Small Excitements

[ursulav]

So I started poking at the Thing With The Goblins yesterday, and realized a couple of important facts.

I’m proud of it.

People who liked Digger may like it.

It’s a novella at best.

It’s never gonna be middle grade or YA or anything like that, which is the only way that 40+K novella gets to be a normal book.

This makes it about as marketable as

Comments

[vik_thor]

just wondering, isn't novella a length that the various magazines are good at? Or are y'all just not wanting to deal with magazines?

(I'm just a reader, not involved in publishing at all, other than buying as much as I can of what I like…)

[skellington1]

Most magazines want short stories, I think -- a quarter or less the size of a novella.

[jenbooks]

I don't know, but the novella nominations for the Hugos this year were really good.

[dormouse_in_tea]

There are a handful of markets that take novellas -- Beneath Ceaseless Skies & Giganotosaurus come to mind -- and of course a lot of the magazines will sometimes publish novellas -- most magazines are heavily themed when it comes to genre. Ursula might have luck with Giganotosaurus or Interfictions, or even Subterranean Press, she's getting well known enough for that, I think!

But there's also the problem of economies of scale. For a magazine market, to the best of my understanding it's a flat rate payment of $0.02 - $0.05 per word. Even for a 40k novella wordcount that ain't much. Even with all the headache hell of self-publishing, it's probably more economically rewarding to self-publish.

[silmaril]

There's a space in my Amazon wish list just waiting for the pseudonym you'll pick.

[mmaster]

This.

[obsessive_a101]

Also this. :)

[dragonsong]

Super duper excited for this!

Subterranean Goblins

[amberley]

Subterranean Press has published numerous limited edition novellas in gorgeous editions. But if it's going to be an e-book, I'll happily buy it as an e-book. Are you going to do a cover for it, or use stock art?

Also, is it just me that wants an Ace Double-style book with The Thing With the Goblins on one side and The Goblins With The Thing on the other? Maybe it's just me.

Re: Subterranean Goblins

[diatryma]

That was my first thought, too, that Subterranean had really missed the boat here.

[ebenbrooks]

Sounds awesome! Can't wait!

Oh, and I heard something on a chat channel in Champions Online the other day that had your name written all over it: "Mortal Wombat".

[anthony_lion]

You'd only end up with two wombats swinging pickaxes at each other and trying to be polite at the same time...

[ebenbrooks]

Or a lot of shouting "REMEMBER TUNNEL 17!!!"

[anthony_lion]

Nahh...

Then they'd just end up arguing about a minor detail...
Or realise that their ancestors were on the same side, then walk off and have a drink in 'memory of old times'...