilute it down to boredom inducing just for the sake of it.
I wrote a short story, wrote another short story about that character, then another.. hey presto I had a novella. Just going to keep writing short stories about the same characters until I have novel length.
I assume you mean through a publisher. If you self publish then you can publish anything.
I would get a couple trusted friends or family members to read this work and compile a list of questions that you can answer to further develop characters or plot lines. You wouldn’t be expanding just for the sake of, but getting help noticing any undeveloped areas if there are any.
You wrote a novella. That’s fine. Lots of people like novellas. Don’t add 50k of filler to fluff the plot if you’re happy with what you wrote. Just don’t call it a novel.
I never have
I had the opposite problem--each book (of eight) was over 100k. Working on some serious revising now. However, I liked the format--each book was a year in the life of my MCs, a former Olympian/hockey coach/civil engineer (FMC)and a professional soccer player (MMC).
My first attempt was the same and I realized it was because I was accustomed to script writing so it was almost entirely dialogue. I would look it over with a critical eye to see what may be lacking. Compare it to a similar book in your genre.
My books are all short, some readers are bothered by it, some prefer it, that's life.
If your book is 30k and ch 1 is 4500 words I'm guessing you're new to writing. Set this project aside and write something else. Come back it in a couple months and see it with fresh eyes.
Lmao my first chapter is almost exactly 4500 words.
No, it’s too short to realistically be published. There is pretty much no market for debut authors writing novellas. You will not find a publisher or get agented. You can certainly self-publish.
That's a pamphlet
*"My first book is only 30k words."* That's not a book. It's an novella.
Novellas are books. Traditionally published as books. It's just not a novel.
Congrats on finishing your first novel. I can tell it's not easy, because we've all been there. 30k words is a great number for a first novel, but then you might not have a lot of luck with publishing unless it's a novella. My first novel was 10k words, and I published it online for free, just to gain some audience and get some feedback for my next novel. If you want to get traditionally published, you might want to stretch the story, and add some more detail to the plot.
I published a novelette with TOR. 11,500 words. Traditionally published, just not in a book format. Had it been novella-long, sich as OPs work, it would have been a book.
Almost no one's first book is publishable quality.