Fantasy Book Club Series discussion

Hello all, I hope everyone is having a great week and some good reads! :) I was looking for some people's opinions on some questions, I do apologize if you are seeing this on more than one group you are in as I am trying to get various thoughts and opinions on this.

From what I have seen, most books that are about or even vaguely consisting of shapeshifters seem like there is only one or two types at a time. On top of that, they seem to typically consist of wolves, bears, lions, dragons, maybe the occasional tiger... Are there any books with all types of animal shifters or do they mainly focus on one type?

Is there any interest in an actual world of animal shapeshifters? Or do readers want more magical beings as well such as vampires, witches, and other mythical type beings and beasts?

Do readers tend to prefer a longer book or a series of shorter installments? I suppose the better question to ask would be Do readers feel more comfortable purchasing a book from a first time author if it is offered in shorter installments (therefore giving a cheaper price to "try" them out)? Or do readers prefer to just buy one larger book?

Thank you for your time and input. Any opinions you share are most appreciated!

The Shifter Unbound series by Jennifer Ashley has a mix of species, but they all fall under one of three categories: Lupine, Feline, Ursine (Wolf, cat, bear) so you don't see things like dragons or any kind of serpent in the this series.
While I like books about shifters, I find that the majority of shifter novels are in the romance section and tend of have pages and pages of sex scenes. There are readers who like to read books like that, but I personally would rather not read all that stuff. I pick up books because I like the sound of the plot, not because there are beefy looking guys on the cover that guarantee at least one fairly descriptive sex scene.
I don't think the length of a book is a factor in whether or not i'll pick up a book by a new author. Usually if I'm buying something new i'll get the first book in the series and if I like it, then i'll buy more in the series.
I'm not sure if that really answers your questions or not but hopefully that helps.

The one I like is Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series. I especially like them because they are the only books set in my hometown!!! But also the series mythology can be very enjoyable.

Also a good werewolf novel I read years ago was Wolf's Trap by W.D. Gagliani.