Word Count for Young Adult Romance Novels

lisalulu09 · Jun 14, 2010

Okay, so I've looked, and as far as I can see there are no threads dedicated to word count for this particular subgenre.

Highway Hearts looks set to be a sweet romance, and I'm wondering if 30K is an okay word count for a YA romance aimed at late teens...

Thanks in advance.

stormie · Jun 14, 2010

30k is too short. That's more MG. YA, whether romance or mystery, should be anywhere from 55k to 75k+. Esp. when you're talking upper YA.

Ryan_Sullivan · Jun 14, 2010

Cecil Castelucci (spelling?) I know has books that are very short (under 40), but the average is 50-80.

lisalulu09 · Jun 14, 2010

What about 45K?

kaitlin008 · Jun 14, 2010

45k is in a much better range.

Marzipan · Jun 14, 2010

I agree with Kait and Lisa, bump it up to 40k or 45k, won't take much effort and it is a much safer range. 45k-80k is the sweet spot.

Smish · Jun 14, 2010

lisalulu09 said:
What about 45K?

45K is probably okay.

Ryan_Sullivan · Jun 14, 2010

45k is better. The thing that might set a shorter book off in an agents mind is whether the character(s) are intricate and developed enough, and whether the plot is complex enough to be interesting in such a short novel, rather than just how many words.

Maureen Johnson usually is 60-90k, Cecil Castellucci is in the 30-40k range, Sarah Zarr is 45-60, and John Green is 65-90k--just to give you an idea of where they are.

Also, as a note to everybody - if you go to http://www.renlearn.com/store/quiz_home.asp#quicksearch (which is where schools can buy Accelerated Reader tests) you can search books, and they have word counts on the pages.

shaldna · Jun 15, 2010

There are loads of threads about word count in YA.

40-80k is accepatable. there are books that go under, and there are some that are double that length.

Tuuli · Jun 15, 2010

Because I seriously have nothing better to do, I counted (estimated) words in YA romance novels (those that Amazon didn't post). They tend to range between 50 to 80 K. Perfect Chemistry is about 90 K, and Sarah Dessen's books now hit 100 + K (but don't try it. She can get away with things that you can't).

The majority of the ones I looked (YA chick lit voice) at were in the 55-65 K range.

Word Count for Young Adult Romance Novels

lisalulu09

Potterhead Gleek

stormie

storm central

Ryan_Sullivan

Agented YA Writer

lisalulu09

Potterhead Gleek

kaitlin008

Seeing newness all the time

Marzipan

Smish

Reads more than she writes.

Ryan_Sullivan

Agented YA Writer

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

Tuuli

Research Addict