SciFi and Fantasy eBook Club discussion

Hello all, I hope everyone is having a great week and some good reads! :) I was looking for some people's opinions on some questions, I do apologize if you are seeing this on more than one group you are in as I am trying to get various thoughts and opinions on this.

From what I have seen, most books that are about or even vaguely consisting of shapeshifters seem like there is only one or two types at a time. On top of that, they seem to typically consist of wolves, bears, lions, dragons, maybe the occasional tiger... Are there any books with all types of animal shifters or do they mainly focus on one type?

Is there any interest in an actual world of animal shapeshifters? Or do readers want more magical beings as well such as vampires, witches, and other mythical type beings and beasts?

Do readers tend to prefer a longer book or a series of shorter installments? I suppose the better question to ask would be Do readers feel more comfortable purchasing a book from a first time author if it is offered in shorter installments (therefore giving a cheaper price to "try" them out)? Or do readers prefer to just buy one larger book?

Thank you for your time and input. Any opinions you share are most appreciated!

A couple of "shape-shifting" books I know are the Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter and the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs.

The title character of the Jane Yellowrock series is a Cherokee shapeshifter who can take on the appearance of just about any animal, although her most common choice is an American mountain lion (for reasons explained in the books). There are also regular "weres" in the form of wolves and other animals in the books.

Mercy Thompson is a half Blackfoot (?) coyote shape shifter who is unique in her world of werewolves and vampires. The reason for here ability is also a mystery that is eventually explained in the books.

There's several series out there with multiple animal shapeshifters: Lora Leigh's Breeds, Nalini Singh's Psy/Changeling and Anne Bishop's Others series, just off the top of my head. Most of them tend to be in or borderline PNR genre which isn't really my bailiwick, so if even I know three of them, there's bound to be tons and tons more. Of those three, Breeds and Psy/Changeling are certainly PNR. The Others is more on the straight fantasy side and includes many species in each book, from ravens through to Manitou by way of elementals and plenty more.

There's probably a ton of standalones too.

As for variety.. there are wereferret books. There are weremouse books. Werecrocodiles. Were ALL THE THINGS. I saw one that was a werehedgehog/weredragon romance (honest!). If it breathes, someone's written the were version of it, believe me. See also rule #34 of the internet. There is literally no shapeshifter species/combination you could write in straight fantasy that hasn't already had the wereporn version done - and if you're planning to write PNR, you should probably already know that.

Speaking only for myself, I will happily read a free first installment if it's complete. If the freebie ends on a cliffhanger, I probably won't look at any more of that author's books (ever). If it tells a complete story, even if it's a short one, and I liked it, I'll pick up the next installment. I don't read serials for authors I don't already know very well (and even for those I do know very well, then I don't like them and will more than likely just wait for the omnibus version.)

That said, serials are popular, or were a year or two ago. H.M. Ward certainly made a killing at them. Some people like endless soap operas and some don't. Write what you want, if it's good, and you market appropriately and your audience can find you, it'll work, no matter what the format - discoverability is a much much bigger problem for a new author than "how many pages should it be"