Proper word count for YA fantasy

From what I've heard, 100,000 words is the limit (For most agents that rep YA. Of course, there will always be exceptions to the rule.) The sweet spot is between 55,000 words and 85,000 words.

Hi, storygrower, and welcome to AW.

storygrower:
I'm kinda confused. First I read that 120,000 words is alright. Then I read that it's way too long---especially for a debut author.

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The answer is that there is no real absolute answer.

If you're looking for a general rule of thumb, then 120,000 tends to be seen as the cut-off point for word counts. However, if you're querying a novel that's up to 130,000 words, then that is not automatically going to be a rejection from an agent.

This is because word count is less important than pacing. If you've got a longer novel but the pacing is well handled and an agent is grabbed by your writing in the partial, then they'll at least want to read the full. If that pacing and quality is maintained throughout the text, then there's a good chance they'll think they can sell it. Kristin Nelson did a blog post on this exact topic

Of course, none of this should stop you from going back over your manuscript and really considering whether all the words are necessary. Look for redundant sentences, adverbs, descriptions, plot points, characters etc and really hone it down until the writing is as tight as you can get it.

If it's any help, my first novel has come in at just under 120,000 words and that hasn't fazed my agent.

MM

Fantasy tends to allow higher word count than other genres. That being said, YA tends to have a lower word count than adult.

BLACK AND WHITE, for example, was about 105,000 words. (Adult, but with teen crossover.) HUNGER, firmly YA, is about 44,000 words. Both are in SF/F -- although B&W is superhero fiction and HUNGER is more magical realism than anything else.

You may want to avoid the word count question altogether in your query letter. Just say that the novel is complete.

In the end, as long as your word count isn't something astronomical, like 180k, it's all in your actual writing. If your book is so tight you can bounce quarters off it and it's still 120k, then that's the length it belongs. However, the vast majority of manuscripts can stand to trim quite a bit of unneccessary wordage. If your book is tempting the extreme high end of YA (and I'd place 120k in that category), I would definitely recommend finding a couple experienced beta readers, and asking them to find places to cut.

ergggh. I'm so tired of people asking what the best word count is. Really, the agent will probably have what they want on the website. And if not, look at some debut fantasies and get an idea for what word count is. If I sound like I'm being mean, sorry. I'm not. Don't worry.

You can always use the search tool, I'm sure there's a good number of posts about word count for YA. But, I'll just say through my experience that the novel I was querying was over 160k, which is I got a few personal rejections saying it was WAY too long for the current market's desires (especially for a debut). Basically they say if it's 160k, agents won't look at it because they think a lot of work and time is necessary to slim it down.

I had a personal rejection that said to bring the word count as close to 100k as possible, and I ended up doing just that (by slicing off a chunk and reworking the ending so I had two books instead of one). I also read that Kristen Nelson entry too, which is all about pacing, but it doesn't hurt to have a word count that isn't daunting.

Hope that helps!