[h2]Episode[/h2]
Jeff talks about his new releases available this week: Make the Right Choice from JMS Books and A Sound Beginning from Pride Publishing. There is a Rafflecopter giveaway for a free ebook of Make the Right Choice below. The guys also talk about why Will returned an ebook to Amazon, how awesome Fox’s Grease Live! was and the 2013 movie In Secret starring Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Felton, Oscar Isaac and Jessica Lange. Jeff talks about the books he read over the past week–a beta copy of Wade Kelly’s third book in her Jock series as well as an ARC he can’t really discuss right now but was swooning over. Will also shows off the February issue of Out which features Tom Daly and Dustin Lance Black as the cover boys for the Love issue.

The guys recap last week’s Question of the Week (and you can see all the responses for that below) before they bring back author and publisher J.M. Snyder for the second part of their interview with her. The show wraps up with the Question of the Week, this time from J.M.: “What’s your favorite read outside the m/m genre?”

Remember, you can listen and subscribe to the podcast anytime on iTunesStitcherPlayerFMYouTube and audio file download.

[h2]Show Notes[/h2]
Here are the things we talk about in this episode:

 

[h2]Win A Copy of Make the Right Choice[/h2]
Use the Rafflecopter below to win a free ebook copy of Jeff’s brand new release Make the Right Choice
a Rafflecopter giveaway

[h2]Question of the Week Episode 17 Responses:[/h2]
While listeners can leave comments on the website each week, answers come in from various other platforms as well (and we can only read a few answers on the show). Here are all the responses we got to the question “What is your preferred size/length for the books you read?” Thanks to everyone who took the time to answer.

  • Atom: I prefer short stories and novellas, partially due to my schedule and attention span and reading speed, and partially because it’s just a preference over longer works.
  • Gino: Depends for me whether is a short story, novella, young adult book, 250 page novel or an epic like Les Miserable if it tells a great story size doesn’t matter!
  • Kathy: From 250 pages on up—the bigger the better. For smaller sizes, the author has to be one of my faves and the price has to be in line. I’m not going to pay 3.99 for a 50 page story. I read really quickly, and if the story is good, I’ll reread it a few times. Less than 50 pages doesn’t really work for me at all.
  • Eric: I don’t care. I read everything from short stories to long novels. I prefer the longer stories, but will read just about anything. I do agree with Kathy, I hate paying $3-4 for a 50 page story when I can get 100-200 page novels for the same price.  I’m not trying to cut into an author’s making a living, but there have been some stories I have not bought because I thought the price was too high for such a short work. I’d be curious to know what the authors out there think of this? How do they determine the price for their works?
    • Kathy (offered a reply): Well, I go by length, myself. I set the price at $4.99 for a book with 412 pages, and my two short stories are 99 cents each; they’re about 20 pages each. My novellas are 2.99, and my mid-length novel is 3.99. I’m not saying I wouldn’t go higher than 4.99, but the book would have to be longer in length. I’ve been known to pay 6.99 for a book here and there, but they were a decent length from authors on my one click list. The most I’ve paid for an ebook in any genre (from a major publisher) was 12.99 for The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker.
  • Liliana: Depends on my mood. I guess between 150 and 250.
  • Sanna: The longer the better if I’m not especially looking for some small succulent bites to cure my book slump or while I try to decide which book to read. The most I’ve paid have been $15-20 I think if I’m too impatient to wait a bit but it’s not often but for certain names … always at least 400 pages books mostly longer and mostly for paranormal, fantasy, horror or scifi. I’ve actually returned a book last fall because of noticing the length (vs the price) only after purchase. I was used to proper length books by the author in question. The price didn’t correspond with the length at all. I felt ripped off and returned it without reading – of course – feeling sad they’d started to do this and as far as I see the situation seems continueing that way now. That name dropped off my auto-buy list like a brick and not the only one. It’s like some rely on old customers not figuring this out but going on 1-clicking like nothing happened.
  • Anna: I will read anything, but the price has to correspond and in general I feel, that very few people master the art of writing a really good short. Other than that I prefer longer works. 200+ pages.  With regards to price, I seem to have some kind of mental borderline at $5. Don’t worry too much about buying a book under that price. Anything over takes a lot more consideration. And I only do that for authors I know I love. And I will decline to pay more than .99 for less than 50 pages.
  • Denise: I guess I’m strange. I generally don’t look at number of pages of a book. Strength of characters and story line is what I look for. I have some favorite reads that are 50-60 pages.
  • Kathleen: The longer the better.
  • Willow: I love long books. If I see one that’s over 600 pages I might spontaneously orgasm from the page count alone. Lol
  • Beth: I agree with most people here, I enjoy a longer book. I want a well developed story, and that just doesn’t seem to happen when its under 150 pages.
  • Gillian: I read anything, from Lord of the Rings size fantasy novels or mystery collections to short stories. My preference though is in between. Ginormous books are a pain to carry around and if you read a lot in one sitting, you end up with serious wrist pain. That said, they are great for long plane trips. I also have an entirely unfair prejudice against short stories, mainly I think because I had to read a lot of short stories at school and I always felt they ended too soon. I think the problem there was that these were literary stories, and the writers were good, so I’d get really invested in the characters and then suddenly story is over and we can’t find out what happens next. So while a lot depends on whether I want something quick and easy to fill up an hour or something more involved that I will get immersed in, my preferred read is probably about 70-80k, I personally struggle to write anything within this length because I find it really hard to leave stuff out of stories.
  • Barrie: I like books long enough, with enough detail, to make me feel I’ve stepped into another world. Mercy Most Tender” (Kindle) is 579 pages and it continues in at least one more in the series, which focuses on an m/m couple through the decades from the 1960s onward. Obviously, my characters have a lot of living to do.
  • Nic: I read all varieties of story lengths. Sometimes it depends on my mood, sometimes it depends on the time I have available.
  • Eileen: I just can’t connect with characters in less than 150 pages (generally). I tend to look for books that are 200 pages plus.
  • Christine: 150-200 pages. As far as pricing. It also depends on how well established an author is. I’m just starting out and although I could get $2.99 for my 170 page novella (and some well established authors get $3.99), I’m only asking $1.99 to build a base of readers. I figure in s book store I’m often paying $7 to 10 for a book I can spend $5 or more on ebook if I see a great rec by a friend or something by fave author.
  • Donna: Any length. I have read 8 pages and I have read over 600 pages, depends on the book, the time I have available and the author
  • Cat: I detest short stories, and by short I’m talking less than 150 pages. I always feel that the storyline is rushed and the characters can’t develop to their full potential. Naturally, that means that I really enjoy longer novels, 300-400 pages and higher. I’m also willing to pay a premium for those because they do take longer to put together.