Martha’s answer to “Some of the comments I've read elsewhere about the Murderbot Diaries publishing format and cadence …” > Likes and Comments
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Ah, the old "write amazingly compelling novellas get rich quick scheme." Why didn't I think of doing that? \s
Not that wanting to make money would be a bad thing. Everyone knows writers are just *rolling* in dough!
Stylistically, the novellas as a single novel would be awkward as the structure is a series of self-contained stories. I like the format of the novella as they are tightly focused with a singular plot. I have read full-length novels in a series that felt more broken-up that these stories are.
Martha, "insult" was furthest from my intention in asking this question, as I was asking for your side of a nasty statement I had seen elsewhere (Amazon reader comments). I personally know little to nothing about the publishing industry and relish the opportunity afforded by GoodReads to ask this kind of question directly of the author. I agree with previous comments that pushing the content of the first three novel(la)s together into one book would have produced a clunky product without significant editing. Please accept my apology if my question gave you offense.
....aside from everything else wrong with this comment, four reasonably long novellas (160k words is roughly equivalent to the Two Towers) plus another novel over the course of three years is... a perfectly respectable and even zippy pace?
I think it was a question that not only warranted a Q&A but was a measured way of phrasing it, giving a forum for learning about this without each newcomer having to research it themselves (which they most likely where never going to do).
So, I agree with the sentiment of not wanting to cause offense, and at the same time I want to support your question Kevin. I don't know why this phrasing had this effect and couldn't have put it better myself.
I don't want to get a negative impression of this new amazing writer I just discovered, having just devoured the Murderbot books in a span of 40 hours, but this seems like a mean and defensive response to an interesting question. Perhaps I am missing context.
@Henrik: I felt like the response was definitely justified, it read like an unnecessarily accusatory question, even if the questioner didn't intend it that way. It wasn't simply asking about the pacing of the release of her books, but demanding she defend against an accusation of 'milking' the series for profit, which is definitely insulting.
The original questioner has apologised for any offense, so it was clearly unintentional, but the original question read as insulting to me.
@Abi Demina: Frankly, I don't see how the the Kevin's phrasing was insulting. He specifically stated that these accusations have been made by others and that he "would prefer not to believe that".
Martha's response rubbed me a little the wrong way.
Her response was good except for that last sentence which was uncalled for.
I could imagine that she's been asked this questions a few times too many and she's fed up being accused for pricing decisions that the publisher makes and wrote her reply in the spur of the moment.
@Jens Raab: If I said "I keep reading other people describing you as a jerk... but I would like to think it isn't true. Tell us how you're not a jerk", and force you to publicly justify yourself against unfounded accusations, it is insulting. If you can't see that, I don't know what to tell you.
I do agree with you that her response wasn't necessarily the most diplomatic thing she could have said, especially in case the person didn't mean it the way it sounded, but I could definitely understand her reaction.
Rude, and frankly, who cares? You have the chance to ask a sci-fi goddess a question, and THAT'S what you choose? Can someone (Ooooooo, pick me, pick me!!!) please filter for what the A in ART stands for? We can have ART-style snips to paste in and everything.
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Ian
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Dec 30, 2019 12:56PM
Ah, the old "write amazingly compelling novellas get rich quick scheme." Why didn't I think of doing that? \s
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Not that wanting to make money would be a bad thing. Everyone knows writers are just *rolling* in dough!
Stylistically, the novellas as a single novel would be awkward as the structure is a series of self-contained stories. I like the format of the novella as they are tightly focused with a singular plot. I have read full-length novels in a series that felt more broken-up that these stories are.
Martha, "insult" was furthest from my intention in asking this question, as I was asking for your side of a nasty statement I had seen elsewhere (Amazon reader comments). I personally know little to nothing about the publishing industry and relish the opportunity afforded by GoodReads to ask this kind of question directly of the author. I agree with previous comments that pushing the content of the first three novel(la)s together into one book would have produced a clunky product without significant editing. Please accept my apology if my question gave you offense.
....aside from everything else wrong with this comment, four reasonably long novellas (160k words is roughly equivalent to the Two Towers) plus another novel over the course of three years is... a perfectly respectable and even zippy pace?
I think it was a question that not only warranted a Q&A but was a measured way of phrasing it, giving a forum for learning about this without each newcomer having to research it themselves (which they most likely where never going to do). So, I agree with the sentiment of not wanting to cause offense, and at the same time I want to support your question Kevin. I don't know why this phrasing had this effect and couldn't have put it better myself.
I don't want to get a negative impression of this new amazing writer I just discovered, having just devoured the Murderbot books in a span of 40 hours, but this seems like a mean and defensive response to an interesting question. Perhaps I am missing context.
@Henrik: I felt like the response was definitely justified, it read like an unnecessarily accusatory question, even if the questioner didn't intend it that way. It wasn't simply asking about the pacing of the release of her books, but demanding she defend against an accusation of 'milking' the series for profit, which is definitely insulting.The original questioner has apologised for any offense, so it was clearly unintentional, but the original question read as insulting to me.
@Abi Demina: Frankly, I don't see how the the Kevin's phrasing was insulting. He specifically stated that these accusations have been made by others and that he "would prefer not to believe that".Martha's response rubbed me a little the wrong way.
Her response was good except for that last sentence which was uncalled for.
I could imagine that she's been asked this questions a few times too many and she's fed up being accused for pricing decisions that the publisher makes and wrote her reply in the spur of the moment.
@Jens Raab: If I said "I keep reading other people describing you as a jerk... but I would like to think it isn't true. Tell us how you're not a jerk", and force you to publicly justify yourself against unfounded accusations, it is insulting. If you can't see that, I don't know what to tell you.I do agree with you that her response wasn't necessarily the most diplomatic thing she could have said, especially in case the person didn't mean it the way it sounded, but I could definitely understand her reaction.
Rude, and frankly, who cares? You have the chance to ask a sci-fi goddess a question, and THAT'S what you choose? Can someone (Ooooooo, pick me, pick me!!!) please filter for what the A in ART stands for? We can have ART-style snips to paste in and everything.
