And it was easy, too. I disagreed with him.

If you don’t know Bob Bly, he’s known as being a big copywriter, and he frequently talks about how many books he has written. I’ve been on his list for a long time. Only bought from him once – a book about email marketing. I didn’t read more than 25% of it. It was boring.

Anyway, yesterday he mailed his list and said (and I don’t know who TJ is):

But today, as TJ points out, you can write a short document —
just 10,000 words, 5,000 words, or even less — slap a nice cover
on it, create a Kindle e-book, and sell it online.

When people see it on Amazon, most don’t realize it is a
glorified report or article — and they mistake it for the author
having written a real full-length book.

I replied to him and said:

No, they shouldn’t. Amazon shows a page count, so it’s easy to see how long a book is.

Another thing is that a lot of readers, me included, prefer shorter books about one single problem or topic instead of thick books.

He wrote back two minutes later, saying:

Not quite accurate.

You have to scroll down to find the page count.

I sent him a screenshot proving that you don’t have to scroll at all.

He wrote:

It does not. I just went on Amazon.

Please do not email me again.

I asked him if he thought my screenshot was manipulated, but he just replied:

Just what I said: I go on Amazon all the time, and the page count is always below the fold.

Oh well… Maybe he has a small screen.

Then, in the same mail, he asked someone called Jodi to unsubscribe me, but that was too late. 😉 I’d already done Jodi’s work.

Anyway, there are some who don’t measure quality in page counts, and there are readers, like me, who prefer to read shorter, no fluff books. To each their own.

If you’re with me on this one, then you’ll probably like “Divide and Conquer” which is about writing high quality short books in series. If you prefer long and boring books, I recommend the email marketing one from Rob Bly 😉

Click here to download https://writerbychoice.com/nf-book-series/