Novel Length - The New World Order

[jayce]

Here's an interesting quote from Evil Editor's blog for today, regarding the length a novel should be to appease the publisher; the subject came up in the discussion of a query for a 50,100-word literary novel:

Evil Editor: I think it's time we quit complaining about the length of books. Ebooks have established that they're here to stay, and plenty of novella-length books are selling in ebook format.

It's easier for publishers to scale down prices for books in the 50,000- and 40,000-word ranges when it comes to ebooks, because the most expensive part of the book to manufacture is the cover. Thus even short books cost almost as much as long ones. With ebooks, you merely show the cover, no expensive paper with lamination and gold leaf and 3D holograms.

True. not all publishers will lower prices on shorter ebooks, if they publish them at all, but I predict fewer and fewer publishers will reject books solely on length as time goes by.

[Gary Kessler]

Here's an interesting quote from Evil Editor's blog for today, regarding the length a novel should be to appease the publisher; the subject came up in the discussion of a query for a 50,100-word literary novel:

The quote seems to ignore the significant issue. Novels of 40,000 to 50,000 words are not as cost effective in print as are novels over 75,000. That's what's got to change and the shorter novels by unknowns for print will continue to be rejected in greater proportion to the longer ones until this changes. It probably will change. But it's the relevant factor here--and the quote seems to ignore its effect after stating it.

[jayce]

Yeah, the key phrase here is "in print". When a writer opts out of print and into electronic format, the so-called standard word count per genre becomes less of a factor. That's self-evident when you think about it, but until I read Evil's blog, I hadn't.

[Gary Kessler]

Yeah, the key phrase here is "in print". When a writer opts out of print and into electronic format, the so-called standard word count per genre becomes less of a factor. That's self-evident when you think about it, but until I read Evil's blog, I hadn't.

Yes, I write a lot for e-booking (going to print, if it's long enough) now. I love writing the novella length. (I write under the pen names Olivia Stowe and Gina Drew, among a few others.)

[Gary Kessler]

I liked Chatham Square. I haven't started on the second novel of the series yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

Wow, thanks. For some reason that series isn't selling as well as the Charlotte Diamond mystery series (which is selling well). The next one, Savannah Time, is ten years later than Chatham Square. I've started mulling the third, and probably last one, ten years later than that. I love Savannah. Chatham Square isn't my favorite square there, but it's the one that fit the book the best.

[Sunayna Prasad]

When I browse through children's novels online, many of them are 200-300 pages long. I think it's interesting that shorter novels are becoming more popular.

[Gary Kessler]

When I browse through children's novels online, many of them are 200-300 pages long. I think it's interesting that shorter novels are becoming more popular.

I'm pretty sure that's always been the general length of a children's novel (and close to the shorter end of that). The Harry Potter books broke the mold, but they are an anomaly, much discussed for breaking the length mold.

[Sunayna Prasad]

It has? I've also scene children's novels 100-200 pages long, even those for older kids.

[Gary Kessler]

It has? I've also scene children's novels 100-200 pages long, even those for older kids.

You're right (except for the "scene" part). I had it in my head that you were going the other direction. My bad (except for the "scene" part).

[Sunayna Prasad]

I meant "seen." I make too many errors while typing and that was one of those rare times I didn't notice it until someone else did.