A lot of people have been asking whether or not Double-Crossed will be available in paperback or hardback and, if not, why?

Well, a few reasons really.

For starters, this all came about REALLY quickly. I first pitched the idea to my publisher a few months ago. To have a physical book in stores we would have needed at least a year. And I really wanted it to come out BEFORE Heist Society 3, Perfect Scoundrels.

The second reason is that it’s just a novella–not a novel. Don’t forget, it is only about 70 pages or so (not sure how long it will be once it is typeset). When was the last time you saw a 70 page book on shelves? Probably never. At least in the YA fiction sections.

Bookstores don’t really stock novellas or short stories. At best, they will sometimes stock short story collections, but, again, I wanted it out sooner than that. Otherwise, I would have either had to write two or three more novellas to put with it, or work with other authors on an anthology…or something else that would take a lot of time.

Another factor is that I didn’t know how long it was going to be when I started. I knew I wanted it to tell the story of a whole operation (or heist, depending on how you look at it), but I didn’t think it would be much longer than 40 pages or so. There is REALLY no use trying to bind up physical copies of a 40 page story. And eStories are really becoming incredibly common.

And, finally, I wanted A LOT of people to read it. And it wanted it to be free. I wanted it to be a gift from me (and my publisher) to you, and for it to be something that is easy for new readers to pick up and try out.

If you really have your heart set on a physical copy, I’m sorry. Maybe someday I will have some other stories to add to it and we can make a collection or anthology, but in the meantime eCopies are what we’ve got. And we’re giving them away, so I’m very hopeful that all of you will be able to find a way to enjoy them.

–Ally

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Edited to add: Just a reminder, the story will be available in the US on January 22, 2013 from the following retailers:

–Amazon (kindle)
–BN.com (nook)
–iBookstore (iPad, iPhone, etc)
–Indiebound (Kobo)
–Sony
–As well as at TheGallagherAcademy.com

I do NOT have international release information at this time, but hope to have some news on that front after the first of the year.