Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
These discussions rarely mention word count. But I will now.
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The problem with word count and bang for buck, is very subjective, and publishers have been playing games with that well before ebooks came on the scene.
I am not adverse to paying more for more content. However, it can be hard to determine value based purely on word count.
How do you compare a 300 page novel compared to a 900 page one, especially where the 300 is a cracking read and the 900 a slow one?
We really have very little idea into the effort put into creating either book. Of course, some will say you can judge on quality, but is it that easy? I don't think so. Sure some books are pretty poor quality for all sorts of reasons, and you can judge them as hardly worth a cent.
The target audience is often an important factor, because it is about what you expect or want from the author or genre. It is also subjective, about how much you want things fleshed out. People are all over the place in this regard.
Take the wonderful Robert Jordan, who has sadly left us way too soon. I love his books and the complexity and level of detail and all the different threads. I lapped that up, but many hated or disliked that and their complaints are all over the web.
The creative process is such a variable thing. There is the manual labor in many instances, both in writing and researching .... sometimes the cost of travel or interrogating others. Then there are the thought processes, that are even harder to quantify.
Do some author put in more effort than others, be more diligent, take their time to be better, etc?