This is what we found:. Overall, manuscripts received by Reedsy editors seem to fall squarely within the industry averages, with a few minor outliers. Most of the time, an overly long word count is a symptom of major plot or pacing problems in a novel — issues that need to be solved during the revision process.
Of course, hiring a professional editor does come with a price tag, and most freelancers calculate their costs based on the number of words. In light of this, several Reedsy editors have been kind enough to offer tips for authors who are in the revision process and looking to cut down on word count.
The rule of thumb is that you shouldn't worry about word count when you're writing your first draft — and it should be even less of a concern in the outlining phase. If you'd like to learn more about that topic, we write extensively about how to outline a novel here.
However, if you're done with your first draft and you're shocked by the amount of words in it, it might be time to cut down. I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil. Rid your manuscript of the most common writing mistakes with this day online course.
Get started now. With a little distance, you'll be able to see where there are superfluous scenes or unnecessary purple prose. This is a tough habit to break. In order to create a world of verisimilitude, the writer has to research all of this information, and so it's difficult for them to believe the reader doesn't need to know it, too.
I recommend curtailing historical information to those tidbits that further the plot or help to develop a main character. This can be applied to any genre, however: if a detail doesn't serve a purpose, it's extraneous and should be cut.
It is possible to explain all sorts of things without being obvious or writing it directly into dialogue. Some things can be inferred. This is especially something to keep in mind when you're writing fight scenes.
Words I tend to notice and always flag include frequently starting dialogue with 'Well,' — I often see more than one example of this per page, even in traditionally-published novels. One lean but carefully chosen, perfect-for-the-context description is much more valuable than fluffier, or lengthy descriptions of character or scene.
Knowing what to keep and what to cut should be driven by voice and tone — they will dictate the cadence of the language used in the story. If appropriate to the text, I always encourage writers to use more contractions for a more direct and natural feel. To make all of this info easier for you to digest, we created this cheatsheet for you to refer back to whenever you need. It has everything you might want to know about word counts — even how long a chapter should be.
Unlock it below! We said it already, but it's worth repeating: authors should not underestimate the value of staying within standard word counts. Not to mention that the longer your book is, the more time it will take to write it.
These sentiments acknowledged, these days self-publishing has given authors the ability to play around with the rules. Even better — a great story. What are your thoughts on publishing standards, such as word counts? Share your thoughts in the comments below. These word counts are far too long. For an unknown author, 60,, words should be the maximum.
Absolutely right. Publishers' readers are lazy, they won't plough through a War-and-Peace-style odyssey. The maximum?? That's the exception to what gets published today in commercial fiction. A 65, word book is somewhere between pages. But Blake is trying to give everyone here some guidelines. No commenter has suggested a , word memoir.
Most of Mr. Clearly different editors have different guidelines. Hi Ann, can you give me an example of a published , word novel? So a , word count makes that novel somewhere around 1, pages. So you simply have a better shot of getting published if your novel is under , words. Shantaram David Gregory Roberts , The Mountain Shadow same author , and 1Q84 Murakami are 3 of my favorite recent books and all hover around , words.
Murakami worked up to it. Roberts probably got lucky that someone took the time to give a first novel of length that kind of attention. Shantara is listed at pages, that puts it around , words.
The Mountain Shadow is a little shorter, listed at pages, making that around , words. Even 1q84 is listed at 1, pages, or about , words.
All extremely long novels, especially considering most novels I pick up in the New Release scection hover at about 80, or less. But still a ways away from , words. As you stated the above novels must be exceptional works or extremely established authors, or both, to get published at that length.
I think one of the issues people have is mistaking an exception for a rule. Just because an exceptional author gets their , word space odyssey with their goldfish as the protagonist published everyone assumes word counts irrelevant. Page number is a terrible way to estimate word count as it depends on the size of the pages, the font size, the font used spacing, leading etc. So to be specific — Shantaram is , words.
The Mountain Shadow is , words. So yes all are under , words, but barely. Most published books average closer to words per page than The King James Bible is over , words. A novel should be as long as it needs to be same with nonfiction and no longer and no shorter.
The plot determines the length. As a writing coach and copyeditor, I see a lot of manuscripts come across my desk. Those that are written well see success, regardless of length. There are plenty of examples of very long books in just about every genre. She made no mention of the word count, nor did she suggest I cut the book down. Certain publishers of very specific genres like Love Inspired, Harlequin will require a set word count or range, but my first bit of advice is to plot out a strong, solid story using time-tested structure, write the book with careful and expert crafting learn to be a great wordsmith and develop your unique voice , and ignore the constraints of word count.
Just write a great book. Hooray for you — good story tightly written employing appropriate craft is as long as it needs to be. Another guideline that some authors may find helpful is how the different lengths could translate into a screenplay without major additions to or omissions from the integral storyline:. A short story could provide material for a single program-length television episode, a novella for a movie, and a full-length novel for a mini-series.
Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. In this post, we talk about word counts and answer the question: How long should your novel be? Before I get into the numbers in this post, I want to make it clear that you can write a book of any length.
Nobody is prescribing how you should write, what you should write, or how long it should be. However, as a first-time author, you do increase your chances of getting published and being read if you follow certain guidelines.
One of the things you will learn from countless agent s and publishers is that there are preferred word counts for books. It is very rare for a publisher, or any reader for that matter, to be willing to take a chance on a manuscript of over words from a first-time author. There are always exceptions to every rule, but most of us are not exceptional. We stand a better chance of being published if we give people in the industry, and readers, what they want, and what most agents, publishers and readers want is a novel of approximately 80 words.
They understand their business and their readership. Readers like familiarity. The other issue is cost. Remember that longer books require more time from editors and proof-readers, so ebooks are included in this equation.
It is difficult enough to sell a book without pricing ourselves out of the market. The length of her Harry Potter books increased with her fame. How many pages should my novel be? Publishers go by words, not pages. Teen books are about 55, words.
How many words are there to a page? It depends on the font you are using, of course, but in general, words per page. Therefore, a 55, word book should be about manuscript pages. A , word book would be about Editors like 12 point font. What writing program should I use? Whichever one you like. What about chapters? I like chapters to be no longer than 10 pages each, with one scene per chapter. But you can have as long or as short a chapter as you want, with as many scenes in each that you want.
You can have no chapters, if you want. But remember, readers have busy lives, and at some point they will have to put your book down to go the grocery store. It would be nice if you have chapter breaks so they could do this easily.
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