The word “novella” has a lilting quality to it and rolls nicely off the tongue, don’t you think? Regardless of the reaction the word invokes, make no mistake. The novella is a valuable marketing tool for today’s indie author “thinking outside the box”.

The word “novella” is derived from the feminine derivative of the Italian word “new” and the reference source, wikipedia.org, defines “novella” as “a written fictional prose narrative normally longer than a short story but shorter than a novel”. To put that definition into context, the generally-accepted length of a novella is 20,000 to 40,000 words which differs from a short story that is 1,000 to 7,500 words; a novelette that is 7,500 to 20,000 words; or a novel, which is anything over 40,000 words. Novellas have been around for a long time, with some of the more notable ones being The Bicentennial Man (1976) by Isaac Asimov, The Body (1982) by Stephen King, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958) by Truman Capote, A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens, Of Mice and Men (1937) by John Steinbeck and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1962) by Muriel Spark.

And thanks to the advent of electronic publishing platforms, novellas have only increased in popularity. Electronic publishing has allowed authors to publish works in different lengths without the constraints imposed by traditional publishing. In fact, many authors are publishing novellas containing a set of characters and then writing a novel with fully-conceptualized storylines and conflicts using those same characters. Linwood Barclay, a popular Canadian writer of thrillers, is one of many authors who have embraced the novella/novel concept, first writing the novella Clouded Vision, published in December of 2010, and then a short time later, the novel, Never Saw It Coming, based on his novella. For a successful author like Barclay, the novella/novel concept means more money in the bank, but for the indie author wanting to grow and build on his/her readership, the novella is more of a valuable marketing tool. How so? By offering the novella for free.

The word “free” is an irresistible aphrodisiac for most people. It means the promise of receiving something without having to pay for it. It’s also one of the oldest and best marketing tools around. In the context of the novella, the concept is simple: publish the novella as an ebook and then make it available for free download on sites like Smashwords and Kobo, etc. If the idea sounds counter-intuitive, think again. Those readers interested in a free ebook will download it. Let's face it. People will pick up things or download books because they're free and while not every free novella will be read, there are those that will be, and out of those that will be read, some might even enjoy it. It’s that small segment of the readership population that will then buy the novel based on the novella. And more importantly still, it’s that small segment of the readership population that may become the author’s readers for life. Few will argue that the idea is counter-intuitive now, don't you think?