Thread: The Novel before the Novel

I'm currently readying my first novel for publication on Kindle (yes, I know that there are people who would strongly object to this and others who wouldn't, but let's just keep that out of this thread!)

It occured to me last night, while I futiley tried to sleep, that I have about seven short stories lying around that take place within this very same universe. What I'm asking is: what if I publish an anthology of those short stories first? It would be in the sixty thousand word range and take place at different times within the universe. More importantly, it gives some background that is eluded to within the novels but not explained in detail. Would that whet the reader's appetite to read more, especially if it was at a good price?

No one would care about the Star Wars books if the film never existed. Well, someone would, but I'd question the purpose of reading a bunch of short-stories that have no connection or what-so-ever.

However, if I read your novel, and loved it to the point where I'd want more of your story, I'd reach out for your anthologies without second thought. It seems to me that the natural way to publish the extra material would be after the actual thing has been on sale for a while.

People only buy Anthologies if they like the original story and they have bought it. Like I loved lord of the rings so I bought a picture book, It was more expensive than the actual story. If people loved the actual book then they will but the anthologies and you musk make sure that the book itself has been sold enough.*

I pretty much agree with what's been said before. Publish the novel first. Offer the anthology afterwards to supplment or add more for the reader. Eventually, when they're both on the market, if someone gets the anthology first and it directs/interests them with respect to the novel...great.

I think that sometimes it can work to publish short stories or anthologies first. One author that did something similar to this is Stephen Baxter. In the early 90s he wrote a book called "Raft." Raft ended up being part of a much larger story that he wrote later (called the "Xeelee Sequence") but at the time of its publication it just gave us a glimpse into this world that he was beginning to create.

Although, I'm not sure that he originally intended to do it like this. It could have been that he just had a cool idea for a novel, wrote it, and then later thought that it would work well in the context of his larger story.

Also, his situation differs from yours somewhat in that he never wrote what would be considered the "main" part of the Xeelee Sequence, (like the Star Wars movies) instead having written many books over the years that take place in that universe, but at different times and with different characters.