James Patterson is taking a Shot at shorter books

[Russ]

James Patterson is proceeding ahead with an interesting plan to try to sell books to people who are not regular readers, with shorter, more plot driven books:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/22/b...rson-has-a-big-plan-for-small-books.html?_r=0

Interestingly enough it kind of echoes what our own MOK is doing with his production, Turbo Fiction:

http://mythicscribes.com/forums/notice-board/15879-turbo-fiction.html?highlight=Turbo

Although the lengths are different, it strikes me that the premise is similar.

 

[Mythopoet]

Indie writers have been doing this all along.

 

[MichaelSullivan]

I'm REALLY surprised he is doing this with Machete - seems like a perfect thing to go indie with.

 

[Russ]

I'm REALLY surprised he is doing this with Machete - seems like a perfect thing to go indie with.

It actually is the perfect thing to go indy with...except if part of the plan is being in many non traditional B&M stores.

There are some really interesting mid to smaller sized publishers making really good money for their authors by selling bundled works at this length...but none of them have the kind of pull Mr. Patterson does.

But eventually, Mr. Patterson and his publisher want to colonize retail chains that don’t normally sell books, like drugstores, grocery stores and other outlets. They envision having BookShots next to magazines in grocery store checkout lanes, or dangling from clip strips like a bag of gummy bears.

“Those venues are very inhospitable to traditional publishing, but we think this is a type of book that could work very well there,” said Michael Pietsch, the chief executive of Hachette Book Group, which publishes Mr. Patterson’s books in the United States through its Little, Brown imprint. “He has enough recognition that his name can make it work.”

In the UK a great deal of book sales is through grocery stores and Hachette has had some real success over there and thus some good experience in how to make that fly.

I say good on Hachette for trying this out.

 

[Miskatonic]

So he's simplifying things to appeal to people with short attention spans and a feeling of entitlement where instant gratification is concerned?

I thought that was what the fiction book publishing industry as a whole had been doing for years.