Rebirth of the Short Form?

I’ve long wondered whether novellas or novelettes would see a resurgence with the advent of everyday e-book readers: after all, an author could write a story that is 20,000 or 40,000 words long and potentially sell it for the same amount as a ‘traditional’ 100,000 word novel (the length of your average paperback…back when they still had paperbacks–remember them?) So that author could, theoretically, write three to five times as many stories in the same time it would take to write a single novel and, perhaps, triple or quintuple his or her income from writing. It’s an idea that has merit.

What I didn’t expect (but probably should have) was the renewed interest in the short story itself, and in collections of them, particularly from individual authors.

So, an interesting article in The New York Times late last week about the growing sales trend for short stories and short story collections. Find it here.

One of my writerly New Years resolutions for 2013 was to get my published short stories up for sale online (individually and in collection form) and this certainly has renewed my enthusiasm to do so! Keep watching this space for more details!

– S.