Adding to a Published Book

821 Views 10 Replies 7 Participants Last post by AndreSanThomas, Jan 9, 2013

rubyscribe

Discussion Starter · Jan 9, 2013

If reviews consistently mention their dissatisfaction with the length of your short story, "nice but short," would you consider adding to the length of your published work?

If it is presently 10.5k, is it a good idea to take it up to 20k or even 30k, and hike the price (0.99 to 2.99)? Has anyone done this?

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1 - 11 of 11 Posts

J.R. Thomson

· #2 · Jan 9, 2013

What I wonder is if you would be better off publishing a new edition as a separate book... if you double or triple the length, it seems like it wouldn't be fair to have the
outdated reviews if you upload the new edition over the old one. Hmm..

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AndreSanThomas

· #3 · Jan 9, 2013

I would adjust the title and the blurb so that the readers have the proper expectation.

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dalya

· #4 · Jan 9, 2013

AndreSanThomas said:
I would adjust the title and the blurb so that the readers have the proper expectation.

Yes, I put word count and page count on ALL MY BLURBS ALWAYS ALL THE TIME. People still complain, but that's because some people suck.

I'm not drunk.

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unkownwriter

· #5 · Jan 9, 2013

Is the story finished, at the length it is now? If so, and there are no other problems (bare bones writing, for ex.) I would leave it alone.

And yes, always state word length/estimated page count on the blurb. I put "a short story" on the cover also. So far, knock on wood, I've had no complaints about length, and my stories are way shorter than yours.

Like Dalya says, some people suck, and you'll never make everybody happy.

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BenEBrewer

· #6 · Jan 9, 2013

AndreSanThomas said:
I would adjust the title and the blurb so that the readers have the proper expectation.

As above!

I personally update published books all the time, either with extra information about my other books or slight changes to chapters, but then I let readers know by updating the descriptions at the same time

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rubyscribe

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jan 9, 2013

Thankyou all, for your advice. My story does state the word count and the fact that it is a short story. I suppose people since it's a HEA story, people want to read it in a novel form.

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BenEBrewer

· #8 · Jan 9, 2013

Hi, I probably should know but what's an HEA story?

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AndreSanThomas

· #9 · Jan 9, 2013

Is "Short Story" or something similar in the Amazon title? Doesn't have to be on the cover art, but it should help if it is actually in the big black text on the book's page.

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Jeff Menapace

· #10 · Jan 9, 2013

Sheila_Guthrie said:
Is the story finished, at the length it is now? If so, and there are no other problems (bare bones writing, for ex.) I would leave it alone.

And yes, always state word length/estimated page count on the blurb. I put "a short story" on the cover also. So far, knock on wood, I've had no complaints about length, and my stories are way shorter than yours.

Like Dalya says, some people suck, and you'll never make everybody happy.

THIS.

If the story is done, it's done. Just make sure it's labeled appropriately.

This has happened to me quite a few times. For my short fiction, I label it as such, with page count, in three different areas, yet still you get the odd complaint about length. People tend to scan instead of read when they buy.