Short Stories

There seems a trend in self-publishing to put out very short books. I recently saw a well-known author lamenting the low reviews for her new book with 10 pages. The reviews on Amazon averaged a little over two stars - very low indeed. I can't imagine publishing 10 pages, sticking a cover on it, and calling it a book. That's barely a chapter in a book. What was this seasoned author thinking? At least put a collection of them together.

Some of the novellas do seem to work for readers, but these have 75 or more pages, and over 100 appears to be better. It's hard to get any depth of characters or plot in less than 50 pages. Actually, it's hard to even get acquainted with the characters in so few pages. I'm afraid decisions like this discredit the author and make the profession look bad. There may be some places for such short stories, but published as a standalone novel is not one of them.

I always check the number of pages before buying a book. Personally, I prefer books between 125 and 275 pages. However, a few books fail to list the number of pages. I find I don't enjoy books without enough depth to develop the characters and plot. Likewise, I find books that go over 325 pages usually have too much extra, unnecessary material to hold my interest. Readers have the final say, however, and they will speak, just as the reviewers for the 10-page "book" did.

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