Novel or Novella?

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HedlessChickn

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It looks like Elevation is going to be 160 pages long, yet on the cover it says "A Novel." Okay, fair enough.

But it got me to wondering, since many of what King calls 'novellas' can run more than 200 pages (The Langoliers ~240, The Library Policeman ~200, so on and so forth), is this being called a novel simply because it's being published alone? Or is it because there's no real market for a "novella" in the USA?

I'm just curious because I bought Blockade Billy as a hardcover with that other short story Morality and both were included in Bazaar of Bad Dreams.

Is that going to be the case with Elevation as well?
 

Moderator

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As far as I know, no other material is being included with Elevation. To be honest, I was surprised it was being published as a stand-alone as I'd expected it to be part of a short story collection even though it is more novella-length.
 

HedlessChickn

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I didn't imagine it would come with additional material. I'm assuming it will eventually come out in another collection. If it doesn't, I'll pick it up either in paperback or when Half-Price Books has it discounted. Just like Billy Blockade.
 

Gerald

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SK himself calls it a novella:

"I've written another novella called Elevation, which is also a Castle Rock story and, in some ways, it’s almost like a sequel to Gwendy. Sometimes you seed the ground, and you get a little fertilizer, and things turn out."

He said in the introduction to Different Seasons:

"The novella is an ill-defined and disreputable literary banana republic."
And he notes the difficulties of selling a novella in the commercial publishing world, since it does not fit the typical length requirements of either magazine or book publishers.

On Blockade Billy and Gwendy's covers it wasn't defined whether it was a novel or a novella. On the UK edition of Elevation it isn't either.
But The Colorado Kid which is also more a novella by King's standards is seen as a novel.

Usually his novellas which are published seperately come out in collections later (The Mist in Skeleton Crew, Blockade Billy in Bazaar of Bad Dreams). It's often works he writes with other writers that don't make it into his collections (In the Tall Grass, Throttle, A Face in the Crowd).
 
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HedlessChickn

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Don't get me wrong, novellas/short novels can be absolutely wonderful. The Pearl by Steinbeck, Lord of the Flies by Golding, Orwell's Aminal Farm, etc.

I'm just unsure if it's going to be worth the full asking price.

(Yes, I know I misspelled aminal. I always intentionally misspell it cos I think it's funny.)
 

Gerald

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There are also those stories that are longer than an average story, but not quite a novella. Like Dolan's Cadillac, Gingerbread Girl, N, A Very Tight Place. I suppose those are novelettes.

Richard Matheson called Duel a novelette. But at 20 pages or so, it seems more like a short story, although by his standards it's longer than his average short story length.
 

Rrty

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I saw the book in Barnes & Noble. I just gave it a quick look at the time. Very interesting premise. But, to the spirit of the thread, I am sort of wondering what exactly this is. I flipped through a few pages -- didn't have time to study it -- but it almost seemed like a long short story. Would be curious as to the word count.

I was also wondering -- is this product benefitting any charity, by any chance? The price is a bit odd considering the length, but it is a very handsome book of apparent quality, I confess. Good for business, though (I say with no sarcasm), in terms of length and price. I think publishing shorter works like this as standalone book-type products can be fun even for the consumer who must place a little more on the point-of-sale counter. They're unique items, in a broad sense. Wasn't something like The Bridges of Madison County short? That was a huge success, if I recall (never read it). I guess, to some degree, as the original author of the thread alluded to, that for someone in King's position, there is a market for novellas...just publish it in the physical space with a smaller number of words per page. Isn't that what R.L. Stine essentially did with his "books?"

Considering Gwendy's Button Box and now Elevation, I would like to see more King-based experiments like this. Here's what the next one should be: a short sequel to It! Please!
 

RichardX

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Sep 26, 2006
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I'm guessing this is publisher driven. They know anything written by King will sell. So why not publish a novella? It's supply and demand. No one is forced to buy it. Lots of people will buy it at $20. I'd rather see it in a collection of short stories but that would also likely mean a longer delay before it was published.
 

RichardX

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Has anyone heard when CD is sending this out?

Someone asked that question on another forum and CD responded "soon." That could mean anything in CD speak - weeks or months. You can apparently email them and ask to expedite your order. I should have known better than to order it from them but had a coupon because they were slow delivering another book that made it effectively free. I can understand a delay with a special edition or signed copy but being late with a regular trade edition is a new one. They are a great company in some respects but a disaster administratively. There are books that I ordered years ago that are still in a CD abyss.
 

kingricefan

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Someone asked that question on another forum and CD responded "soon." That could mean anything in CD speak - weeks or months. You can apparently email them and ask to expedite your order. I should have known better than to order it from them but had a coupon because they were slow delivering another book that made it effectively free. I can understand a delay with a special edition or signed copy but being late with a regular trade edition is a new one. They are a great company in some respects but a disaster administratively. There are books that I ordered years ago that are still in a CD abyss.
I have a few of those pre-orders also that are years (!!!) old now. I think that CD is growing too big now and that they aren't the small press that they used to be.
 

Marty Coslaw

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SK himself calls it a novella:

"I've written another novella called Elevation, which is also a Castle Rock story and, in some ways, it’s almost like a sequel to Gwendy. Sometimes you seed the ground, and you get a little fertilizer, and things turn out."

He said in the introduction to Different Seasons:

"The novella is an ill-defined and disreputable literary banana republic."
And he notes the difficulties of selling a novella in the commercial publishing world, since it does not fit the typical length requirements of either magazine or book publishers.

On Blockade Billy and Gwendy's covers it wasn't defined whether it was a novel or a novella. On the UK edition of Elevation it isn't either.
But The Colorado Kid which is also more a novella by King's standards is seen as a novel.

Usually his novellas which are published seperately come out in collections later (The Mist in Skeleton Crew, Blockade Billy in Bazaar of Bad Dreams). It's often works he writes with other writers that don't make it into his collections (In the Tall Grass, Throttle, A Face in the Crowd).
Stupid question, I know (but I don't know why yet), but why no thread for Gwendy?