Place this post in the thinking outloud category to consider this question: does book length matter as much when publishing an eBook vs. print publications? I ask this because as I sought publication of my first novel, DEAD BEEF, through normal publication channels, I learned that when it came to length it shouldn’t be too hot or too cold. More precisely, publishers considering a first-timer and even a more seasoned author get queezy if word length falls below 75,000 words or exceeds 100,000 words. In print that makes sense: a prospective buyer may not want to pay full price for a thin book, and producing a thick book will result in higher costs. But does it matter as much in an eBook?

That’s the question I wanted to pose to eBook authors and readers alike. I suppose for readers the value proposition, namely the comparison between price and page count, still matters to some extent. Yet, I’m guessing — based on how I interact with eBooks — that without the tangible, physical feel of a book, this consideration becomes less important. That would be a good thing, wouldn’t it? It means that the story can end when it needs to end, without the temptation to pad with extraneous stuff to get it to a certain length, or the need to slash it in order to meet some arbitrary word/page count ceiling.

What do you think? Are you as likely as a reader to buy an eBook that comes in the featherweight length category as you are to buy a full length one? For shorter books, do you eye that price to make sure you’re getting the right deal — i.e., does the price need to be lower?

For writers, do you find the eBook ecosystem more conducive to selling novellas and even shorter works that would require different treatment or bundling with other works when targetting the print world?

For reference, here are the generally accepted word lengths for different types of fiction: