Why short books?

Because sometimes you just want to start and end a story in a night!

Hi, I’m an author who has a full-time job, and not much time to do anything around it – due to other commitments – sometimes I want to finish my night with a book, and more often than not I will look at my shelf and the size of so many books are just so daunting that I put them off, and then I keep putting them off. Sometimes I even buy the audio book version to make it easier for myself, but even a 23-hour time stamp is pretty big and about three weeks later – after numerous attempts of getting through chapters without falling asleep and losing my place I’ve finally completed the book – and usually can’t remember the beginning.

When I started writing books way back in 2009, I wasn’t even aware of a page limit, or a word count requirement or anything like that, I just wrote, and okay, so I have written a few hefty books myself – my current WIP for example is already standing at 250 pages, and I’m only really 40% through but my books are only ever as big as they need to be. If the story is complete, if everything that has needed to be said has been said, then I will finish regardless of the pages, or the word count because that’s simply as long as it’s supposed to be.

Okay, so I guess that’s putting it really simply. I could sit here and list all my neurodivergent labels and express my lack of attention span – look I get distracted easily, or go into some big deep back story but the fact of the matter is, sometimes I just don’t have the time to read a big book, and I don’t have the power to overthrow my characters and tell them to keep talking when they’re done – they can be quite scary, honestly, I am merely their puppet.

So let’s do some numbers;

Adolescent Summers: 299 pages Biro Tattoos: 276 pages Cassidy is Queen: 293 pages Dumpster Kid (WIP): 450 pages - look we're not counting this one okay! I Am Sebastian: 243 pages (undergoing edits) Just Like a Fairy Tale: 294 pages Kennedy is King: 292 pages Love Letters: 258 pages

They are all quick reads, easy and full stories that can be read in a handful of hours, perfect for getting out of reading slumps, or if there’s a small break in the day.

They’re not massive commitments, they’re not 7-book series where each book gets even bigger, they’re just small queer snapshots, in less than 300 pages where you can escape to if you find a little nugget of time in the day.

They’re around a new adult reading age, and are especially good for teenagers as the language is accessible and the size is not at all threatening – if I do say so myself.

When I first entered into the publishing world I felt like I had to make my books bigger, like there was this massive pressure to write War and Peace ten times over, as if the only books that would be seen were those with thick spines. I berated myself over and over for not writing enough, for not being good enough at writing, for struggling to continue the story, but did you know that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is just 258 pages? And A Christmas Carol is just 104? And the average Agatha Christie book is just 190 pages?

My advice to authors is, just write, write until your characters tell you to stop. I know counting is ingrained in us, I have done NaNoWriMo in the past and I still feel like I’ve achieved something whenever I hit 50k on a WIP – and I also know that some agents require a certain word count but don’t punish yourself if you’re not hitting it first time, sometimes walking away from a story and coming back tells you exactly what’s missing – a good, personal example of this being I Am Sebastian over the last months his story has been growing and he’s currently not my main focus but he’s there, quietly telling me what I need to add in, or change.

To readers, enjoy what you’re reading, whether it’s big or small, full of flowery language, or just straight up descriptions, whether it’s first person or third, dialogue heavy or not, we read for pleasure, so lets at least enjoy it.