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Writer's Haven => Marketing Loft [Public] => Topic started by: alhawke on September 15, 2023, 12:23:48 AM

Title: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: alhawke on September 15, 2023, 12:23:48 AM: What do you think? I have a novelette I'm releasing that's only 60 pages. Should I add "novelette" so that I don't get nasty reviews saying he book was too short? It's mentioned in the blurb, but I'm considering adding it to the Amazon title ??
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: Post-Doctorate D on September 15, 2023, 12:56:19 AM: I've seen arguments both ways on this. I think it comes down to a matter of personal choice.

Wednesdays with Wizards
A Novelette

On the one hand, it makes things clear.

On the other hand, it sounds all fancy pants.

Of course, fancy pants aren't necessarily a bad thing which is where it comes back to personal choice.
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: alhawke on September 15, 2023, 01:09:28 AM: Quote from: Post-Crisis D on September 15, 2023, 12:56:19 AM
On the other hand, it sounds all fancy pants.
:hehe
That'd definitely not be my intention. I'm trying to avert disappointment with readers expecting a novel.

Never thought of that. It could kind of sound like ___, A Novel
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: PJ Post on September 15, 2023, 02:36:11 AM: I'd say it comes down to branding. It's important to be consistent so your readers know what to expect, even with new stuff.

Do what's necessary (as best you can) to insure your fans have a positive experience. You can't worry about everyone else.
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: elleoco on September 15, 2023, 03:21:46 AM: The one short story I put out, I did add "Short Story" after the title and tried every way possible to make it clear that's what it was. And IMO it did no good. There are still a lot of reviews that say too short, that emphasize how short it is as if they were surprised and feel "shorted." It gave me the opinion that (a) many readers don't know what a short story is, and (b) they don't pay attention to anything they don't want or expect to see.

I'd still do it again, but I wouldn't expect it to have much effect.

The other sign of the same thing I see is readers describing a 60,000 novel as a short story. At least for the western historical romance I usually write evidently anything less than 90,000 words is short or even too short. Evidently that's just the way it is, and I've accepted that.

Maybe it's different in other genres.

Oh, and also -- I don't think most people know what a novelette is. Maybe they should be able to guess from the ette ending, but I wouldn't use that description and would go straight to novella, which readers do understand means shorter than a novel.
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: APP on September 15, 2023, 03:28:45 AM: Personally, I've added the word novelette to my books that fall within that range. I also mention it in my blurbs.
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: Jeff Tanyard on September 15, 2023, 06:03:02 AM: Quote from: Post-Crisis D on September 15, 2023, 12:56:19 AM
On the other hand, it sounds all fancy pants.

Quote from: elleoco on September 15, 2023, 03:21:46 AM
Oh, and also -- I don't think most people know what a novelette is.

I'd avoid the word "novelette" for both of these reasons.

In fact, that's what I did. My short stories are technically novelettes, but I call them short stories for marketing purposes.

I put "a short story" on the cover but not in the title field of the product page. I mention the word count in the blurb.

Not saying my way is the best way or anything, but that's what I do.
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: alhawke on September 15, 2023, 06:43:34 AM: Quote from: Jeff Tanyard on September 15, 2023, 06:03:02 AM
Quote from: elleoco on September 15, 2023, 03:21:46 AM
Oh, and also -- I don't think most people know what a novelette is.
I'd avoid the word "novelette" for both of these reasons.
In fact, that's what I did. My short stories are technically novelettes, but I call them short stories for marketing purposes.
I put "a short story" on the cover but not in the title field of the product page. I mention the word count in the blurb.
That's a good idea, but I already have the cover made by a cover artist and, though "novelette" is written on it, it's super tiny and barely visible--unlike yours. Hmm... but you gave me another idea. Instead of the title or the cover, I could write on the first line of the summary section "A Short Story..."
I could even bold face it? For one reason or another, I didn't write taglines for these short stories. That certainly gives me a spot for it??
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: Hopscotch on September 15, 2023, 06:53:36 AM: Do what APP says. Readers will appreciate the label. Why worry further?
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: Anarchist on September 15, 2023, 09:23:42 AM: OP, just so you can see what other authors are doing...

Best Sellers in Two-Hour Short Reads (https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-Two-Hour-Short-Reads/zgbs/digital-text/8584463011/)
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: alhawke on September 15, 2023, 09:46:34 AM: Quote from: Anarchist on September 15, 2023, 09:23:42 AM
OP, just so you can see what other authors are doing...

Best Sellers in Two-Hour Short Reads (https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-Two-Hour-Short-Reads/zgbs/digital-text/8584463011/)
Makes sense. Thanks for this.
Seems many authors also don't mention it at all. :icon_think:
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: Lorri Moulton on September 16, 2023, 01:15:19 AM: I only use it with one book...and it's Victorian novelette. It's much shorter than the other story in the series (and the ones that will follow), but I do not call them novels.
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: Crystal on September 16, 2023, 04:45:26 AM: Another vote for: people don't know what a novelette is. I'd use short story or novella, depending on the word count, if you really want to label.
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: Post-Doctorate D on September 16, 2023, 04:59:06 AM: Do people know what a novella is anymore than a novelette?

Offhand, I can't remember which is shorter. I think a novelette is shorter. But both would tell me the book is shorter than a novel and if I wanted to know how much shorter, I'd look it up.
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: alhawke on September 16, 2023, 07:29:14 AM: A novelette is usually like 7k to 20k words vs a novella which is under 40k. But I'm sure that's not definitive and within debate. There's a lot of stuff we talk about as writers that the average reader really could care less about, which sounds like Crystal's point. I liked "novelette" because I'm so used to reading about novellas--from writing groups Grin I dunno... Haven't decided yet. But loving all the feedback. Thank you!
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: djmills on September 16, 2023, 08:34:02 AM: When I learnt publishing it was:
Short story < 7500
Novelette 750 - 17000 (but call it short story)
Novella 17500 - 40000
Short novel 40000 - 50000
Novel 50000 plus

Nowadays, anything goes, but I put short story on anything under 17000 words if sold individually, otherwise sell as a 5 story collection.
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: Bill Hiatt on September 16, 2023, 08:35:39 AM: The numbers vary somewhat depending on the source, but there seems to be general agreement about the order.

Flash Fiction: under 1000 words
Short Story: 1,000-7,500
Novelette: 7,501-17,500
Novella: 17,501-40,000
Novel: 40,000 and up (though a lot of sources say 50,000, just to be safe)

It's probably true that most readers don't really care about the fine lines. They just want to to avoid buying what they think is a novel only to find it's a short story. There actually seems to be more of a problem in nonfiction, where a lot of people don't allude to length in their description (though a customer could look on the product page and see easily enough what it was). For shorter nonfiction, I use a booklet label. When I first started out, I include labels like novelette in the title because I'd seen the practice among trad authors, but I think it's old-fashioned now.
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: The Bass Bagwhan on September 16, 2023, 01:10:52 PM: I'm not a fan of even "a novel" unless there's a big risk of ambiguity in the title and it might be mistaken as non-fiction. We're already spoon-feeding readers with trigger warnings and caveats about content and genre in case some numpty feels offended and posts a poor review. Surely they can take responsibility for looking at the page count? At best, reference the length in the blurb perhaps.
Title: Re: Should "novelette" or "short story" be added to a title
Post by: Bill Hiatt on September 16, 2023, 11:16:01 PM: They should take responsibility for stuff like that. But I've seen bad reviews for short pieces because they were short. That's a little like giving an Italian restaurant a bad rating because it only serves Italian food. But I guess those readers didn't get the memo about looking at the page numbers listed right under their nose.