What size book?

Hello to all!

I said last time I would go into some ways of getting your/my pesky book written. One thing I do recommend is take a look at how Kindle likes you to write. You don't really need anything else, apart from the imagination and the drive.

A book to us older people means just that. Something that has at least 300 pages and about 60,000 words. Or you can have ones that take up too much space, and weigh a tonne, such as Stephen King's The Stand. I read it, basically enjoyed it, but heartily wished he had cut it into bite-sized extracts, as he did with Green Mile. The reading burn-out wasn't bad, but it still made me shy away from anything but very small, pre-teen novels for a few months. My eyes and brain refused to take notice of anything that looked as though it might take a little effort to enjoy it.

Those days are still here, but muchly reduced with the advent of Kindle and all those electronic books. There is really no place for a 200,000 page epic, except in a physical book. Even 60,000 words is uncomfortable when read on a device. 45,000 words is much more comfortable, but can also be a drag to read.

This is disappointing, especially if you were looking forwards to a good read. My own personal opinion is to make your book in the middle. If it is 60,000 words, break it into two 30,000 words books. Of course you will not leave your reader hanging, but with a little fiddling, you can make the end of the first one dovetail nicely into the start of the second. Or start the new one with a little extra background, or even a new challenge, which leads into the second part. You will have two books for the time of one, and, if you publish them consecutively, hopefully two streams of income. Your platform is also given a boost.

Not for nothing did Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle make series out of their books, to the extent that Doyle's mother, on being told he was sick of Holmes and had killed him off, informed her son: Nonsense. You bring that nice man back at once.

 In this age of the Web, there is no reason you cannot write and publish your book, and with very few hassles. Fiction is a big seller, as are supernatural genres, vampires and kid's books, and it is coming up to major holidays, so what better to give someone than a book? You can write short stories, as long as you specify it is just that, or you can write your life story.

The world wants to be entertained. Why not cater to that wish?