Self-Pubbed Books Shorter?

[Waylander]

I've noticed that on the whole most self-published books I look at are often shorter than 300 pages, and hardly ever go beyond 400 pages. 500 pages and up is a rare find indeed. Does anyone have an idea why there is this possible trend? On the other hand, most trad-pubbed books are often 400 pages and up, although I assume that is down to the economics of mass printing?

[fjtorres]

Tradpubs pay a lot of attention to word counts and they play a lot of games with fonts, margins, and spacing to bulk up (or thin out) their print volumes.

Conversely, Indies tend to tell a story and let it run as long as it needs to.

Which is to say, if you're worried about story length, look to the word count and d/l size, not the nominal page count.

[Yolina]

Can't say I've really noticed. Could it just depend on the type of book? A lot of the trad-pub stuff I read is around 200-300 pages.
I bought something different a while back (yes, it happens ), it was on offer at 99p, and it looked suitably entertaining. it was book one of a trilogy - can't remember the title or who wrote it , sorry - trad pub and around 600 pages, however I noticed so many repetitions all over the place that I couldn't finish it, it was like reading the same thing over and over again. Almost like whole thing had been padded out just so that they could stretch it to 3 500+ pages books I think it would probably have been a decent enough read if they'd pared it down to a single 600-odd pages volume...

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Yolina

Almost like whole thing had been padded out just so that they could stretch it to 3 500+ pages books I think it would probably have been a decent enough read if they'd pared it down to a single 600-odd pages volume...

Could be padding or it could be midlist-grade editing...

[Fbone]

Also, with the way Kindle Unlimited is designed, self-published authors now separate their novels into 2 or 3 parts. You see more "Book 1", "Part 1" or "Episode 1" or serials. They then earn say $3.04 ($1.54 x 2) rather than just $1.54. The authors can even offer "Book 1" for free and still receive $1.54 on "Book 2" thus still getting paid for a free book.

The customer/reader doesn't care as it's $9.99/month for everything.

[frahse]

Publishers press for larger words counts.

I have done it myself. Just embellish points and add facts and observations that don't really change the story.

I estimate that in one quick simple sweep through a finished book, I can add 10 to 20% to the word count.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Waylander

I've noticed that on the whole most self-published books I look at are often shorter than 300 pages, and hardly ever go beyond 400 pages. 500 pages and up is a rare find indeed. Does anyone have an idea why there is this possible trend? On the other hand, most trad-pubbed books are often 400 pages and up, although I assume that is down to the economics of mass printing?

What evidence do you have for your premise?

I have no idea what the typical length of a self-pubbed book is, as I don't read them, but the books I read from traditional publishers are generally under 400 pages.

[susan_cassidy]

Perhaps the majority of self-published authors are more likely relatively new authors whose stories can't sustain 450 pages. I think it would take a bit more experience to write a book that long. Some stories take 250 pages to tell, others take 600 pages. It just depends on the story.

[cromag]

I haven't tried to keep track of which books are longer, but I do tend to be very cautious of very long Indie books. Sometimes new authors are too much in love with their own words, and they would benefit from a good "tightening up."

That being said, I tend to think long and hard before buying any long works. Even if they're well written they require a greater commitment in terms of time and attention.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

Perhaps the majority of self-published authors are more likely relatively new authors whose stories can't sustain 450 pages. I think it would take a bit more experience to write a book that long. Some stories take 250 pages to tell, others take 600 pages. It just depends on the story.

Beg to differ.
I've seen plenty of first novels with heft.
If anything you would expect veteran authors to be more concise.

If this effect is true, which I'm somewhat skeptical of, it may simply be that indies aren't constrained by tradpub schedules and limits (no more than two releases a year for even prolific writers) and can architect leaner series stories by not recapping or explaining as much, counting on other volumes to fill out the backstory. In tradpub there is no guarantee early series volumes will even be available when the followups arrive a year or three later, whereas an Indie knows everything will be available.

Also, back in the olden days, pre-multinationals, a great many paperback originals ran 50-60k words and under 200 pages. Nowadays stories that short either get padded or rejected because of size and price policies.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by cromag

I haven't tried to keep track of which books are longer, but I do tend to be very cautious of very long Indie books. Sometimes new authors are too much in love with their own words, and they would benefit from a good "tightening up."

.

Not just indies.

With Tradpub you see it a lot with high volume sellers; their books get bigger and more self-indulgent as they start writing more for themselves than for an audience.

[fjtorres]

Btw, let's not get carried away with the Indie = inexperienced newcomer meme. A whole lot of indie titles are tradpub backlist and new works from tradpub veterans who simply want to be able to quit the day job.

This is particularly true on the romance side. Harlequin not only used to pay authors as if the books were disposable widgets, they were (fortunately for the authors) equally dismissive of the rights so the authors could recover rights relatively easy (compared to the BPHs).

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Which is to say, if you're worried about story length, look to the word count and d/l size, not the nominal page count.

I'd say word count more than size. Size is often highly variable based on image content and the size of the cover image.

An example word count wise (using the Calibre plugin for word count)...

Union of Renegades by Tracy Falbe. 181,790 words, Amazon says the Kindle book is 338 pages (real page numbers), the paper edition which I'm guessing is some kind of POD trade size volume is also listed as 338 pages.

The Briar King by Greg Keyes. 181,651 words, Amazon says the Kindle book is 610 pages (real page numbers), the Mass Market PB is 594 pages (some places say 608) and the Hardcover 560 pages.

Similar word counts, vastly different page counts.

[DrNefario]

I welcome the return of shorter books, myself.

I kind of feel that the trend over the last 30 years or so has been for ever longer books, partly because the technology of managing those books has become more workable and partly to justify price rises, and it's kind of nice that books no longer have to look thick on the shelf, however genuine that actually is.

On the other hand, I think a lot of self-publishers depend on high turnover of books to get their income, and that will usually mean shorter works.

[Waylander]

Interesting replies. I just notices a trend in the self-pubbed books I have bought recently, in that most of them are shorter than the equivalent trad-pubbed book. I don't have any data to go on, just personal experience, so was interested in other readers' experiences.