In light of what Smashwords has to say about the success (or
failure) of ebooks in a general sense in which they throw lots of caveats (if I
ever open a restaurant it’s going to be cave-themed and be called caveats),
I’ve studied my unpublished novel DOLEFUL CREATURES to see where I might end
up.
My theory: In that long tail of published but generally
unsuccessful novels.
DING ONE: It’s not a romance. I mean I suppose I could punch
it up and make it a romance, but given it’s a novel about anthropomorphized
animals, I’m not sure I’m up for that kind of punching up.
DING TWO: It’s not part of a series. I’ve thought a lot
about series books in the last 48 hours, and have to admit I’m on the fence. I
do enjoy a good series. But it has to be a good series. Lord of the Rings,
good. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and its series, terrible (well, the
first book is excellent, the rest are garbage). But I have read everything
published by Robert C. O’Brien, and have enjoyed every bit of it. So I’m not
too worried about the not-a-series thing. I’m much more worried about writing a
good book, and then following it up with another good book.
DING THREE: It’s not lengthy. It is nearly 75,000 words, far
short of what seems to be the popular length of novels at Smashwords. Then
again, JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORRELL was long. Far too long. Far, far too
long. Good, but waaaaayyy too long. So maybe long can be second to good?
BIG TAKEAWAY: It’s my first novel. I’m going to focus on
making it a good first novel, above anything else. So, who wants to beta read?
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