Interim Short Story/Novella - free on Amazon?

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patrickwong

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Your concern has been noted

I'm not convinced.

My concern is that readers will find it unsatisfying as a read because of that lack of real story. And then next time they see one of your books they remember that dissatisfaction, and pass over your book in favour of one by an author whose works have always pleased them.

Don't get me wrong: it's nice of you to give something back like this. But it might well blow up in your face if you don't think it through.

Never judge a short story by its word count ;)

I do appreciate your feedback though - I'm still exploring the best way to present this material
 

Old Hack

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Never judge a short story by its word count ;)

I'm not judging it by its word-count, I'm judging it by what you've told us about it:

After some self-revisions I ended up dropping out some chapters before the current start of Book 2.

FYI - it's 5 chapters (7k words). And it does have a story arc to it - but not a MAJOR story arc. And since I'm trying to make it free, I would hope they wouldn't feel cheated - I see it as a thank-you-gift for waiting until book 2 is done.

A couple of chapters which didn't make it through revision and which don't have a good story arc to them are not likely to make a satisfying read, even if they are given away for free.

I'm not worried that your readers will feel cheated: I'm concerned that if you put out a book which isn't absolutely great, your readers will remember it the next time they see your name and will not buy your next book as a result. They won't remember at that moment that the book was free, just that it wasn't as effective as books from other writers.

I do appreciate your feedback though - I'm still exploring the best way to present this material

Quite often, the best way to present such material is to keep it to yourself. But I do wish you well with it, however you decide to proceed.
 

eqb

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It does depend on how it's done. Kate Elliott posts outtakes and extras from her SpiritWalker novels on her website. Some of these are short stories, but others are scenes or chapters that she decided didn't belong in the book itself. Martha Wells does the same thing with her Raksura series. She's releasing the novellas through a publisher, but she posts stories and scenes on her website.

The big difference (to me, at least) is that readers who find these extras have already read all or some of the books. They aren't coming across a single story on Amazon, where it might be their first and only encounter with the author and the series.
 

patrickwong

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extras

...The big difference (to me, at least) is that readers who find these extras have already read all or some of the books. They aren't coming across a single story on Amazon, where it might be their first and only encounter with the author and the series.

yes- that's the spirit I'm trying to convey. This isn't a stand-alone, and its not their first encounter. it's an extra.

As a new author with a social media gap of time between Book 1 and book 2 - I don't want to spam readers in social media with mindless chatter about the next book. So I also see this material as a way to release extras and foster a dialog until book 2 is ready.

....another option - I could post these to the Writing section of GoodReads (which allows for free posts of the author's work). And just link back to that.

Quite often, the best way to present such material is to keep it to yourself...

That's always an option
 
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