With this post I am going to tie together some earlier topics and point out how they apply to James Patterson's new venture, called BookShots.
In a couple of earlier posts, which interested readers can find here and here, I discussed the phenomenon of declining attention spans in the digital and social media age. And then, in a more recent post that can be found here, I reported on a recent study that found, among other things, that a surprising number of people never finish the novels they purchase and, in many cases, don't read much of them.
James Patterson, one of the most prolific and commercially successful authors around, is evidently aware of these trends and thinks that shorter, action-packed books may be the answer.
Patterson, The New York Times reported, "will test that idea with BookShots, a new line of short and propulsive
novels that cost less than $5 and can be read in a single sitting." The author will write some himself and choose other authors to write the rest. All will be 150 pages or less, or about the length of a novella, The Times said.
(My novella, "Manhattan Morning" is not action packed, but is illustrated and now available free as a highly readable PDF file. Who knows, you might like it.)
While Patterson's new line of books will initially be distributed through conventional outlets, the author hopes to eventually place the titles in drug stores and near supermarket checkout lanes.
"In some ways, Mr. Patterson’s effort is a throwback to the dime novels
and pulp fiction magazines that were popular in the late 19th and early
20th century, when commercial fiction was widely available in
drugstores," The Times noted.
The newspaper article goes on to discuss some of the problems Patterson may face and it also notes other recent short-book initiatives. The main thing the author has going for him is name recognition, The Times concludes.
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