A Lesson from Star Trek: The Next Generation

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Netflix recently canceled The Abandons. I haven’t seen the show yet, but I was excited about the premise and the people involved, so I added it to my watchlist to give it a try soon.

It seems the series ends on a cliffhanger, and since Netflix has already announced the cancellation, we’ll never get a resolution—just like with so many other streaming shows.

What Netflix doesn’t seem to understand is a basic lesson of storytelling: sometimes a story needs time to develop. That applies to the world, the plot, and especially the characters.

Seinfeld, The Office, and even Breaking Bad needed a few episodes to find their tone—and their audience. The best example I can think of is Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The first season isn’t good. In fact, it’s bad compared to what the show eventually became. Luckily, the network didn’t pull the plug. In season two, the series experimented with a different tone and more philosophical ideas. By season three, it had established itself as an all-time great, delivering five years of sci-fi perfection.

The first season of The Simpsons wasn’t great either. But the network allowed the creators to experiment, and they went on to create one of the most successful and longest-running shows in TV history.

In short: Let stories develop.

Netflix produces a lot of trash. It would be better to focus resources on fewer projects and give creators the time and freedom to develop them properly.

And this is a general lesson for storytelling: if you have a premise you love, stick with it. Develop it year by year, book by book, issue by issue.

Sometimes greatness just needs some time to unfold.

Why the English Version of My Last Book Has Fewer Pages Than the German One

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17 1 like rolling stone kindle cover

Whenever I translate my books, I notice the same thing: the English version always ends up with fewer pages than the German one. But this isn’t a matter of word count. In fact, the word count for my latest release (Like A Rolling Stone – US | DE) is quite similar:

  • German version: 79,793 words
  • English version: 79,210 words

The Print Copy

A difference of about 500 words equals roughly one DIN A4 page. In a paperback, that would amount to two or three pages. Yet the page count of the print editions differs significantly:

  • German: 420 pages
  • English: 350 pages

This discrepancy is mainly due to my decision to experiment with two different formatting styles. Fewer pages mean lower printing costs. At the same time, readers often check the page count before buying a book. A 200-page book priced at €15 feels very different from a 400-page book at the same price—and I think that as a reader too.

So it’s always a balancing act: finding a cost-efficient formatting style without underselling your word count. At the same time, you don’t want the font size to be too small or the margins too wide, as that would reduce reading comfort.

Personally, I think the English formatting works well. But if any of you readers disagree, feel free to let me know in the comments.

The Digital Copy

Beyond formatting, there’s another interesting difference. Here’s the page count for the digital editions:

  • German: 324 pages
  • English: 297 pages

If you didn’t know: for many file types, Amazon applies its own default formatting to ebooks. In my case, I uploaded both the English and German versions using the exact same formatting for the digital release. Still, the English version ends up with nearly 30 fewer pages—even though the word count is essentially the same.

The reason lies in the language itself. German words tend to be longer on average. Linguistically speaking, German makes heavy use of compound words and inflection. Here’s an example:

Versicherungsvertreter is a real German word meaning insurance agent.
Versicherungsvertreteragentur means insurance agent agency.
Versicherungsvertreteragentursteuerrückerstattung would be a tax refund for an insurance agent agency.

While there are many specific shorter English words, in German you simply combine smaller words to create that specific new one. That probably sounds strange to non-German speakers, but this is simply how my native language works.

When I asked ChatGPT about this, it estimated that word-for-word translations from German to English typically result in texts that are about 10% shorter in page length despite having the same word count due to these linguistic differences.

Conclusion

All of my future English books may have fewer pages, even though they have comparable word counts and contain exactly the same storylines and character arcs. It’s simply a translation effect that makes English books a bit shorter.

You Don’t Have to Buy My Short Story Books on Amazon

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Yesterday, I saw a spike in sales for my short stories.

Thanks to everyone who bought a copy (or multiple) —but you don’t have to pay for these stories. I wrote the short story books to give them away for free. Unfortunately, Amazon only allows me to set them to free for five days at a time. If I could make them free for 365 days, I absolutely would.

The idea is to give you a free entry point into my storytelling. And if you enjoy my short fiction, you might be interested in checking out my long-form fiction—the “real” books I’ve written.

