Alright everyone, lets talk about books. Big books. I mean, BIG books. Like Under the Dome, for example. Why are they so long? Why, in this world of successful multi-book series do some authors choose to instead opt for the single, massive tome?
Now, maybe some of them aren't easily split up and should be left as a single volume (Under the Dome may be in this category), but they certainly can't all be this way. I mean, some would absolutely benifit from the split (the last Harry Potter book, perhaps?). So, in short, this isn't a comment on Under the Dome in particular, but on massive books a a whole. They are so large that they become intimidating (come on, you know you weren't looking forward to any book this long), so why do you think some authors choose to take this route? Are there some stories that just have to be told in one go?
11 comments:
I definitely think some books are too long to be worth the trouble and splitting them up would make them more successful. But I also think some have to stay that large because they wouldn't make sense split up. Granted authors could probably try a little harder to take out a lot of the fluff and make the books shorter, but who am I to make that criticism.
Conversely... Why do some multi-book series get lumped together, bound in one giant volume? The Chronicles of Narnia, for example? Is it a sales tactic or is it supposed to appeal to the people who, like John, like big books and cannot lie?
Another kink in this is the multi-volume big mommas. Robert Jordan's stuff for example where each book is atleast as thick as Under the Dome and there are what, like 13 of them?
When/why do others decide, ok, time to move on to a new volume.
Perhaps it has something to do with the author just wants so much to be told and then closes the book when that much is told, no matter how long or short it is?
Wow, I should refrain from posting comments after 10pm. The word "others" above is supposed to be "authors". *facepalm*
I also love big books. I have read and re read the Wheel of Time series by Jordan and I absolutely love them. To me, I hate starting a book and I get sad when I finish a really good book because I want more, so I love huge books because it maximizes my time of enjoyment haha.
I have no clue how authors decide how much is too much and when to take it to another book, but I'm glad they do.
I think that authors (I am saying this as a creative writing minor) sometimes just get exploded with an idea or something and blow it out. Lord of the Rings is a good example of such phenomena that benefited from being divided into three volumes so that it is not so daunting, but with the book's new found popularity, they have been bound as the three books in one volume that makes you consider that perhaps with more modern mass printing capabilities, we are now able to make big books. As for UTD, I really don't see how it could have been broken up. I rushed through a lot of it because it got so suspenseful.
I personally love picking up a 1000 page book and reading through it. I love that sense of accomplishment when I turn the last page and can look over what I just read. I even made sure to read the last 200 pages of this book in book form rather than Kindle. Like Matt said, longer books tend to leave me more satisfied as far as the actual story goes, though I guess that also depends on the author a little.
I'd say some books, like Lord of the Rings or the Eragon series are good examples of a continued story cut into multiple books. I read the Eragon books one after the other and would have gone crazy if I didn't have them right there. These authors must have the story planned out and only cut them for publishing sake I guess. At least, that's my opinion.
From an I'm-guessing-how-the-publishing-industry-works perspective, I kind of go along with what Kirstin was saying about how authors have a big idea in their head and then split it up for publishing purposes. First off, I think that smaller books tend to sell better than bigger books. Even though many people like big books, I think the general public is more attracted to smaller, more manageable, less intimidating works. Authors who are publishing for the first time and have this great idea about series are, I think, in general wiser to split up these crazy epic ideas into multivolume works because they're more likely to get picked up by publishers that way... because
(1) If the first book flops, you didn't waste so much time, energy, and extra paper on a giant work;
(2) Books in a series bring in much more money than a giant book, because generally there's a huge price difference between buying all the books in a series separately and buying them together in one volume;
(3) THEN if everything goes really well the publisher can later market the big-book compilations we're talking about and make MORE money off of those who are collectors or who want the whole series for less money.
Those are just my thoughts on that. *shrugs* Massive books can be really good, but I think you have to generally be pretty well-established--like Stephen King--before you can realistically go to publishers with a big-book work.
I agree with Kristin. I love the feeling of reading a massive book. When I'm done and it's on my bookshelf I can stand back and say "yep, I read it all..."
I feel like I inspired a real conversation! I'm so proud! *sniff*
But I definitely agree with the points most of you are making. I certainly don't think that Under the Dome could have been divided, and there are financial considerations both for making a single volume or a series. In the end, it is the author's (well, really probably the publisher's) decision, and we as the eagerly waiting masses will just have to put up with whatever format they choose. Thanks for the input everyone!
John, like you I also like big books. The bigger, the better. That is perhaps my biggest complaint about reading on the kindle. There is no sense of the size of the book, no feeling of accomplishment as read section slowly grows in size relative to the unread section. In exchange we get a hollow substitute, a percent read.
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