Short but sweet prequels whet readers’ appetites
Authors like Grisham, Picoult and Deaver sign on to give a taste of things to come
They’re short, they’re cheap, and they’re from brand-name authors willing to do a little extra work for a potentially big payoff.
They’re $1.99 e-book “singles” from familiar names like John Grisham, Lee Child, Janet Evanovich, Dean Koontz and David Baldacci; standalone prequels or short stories released digitally ahead of a writer’s forthcoming novel.
Think of them as literary appetizers served before the main course. And they’re being gobbled by readers and hitting best-seller lists.
Why would a writer like Grisham, who has had 20 No. 1 USA TODAY best sellers, need an extra boost to sell books? Publishers say digital singles are a marketing tool that works in an increasingly fragmented and competitive publishing landscape.
“Those of us who believe in the power of written storytelling face a growing assault by more passive forms of entertainment” like Angry Birds, Minecraft and YouTube, says best-selling thriller writer Jeffery Deaver. Authors need to be “creative about producing, distributing and promoting our efforts,” he says.
Grisham’s Witness to a Trial, released Sept. 27, landed at No. 7 on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list. It’s billed as a “short story prequel to The Whistler,” Grisham’s new legal thriller arriving Oct. 25. Witness tells the story of a Native American, an opponent of a Florida casino, wrongly convicted of murdering his wife. The character reappears in The
Whistler, the tale of a corrupt judge.
Jodi Picoult dished out an e-single called Shine last month, in advance of her newly released novel, Small Great Things. In the novel, a black maternity nurse named Ruth Jefferson is prohibited by white supremacists from touching their baby. Shine, which hit No. 49 on USA TODAY’s list, takes us back to Ruth’s school days. Both and to a Trial Shine Witness
promote the authors’ companion novels, which can be ordered with a click. Shine includes an excerpt from Small
Great Things.
“We are trying to reach out to fans and also to new readers, to give somebody who has not read Grisham an opportunity to do so,” says Suzanne Herz, executive vice president at Doubleday, Grisham’s publisher. “At this price point, it’s very appealing.”
Publishers also have learned, though, to clearly promote singles as short standalone works of fiction, says Beth de Guzman, digital and paperback publisher at Grand Central, which publishes Deaver and Baldacci. Readers otherwise become upset, expecting to get a full-length novel at a bargain price, which can be as low as 99 cents, she says.
Quality is important, too, says Deaver, who wrote the Lincoln Rhyme e-short The Delivery
man before delivering his best-selling novel The Steel Kiss earlier this year.
“A good e-book story should remain in the reader’s mind long after they’ve powered off their phone or tablet,” he says.
In the age of smartphones, people are consuming in “bitesize” quantities, which makes these short prequels — which may take an hour or less to read — attractive to time-starved consumers, Herz says.
It’s up to the authors to decide if they want to write e-singles in advance of new books, says de Guzman. While singles can whet reader appetites, “it’s gravy. The meal is just as great without it.”
Still, the teaser singles phenomenon is growing. “When John Grisham is doing one,” says de Guzman, “it goes to show how effective it is.”