High on the wish list for many of our clients are books that can be read in 2-3 hours, tops. With Twitter conversations and other online articles talking about this very thing, it seems our clients aren’t alone. This is definitely a trend authors and publishers, both traditional and online, should pay attention to.

With the average Canadian working nearly 40 hours per week and our neighbours to the south even longer,  there isn’t a lot of time left over for things like reading — especially a traditional 300-page business book that could take hours and hours to finish. So if authors and publishers want to get non-fiction works into the hands of consumers, it could be strategic to significantly prune those longer books.

Quicker to write and get out to market, this easily digestible style of book could compete with magazines and online publications, allowing consumers a quick and timely read, but still with substance. However, these shorter-format books need to feel sizeable enough, both in terms of experience and takeaway, to justify the price.

The challenge will be to find that sweet spot: the point where price, value, and length all come together to create a book that flies off the shelves and opens an entirely new niche market.

What’s your take? Is short and sweet a better model for non-fiction?

Spencer Johnson will soon have a new book on the market. The mega-bestselling author of Who Moved My Cheese? and The Present is set to publish a new title called Peaks and Valleys: Getting What You Need in Both Good and Bad Times.

World rights have already been sold and the English-language version will be published simultaneously in the U.S., Canada, UK and Australia, though no release date has been announced.

Who Moved My Cheese? has sold over 21 million copies since its release 10 years ago. Some interesting facts about Spencer Johnson and his publishing success, from his website:

• Amazon says that in its first 10 years of operation, Who Moved My Cheese? was its #1 selling title
• Who Moved My Cheese? is China’s all-time best selling translated work (2 million+ copies sold)
• In Japan, Who Moved My Cheese? is the #1 bestselling book of all time by a non-Japanese author (4.5 milion+ copies sold)

What do you think is the secret to the phenomenal success of this mouse-y parable on change?