Quote:
Originally Posted by BeccaPrice
The main collection is 9000 words, 4 stories each about 2250 words long.
Heart of Rock may be 4000 words, if I'm lucky. The original intent was to be 10,000 words, but it's coming out much shorter. When I try to add to it, I feel like I'm padding rather than adding value.
|
Quote:
|
I'm not expecting this thing to sell thousands of copies - I feel I'll be doing well to sell tens of copies! I just don't know what kind of market there is for old-time fairy stories.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
Then arrange the actual cover so that it has a double title: "Dragons and Dreams: bedtime stories" at the top, "and Heart of Rock: a story of ???" at the the bottom (I think a relevant subtitle might help the balance).
|
One of the things I've enjoyed about reading the collection to my daughter at bedtime is that each story is an appropriately sized, self-contained chunk. A longer piece inserted in the middle would break that sense, but if properly set apart as gmw suggests, I think it would be a great way to add something to the volume, and would give a clearly defined choice of what kind of reading to take on.
If you feel you are padding, you probably are, so go with your instincts. Even the short stories in the volume I've seen come out a page or two shorter when I recap them in my mind, but, heck, I realize you need SOME space for character development and world building!
If you can find a talented student artist to barter with, perhaps, some appropriate illustrations would add a lot I think. For these kind of stories, it's target audience would really respond to some pictures that fit the style, I think.
And if you do have any resources to invest, invest in marketing and promotion. If my daughter is any indication, and I think she is, I can virtually assure you it will sell
lots more then tens of copies if kids and parents can be made aware of it!
ApK