A soapbox rant on KU royalties and short stories

Ok I've seen some discussion lately about the issue of short stories and KU. Lots of talk on whether or not the 10% marker is fair because it takes way less effort for the reader hit the 10% mark in a short story than it does in a novel.

Now I'm not trying to bash anyone. And I'm not trying to point fingers or accuse people of being right or wrong. Because you know what? It'snot fair that someone can just go through the title page and be 10% into a short story.

But you know what's also not fair? I have to pay the same amount for cover art no matter how long or short my novelette is.

You know what's also not fair? I get one-star reviews solely because a story did not exceed X number of words (not even a mention about the actual content).

You know what's even less unfair? Short stories are really hard to sell. For every 100 people that read novels maybe one likes the occasional short story. And an even smaller percentage of that one actually goes out and buys short stories.

But you know what? I don't care. I choose to write short stories. It's my problem.

So now one thing comes along that kind of gives a slight advantage to short story writers and people are getting up in arms about the fairness of it. It's not even that much of an advantage! People are still going to read way more novels than short stories. So yeah the 10% mark is hit more easily but we are talking about one "read" every five days. Not five reads every day.

If you choose to write novels then you have to take the good with the bad. That means taking a hit on reads if you participate in KU. If it doesn't suit your business needs, don't do it. Make an informed decision based on the product you are trying to sell.

But it's ok for things to not be completely fair.

All right. End of rant.

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