Nick Earls on the unlikely rise of the novella, star of the ebook revolution | Books | The Guardian

Earls is releasing these novellas on the first of every month under the umbrella title Wisdom Tree, starting with Gotham released on Monday. Audiobook versions are being simultaneously released on Audible, narrated by Australian actors Rhys Muldoon, Flynn Curry, Gyton Grantley, Michael Dorman and William McInnes.

The publishing industry has never been a fan of the novella, and the reason is purely economical: with fixed-price overheads like printing, binding, warehousing, distribution and marketing, it costs almost as much to make a small book as it does a medium-sized one. But readers expect a slimmer copy to be cheaper in price.

Yet Earls was determined to write these novellas - even if that meant changing industry attitudes in the process. He hopes readers will stop seeing the novella as an "in-betweener" rather the ideal reading experience for today's time-poor readers.