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John Scalzi has a series that appears to be already written and cut up into a bunch of 30 to 50 page pieces, all loaded into the queue for release going out several months. The first one went live today, and he's already got 10 of the top 20 hot new release slots with a few of the pre-orders. If the story is any good, which it probably is because he's a solid writer, and he has TOR behind him, it is conceivable that one 500 or so page story cut up into small bits could own like the top 20 spots of a 100 list. Which is cool if you are a brand name author, but kind of scary for no-name indies I think.
Having the serialized shorts on the same list with full length novels seems like putting every single episode of a TV show in direct competition with a full length movie or something. Maybe I'm just made nervous by the direction having my 500 and 800 page work having to fight for list space with a ton of 30 pagers from big names, but, well, someone talk me down. I mean, if Scalzi and Susan Collins and George R.R. Martin and Stephen King all decide to put out their next 500 page books in 30 page chunks, nobody will ever get on a list again. Which, to me, seems like the strength of Amazon, the lists. At least for indies.
Readers will pay way more for the whole story like that. Maybe that will be the flaw in the strategy. Backlash? Thoughts
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Having the serialized shorts on the same list with full length novels seems like putting every single episode of a TV show in direct competition with a full length movie or something. Maybe I'm just made nervous by the direction having my 500 and 800 page work having to fight for list space with a ton of 30 pagers from big names, but, well, someone talk me down. I mean, if Scalzi and Susan Collins and George R.R. Martin and Stephen King all decide to put out their next 500 page books in 30 page chunks, nobody will ever get on a list again. Which, to me, seems like the strength of Amazon, the lists. At least for indies.
Readers will pay way more for the whole story like that. Maybe that will be the flaw in the strategy. Backlash? Thoughts
