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Hello, me again, with my highly irritating questions about the world of writing and all things pertaining. This time I was wondering about the sort of lengths publishers like to have in a novel. To explain, what is their comfortable bottom limit, and what is their comfortable upper limit? Just a curious thought. JK
Posts: 503 | Registered: Sep 2000
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There are some hard numbers, I don't have them before me. But, you an do a search on the web for the publishers themselves, and they'll have it in their guidelines. Or just write them a query letter, and they'll write back telling you exactly what they like.
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When it comes to giving awards, the shortest a work may be and still qualify for the novel category is 40,000 words (which is about the right length for YA novels).
Science fiction and fantasy novel publishers prefer novels from 80,000 to 120,000 words long.
There have been first novels that have sold at much longer lengths, but they are pretty rare (and therefore, the ones you're most likely to hear about because that makes them sort of sensational).
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JK I think there are exceptions to just about everything as long as the quality is there... the only catch, I imagine, is if your question is "can I make it shorter than norm?" Then, I think you're kinda stuck with a no. More is okay for quality, less is a novella or short story.
Posts: 306 | Registered: Feb 2001
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I don't know any answers about what publishers want, but i know some very good short novels. One is A House on Mango Street, another is the Jane Yolen Merlin series.(I think there are three in the series) I say, never discount your middle readers. There is awfully good literature at that level, and it doesn't have to be quite so long.
Posts: 13 | Registered: Mar 2001
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It's actually a curious dilemma. The story was originally about 150,000 words, but I split it to make it a little more amenable to publishers. The writer in me, of course, rebelled against this, so created reasons for splitting it that were focused on the story, not the editors. Of course, its now impossible to rejoin them, because the time gap is absolutely vital. Consequently, I'm sitting at around 78,000 for the first one, and almost 90,000 for the second one now. I've decided to stop caring about length, though. If it's good enough to be published, it shouldn't matter what length it is. JK
Posts: 503 | Registered: Sep 2000
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Similarly... Any help for an appropriate or average length for chapters? My chapters are averaging around 3-4,000 words, but I have one really short chapter hovering around 2k. Ultimately, when the chapter's over it's over, but I'm not sure what the average length should be. STUPID QUESTION: How many manuscript pages (ie double-space) make up (on average) a book-printed page? Thanks.
Posts: 306 | Registered: Feb 2001
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For chapters, I tend to stick to roughly six pages in MS Word, with size 12 text. Chapters that vary in size (like one ten page chapter followed by a two page one) bug me, cos I'm wierd. That's not much help with words though. I think it might be 3-4k. I think as long as you keep the length relatively consistent, you'll be okay. Manuscript pages? Same text as mentioned above, probably 300-400. Am I way off the mark? JK
Posts: 503 | Registered: Sep 2000
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Yeah, you're weird JK. (just kidding) I've actually not been that concerned with chapter length because I've ended each chapter where I thought best, usually at the point where I'm going to change scene, elapse time (ha!), or change POV. But was curious since they are all invariably falling between the 3-4k range. I know for myself, I don't like itty-bitty chapters of 1-2 pages, but equally don't like mammoth chapters since I use the chapter-end to know when I'm supposed to close the book and go to bed. (But that's just me, and I'm probably weird!)
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Me again. I will refer back to the issue of Writers Digest that I have quoted before. They suggest a chapter length of 2,500 to 3,000 words and they say not to make them all the same length because it gives a sing song effect to the book. They suggest a book length of around 70,000 words and about 30 chapters. (I think February 2001 issue)
When I first read that article, it irritated me. What, this doesn’t fit with the way I write! One thing I have learned, you can stick to your style and to your unusual voice, but if you throw out convention in formatting you will get now where—at least with the first book.
I used this formula to write my last book—and I now have an agent who requested the complete mss. (the second query I received back on it) Of course the writing has to be up to their standards and interests, but why sabotage the chances with unconventional formatting?
As to the page length---I wouldn’t worry about that, as much as word count in the whole. I use 1.25 margins, if you use 1.5 or 1---then the page count will be different. And right now it seems many books have different fonts to make them longer or shorter to appeal to current trends. Standard formatting calls for 12pt font(times new roman or courier) (courier will give you more pages) 1.25 to 1.5 margins. About 300 pages for a 70,000 word mss. (costs about 7$ for priority mail one way).
Chose a book in the genre you want and count the words on the page. Count one line and multiply by the number of lines—this will give you an idea of how many word per page for that book and publisher. Also take into account if it is a new author or one that has been around for a while. (If you are counting Jordan---then it will be a small fount with many pages and lots of words. ) But don’t say Jordan did it so I can.
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(just kidding) I've actually not been that concerned with chapter length because I've ended each chapter where I thought best, usually at the point where I'm going to change scene, elapse time (ha!), or change POV. But was curious since they are all invariably falling between the 3-4k range. I know for myself, I don't like itty-bitty chapters of 1-2 pages, but equally don't like mammoth chapters since I use the chapter-end to know when I'm supposed to close the book and go to bed. (But that's just me, and I'm probably weird!)
