The Great Word Limit Debate

Amberly · Jun 13, 2010

I do apologise if this has already been covered somewhere else, i had a quick look and a quick google but i couldn't find it here.

The Question:

1. Young Adult Fiction Required Words ?

Lately, in my agent search and lots of blog and interview readings, i've been comming across 'i will reject based on too many or too few words' and 'one thing i point out if i say nothing else is when their word limit is way off' and so on.

I didn't think it mattered too specifically - if it's good it will sell if it's short or long.... If it's good.

And skipping over the fact that 'i don't know if it's good' and admitting i need to know the word limits that agents are after for young adult novels?

Any straight forward equation here???

2. Plus does it vary?
for example if you have YA romance should it be shorter than YA fantasy?

3. Plus should novels in a series be about the same length or can they vary (obviously i'm thinking about some well know series and some of them have novels growing longer as the series goes on - some don't)

Cheers

Ryan_Sullivan · Jun 13, 2010

Basically, if it's over 100K, a vast majority of agent's won't bother looking forward, unless it's fantasy (and even then, really). The ideal is 60-80k, usually, but there are many that are more or less. YA contemporary should be under 100k for sure, preferably under 80k. Fantasy can be a bit longer, but not that much.

As far as series go, it doesn't necessarily matter, and if it does, it's something an agent or editor can help with after the first one is sold. You have more leniency on length after you've been published.

inkspatters · Jun 13, 2010

Word count is weird, so I understand your confusion.

I'd say the sweet spot is 50-80k, but if you're a little bit above or a little bit below (like 10k or so) then it probably doesn't matter.

Fantasy does tend to run longer and it is more acceptable for it to do so. But it's still best to keep it under 100k, I think.

Also, if you're writing a series, you should finish the first book, make sure it's stand alone, and polish it to death and then pitch that. Don't worry about the others until you get an agent and a book deal. Because there's always a chance that the first book in a series won't sell, and then what are you going to do with the other three novels you've written?

And you can have books of varying lengths in series, just based on my observations as a reader.

Glenakin · Jun 13, 2010

Yep, the type of YA book will more or less make an agent acceptable to your word count. A contemporary YA would be ridiculous at over 100K. A fantasy YA over 100K isn't such a bad thing, though you do want to be careful. But either way, you should know agents aren't iffy about word count because people can't read big books; it's because of the cost of printing those books.

Tuuli · Jun 13, 2010

And of course there are exceptions. WAKE by Lisa McMann (YA paranormal) is about 40,000 words and PERFECT CHEMISTRY by Simone Elkeles (YA romance) is a hefty 90,000 words (and worth them all

).

Write what's right for your story, and make every word count (that'll keep it from being needlessly long.).

Amberly · Jun 14, 2010

Thanks for all that guys, great points all of them.

Just one question which will probably make me sound silly but 'k' (as it the 100k word limit everyone's talking of) that's 100 000?

If so then i'm in the clear - most of my current projects are being polished and sit around that mark.

Thanks again for all your help.

True · Jun 14, 2010

Yes, k refers to thousand.

Stunted · Jun 14, 2010

Ug. This stuff really is SO stressful. I have 45,500 words, and I'm praying it hovers around there until it's time to sell.

Marzipan · Jun 14, 2010

I think 45,000 would be MUCH easier to sell than 90,000+ . Don't worry Stunted, just make sure you don't cut more than 500 words. If you do then I would add a chapter.

Shady Lane · Jun 14, 2010

final version of BREAK is 43K. just saying.

eyeblink · Jun 14, 2010

Jenny Valentine's Finding Violet Park, her debut novel, is all of 36,244 words. It won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.

Just saying what Shady's just saying.

Roly · Jun 14, 2010

If you use the search feature you can find countless topics about this in the YA forum alone. Also I think Mary Kole, Nathan Bransford, Colleen Lindsay and Kristen Nelson (and probably tons of other agents) have had blog posts about them. Fire up your google

shaldna · Jun 15, 2010

YA is difficult in terms of word count because really it can be anywhere from 30k to 150k. There are lots of examples of each.

However, I would say from experience, that between 40 and 80k is the norm, with around 60k being an average.

But, and I feel I should stress this, write for the story, not for the word count.

The Great Word Limit Debate

Amberly

Ryan_Sullivan

Agented YA Writer

inkspatters

The coordinates keep changing...

Glenakin

Tuuli

Research Addict

Amberly

True

blue rain, na'vi dances, color code

Stunted

Ich heiße Superphantastisch!

Marzipan

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

eyeblink

Barbara says hi

Roly

silly puppy monster

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.