Chat Between Chapters: Authors and Novellas

Here’s the topic for this week.

Authors and their novellas – let’s chat about them. How do we feel when authors don’t add their novellas to Goodreads. Especially if their novellas are free. 

 

 

 Julie:

I recently came across an author who gave away a freebie novella to readers who joined her email list. (Ok I came across a lot of these recently, and even more so with arcs, etc. don’t ask me how many arcs I accidentally downloaded. But that’s not the point). This particular author didn’t list their novella on either Amazon, Goodreads, or even her website. Is it like a secret or something?

But here’s the thing. Goodreads is my book Garmin. If you didn’t record it, it doesn’t count. And how am I supposed to count every book I read, if I can’t add it to my Goodreads shelf? Why would an author NOT want to list a book they release into the wild? I don’t get it. And it makes me think twice about even wanting to read it. Like, my time is better spent on books I can track, ya know? I WANT MY DATA!

I appreciate the free book – honestly that’s been my downfall in the number of ebooks on my kindle. And I like when the first or a novella of a series is free – because when a novella costs almost as much as the full book that’s just kinda mean. I get that the novella is a taste, of both the author’s style and the series, but it’s not a sample. It’s a standalone. A separate story. And it should be trackable. There, that’s my rant.

 

Lynn:

What’s the whole point of a novella? I don’t go out of my way to read them most of the time. Do they add to the current series? Are they offshoots that have nothing to do with it? You never know. And if there are A LOT of novellas in a series that I can’t find (aren’t on Goodreads) or can’t listen to (aren’t available in audio), chances are even less that I’m going to read them.

I’m fine with authors sharing those novellas with their followers (be it newsletter or social media), but if I’m late to the game, or don’t follow a particular author that closely, I’m not searching for a novella, even if it is free. Who has time for that?

I might read a really short novella (a couple of paragraphs), but otherwise, I’ll probably pass.

 

 

What about you?

 

 

We are also linking up our discussion posts with the 2025 Book Blog Discussion Challenge hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight!

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