As we know there are many different types of writing from different genres, lengths, fiction and non-fiction and their many subclasses. Today I want to look at novels and novellas. For sake of clarity this is what I am defining as the average length of novels and novellas.

Novella

~ 20,000 – 50,000 words

Novel

~ 50,000 -110,000 words

I have been doing some research and there seems to be a lot of commentary that the 40,000 – 50,000 word range for ebooks is more user friendly while in print it’s better to have 70,000 – 90,000 words because who wants to pay $14.95 for a book that doesn’t have a lot of pages? This leads me to my question is the value perception of a 40,000 word ebook let’s say for $2.99 or less the same as a paperback of 80,000 words for $14.95?

When I was trying to go the traditional route my fiction works were 90,000 to 100,000 words and while none of my readers have told me my books are too long I have noticed many other amazing ebook authors that consistently publish in that 40,000 to 50,000 range. Personally, I find great value in their novels so do I just need to change my mindset that my books don’t have to be traditional novel length as long as the story is evolved? But then what if I want to do both ebook and print?

I sometimes think I am my own worst enemy:)