My name is Rob. I'm a lurker who has posted a couple of
messages, but on a
couple of occasions when I've tried to post something it
didn't show up on
the list for some reason.
I agree with Fred and Mario that short hardboiled novels are
among the
strongest in the genre, including the work of Goodis,
Willeford, Hammet,
etc. The problem is that currently publishers have the idea
that long
novels sell better. Note: publishers are not asking for more
complex,
developed work, they just believe longer sells better. This
trend is
connected with the decline of the short story. In the 50s for
example
there were 18 professional mystery mags. Now there are only
three. For
some reason length equals "marketability."
To continue this thread, I am a writer and I have been
researching markets
for hardboiled novels. Most publishers require novels to be a
mininum of
75,000 to 80,000 words, whereas some of the better hardboiled
novels of the
50s were around 50,000 words. Cain would have problems
publishing these
days.
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