Do Publishers Want Novellas in this Economy?Posted by John Woodington on December 13th, 2009
I got a really insightful comment from writer Minnie Estelle Miller who said, regarding the publishing industry and the publishing of novellas, “since the market is so tight and crying black tears about the loss of income, why not publish novellas? One would think they are less expensive to produce than novels.”
One would think that, yes. In fact, I would assume that a 150-page novella would cost a publisher a fraction of the price it would cost them to publish a 400-page hardcover novel. I think the trouble comes in not in the cost of publishing, but in the money earned back per the sales of the published novella versus the novel. A hardcover novel can sell for upwards of $30.00 and even more, whereas a novella would probably sell in the $10.00 to $15.00 range at the most. So the publishing company pays a couple more dollars per unit to publish the novel, but they make a far better profit margin on the novel than they would on the novella. Remember, it’s all about the money (mostly) for the publishing house, so even though they spend more to publish the novel, they make more money on it in the end anyway, which is what they’re looking for.
Which brings up a good point. If you want to make money as a writer–money that would amount to enough so that you wouldn’t have to work another job to supplement your income–you should probably be writing novels. I can’t think of anyone on the planet (literally) that makes their living writing short stories or novellas. Then again, I believe Nicholas Sparks’ “novels” are actually novella-length works packaged into novel-esque books. Sparks aside, novels are what bring in the dough–when you can get them published and earn advances and royalties on them, that is. Still, as far as the short story is concerned, the most you could make off of a short story is around $1000.00 (maybe a little more if you get one picked up by the infamous New Yorker). And while that’s no paycheck to sniff at, it’s not enough to feed, clothe, and house you for any length of time. Even writers who frequently publish short fiction in top venues (like T.C. Boyle, for one) still have day jobs to pay the bills. (T.C. is a prof at USC, I believe).
There is something that publishing short stories can get you, though. They can get you credibility, which can get you a book deal, which can get you on your way to selling those novels you’ve been writing. Publishing short stories has proven, for me, to be significantly easier than publishing novels, and I like to think that the more short stories I publish, the more credibility I’ll have in the eyes of literary agents and publishers, which could lead to a publishing deal of the lucrative nature.
In other news, I’m very much in the Christmas spirit, enjoying our Christmas tree, hot chocolate, and the first round of Christmas cookies. I’ve put our Christmas lights out in the trees around our house, and have realized that I’ve many many more lights to go before I realize my Clark Griswold dreams. Maybe next year….