If you never want to miss a short story giveaway, just do this:

  • Add my website to your feed—I post short articles about book promotions whenever they go live
  • Subscribe to my mailing list—I send an email whenever a promo is live (and you’ll also get a free e-novel when you subscribe)
  • Follow me on Twitter—I post (and pin) a tweet for every book promotion

Sometimes people are simply kind and want to give something back in return for these stories. That’s cool and very much appreciated. However, my main goal is to build a long-term author–reader connection. The best way to do that is by me giving away everything that I can for free, and you following me through the options above—especially the mailing list.

So if you want to support me and give back, consider subscribing.

By the way, the next short story is ready for publication (and a free promo) on Monday. See you then. And thanks much more to everyone who thinks that my writing is worth your money.

Blogging for Authors (Book Marketing 1)

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Yes, blogging isn’t what it used to be. I started my first German blog 15 years ago, and it took me three months to reach 1,000 regular monthly readers as there was basically no competition in my niche. Those days are over.

There are now more than 600 million blogs worldwide—70 million on WordPress alone. Social media took over around 10 years ago, and AI could be the next challenge for traditional blogging.

Yet, blogging still makes sense for authors—for many reasons:

1. It’s cost-efficient

I don’t have much money to invest in book marketing currently, so I’m always looking for cheap (or free) methods. You can create a free blog on WordPress today, and even owning your own domain with a starter hosting plan doesn’t cost much. Blogging is one of the most affordable ways to reach readers for indie authors.

2. Blogs bring readers

Fewer and fewer people are reading books nowadays. But those who enjoy reading blogs are often more interested in books than the average social media user. A blog automatically attracts an audience that is more likely to check out your books than your X or Instagram followers.

3. You are the brand

The internet isn’t just about finding information anymore. Information is everywhere—copied, summarized, and repeated. The internet is about personalities.

If you want to lose weight, you’ll find millions of websites about it. But you read the one where the author shares their personal journey. You start liking that person, following their writing—and eventually, you buy their book—not because the information is unique, but because you like them.

A blog lets you build your brand. It shows people who you are and why they should read your books instead of the thousands published every year.

4. Writing practice

Writers write. If you don’t write regularly, you’re not really a writer.

A blog gives you a reason to write consistently. Daily blog posts are perfect practice: readers are more forgiving of small mistakes in a blog than in a novel. Make your mistakes on your blog so you can learn from them for your next book.

5. Turn readers into fans

I give away all of my books for free to some degree. If you don’t want to pay, that’s fine, just take the stories at no cost. I do that because I believe in the long game. Selling a $10 book today might earn money now—but will it make money for me in the future?

If I give you a free book through Amazon that links back to my blog, you might become a lifelong follower. Over time, you might share links, write book reviews, or recommend my work to friends. All of this leads to more visibility, engagement, and ultimately, sales over a lifetime.

6. You need a headquarter

I’ve published five books already. In ten years, I might have at least thirty—and if we count short stories, it could easily exceed a hundred.

With so much content out there, new readers will ask: Where should I start?
My website answers that question. It’s my central hub, not Amazon, YouTube, X, or Google. I decide where to guide my audience on this blog. No other place online gives any of us that level of control.

7. Make additional money with links

I often link to useful resources. If a product has value and has made my work or life easier, why not share it with readers?

Affiliate links can generate extra income without costing your readers anything. Of course, never link to low-value products—it destroys trust. But recommending something genuinely useful benefits everyone: your readers get a helpful resource, the producer gets customers, and you earn a share at no extra cost for your audience. Everyone wins.

Start a blog now

Blogging isn’t dead—at least not for authors. It remains one of the best and cost-effective ways to reach readers, build your brand, and practice your craft.

Night Sky (Movie/Show Review #13)

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I like my sci-fi shows, and I’m also a fan of J.K. Simmons, so I was excited about Night Sky. My watchlist is completely packed, though, so I’m late to the party once again—the show was released almost four years ago. But I finally got to see the 8 episodes last week.

As usual with streaming services, if a show doesn’t go viral immediately, it gets nuked pretty quickly. Shame on them, because many shows only find their footing over time. Just look at the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was a mess. But in season two, the production quality improved, and the character development and world-building became genius for the six seasons that followed.

We’ll never know where Night Sky might have gone, because they pulled the plug far too early.

The show itself is well made. Acting is great, suspense is intriguing, and the cinematography pleasing. It starts slowly, yes, but the premise is a good one for every sci-fi fan. I would have loved to see where the story was heading.

But again—we’ll never know.

If you enjoy slow-burn sci-fi, it’s worth a watch. Just be aware that almost nothing is revealed: no real answers, no resolved storylines. What a shame.