COMMUTERLIT IS thinking about offering a paid subscription service, with a new chapter of a novella appearing in your inbox once a week — say on a Saturday morning. The stories would be a maximum of 25,000 words; and we would pay the writers. Now before you start sending us your unpublished novellas, this would only work if we can find at minimum 25 people willing to pay an annual subscription of CAD$39.49 each for a series of two or more original novellas serialized over the course of the year.
So my questions to you are: Would you be willing to pay that amount? If not, what would you be willing to pay? What genres or types of stories would you like to see included in the series? And do you have a favourite or a few favourite regular CommuterLit writers you would like to read more from? Email the editor and let us know at admin-at-commuterlit-dot-com or leave a comment below.
Poetry Week 2025 Contest
Thank you everyone who entered our Poetry Week 2025 contest. Winning entries will announced on Monday, May 12 and our top five will be posted on CommuterLit that week.
I don’t think it’s for me, Nancy, although I have given it considerable thought. I have not written a novella, which I deem to start at 30,000 words, but have written and had published several short stories in the 10,000 to 25,000 words, and novels in the 60,000+ range. I find the novella neither fish nor fowl, too long for a single session read and too short to get into the nitty gritty of plot and character arc. As the publisher, would you be involved in any aspect of sales and marketing if you go ahead?
Well, yes, I expect I would be. Why?
I heartily disagree, but with all love and respect, Michael. I think the novella is an excellent length. Many of my favorite writers, from Steinbeck to Chiang, write at this length—a perfect little piggy- neither too long and boring nor too short and incomplete.