Michael Comeau @MichaelComeau: Is a 25-30 page short story a good start for fiction? Thinking of putting free on Amazon.
ANSWER:
Michael, you are inspiring me to do it also.
First off, a 25-30 page short story is a perfect start. But just a start. We live in a world now of “the long tail” which means quantity wins (assuming quality can be found like gold in stream among the abundance that you create).
Make it a Kindle story. And then a Kindle single.
BUT, make sure you then have the quantity to back it up. The biggest fiction successes on kindle (look at “hunger games” or “50 shades of grey”) quickly put out book after book in a series. Amanda Hocking, who has made millions from self-publishing, also played in the series game. Book after book.
I think that’s the way to win in fiction these days. Unless you are content with being “literary” and having 500 readers, etc. I would like to do fiction but I think I can only do it if I attempt to go all the way: something people are desperate to read, so desperate they need to turn every page, so desperate they need to buy the next one, and the next, and the next, and the publishers are all calling and saying “PLEASE LET US PUBLISH YOU” and I just say, “Nope. I love my self-publishing, but thanks.”
The problem is I don’t like thriller fiction or fiction in a series, etc. But maybe one of these days I can mix it up a bit.
But, to answer your question, size no longer matters. It’s quantity.