Which Fork in the Road to Take?(A tongue in cheek view of the mass flooding of eBooks)

     So I've ran into a slight dilemma as I'm transcribing my second novel from spiral notebook to computer. I've already stated that I won't publish my novel at the new novel mark of 50,000 words, but am I cheating myself if I stick to that promise?

     With e-publishing becoming so easy to do, many writers are taking this new  route of publishing a multitude of 50,000 word novels instead of the more  traditional 80,000 plus length. I'm curious why this is happening because as a reader of fantasy I love the depth and narrative that can be obtained in the more lengthy novels. As a writer and reader I just don't feel that 50,000 is enough to give me the emotional high and lows I get from reading something of that length. I'm not saying that there aren't books that length capable of doing such a thing, but I feel that they are far and between. I do think they can tell a small story from a greater world or story arc exceptional well, but then I guess that's more of a novella in my opinion.

     Maybe it's the hope that a bunch of shorter novels versus one or two larger books can help get their name out there, possibly making it easier for readers to find them. In that aspect I can definitely see the merits of following such a path. In all reality this is probably why most do it, and would be the biggest persuader for me to do so also. After all, as authors all we really want is for people to read our work.(I've been known to hand out more then a few free copies to people who I think are really interested in my novel but might be on the fence about buying, or maybe a little short on funds-never know who they might know)

     Cold hard cash-might be the biggest culprit. As writers we all aspire to leave our daily grind and buy that cottage in the woods, next to a quiet secluded lake where we watch our wife (replace wife with your own significant other whether it be another person, cat, dog, or over-sized pillow)  chase her chickens around with her wine glass tilting crazily, or coffee mug if it's the morning. Then lock her out so I can actually get some writing done. That would be the life <sigh's wistfully>.

     Truthfully either way is correct. Each writer has to do what feels right for them. For me it's the more traditional length and my next manuscript is shaping up to be longer than my first which was around 84,000 words, We follow our muses, wherever those crazy bastards take us and hopefully at the end we have a tale that others will enjoy reading it as much as we did writing it.

Happy Reading

-EW-