Guidelines for NF length?

[scfirenice]

So are there any guidelines for accepted length of NF manuscripts? I know novels 80-100K YA 60K etc...how about NF?

[triceretops]

Actually, I think it is about the same. But in some cases the word count is naturally going to shrink and I think you can get away with 60,000 to 80,000 words. Take in mind that a regualr photo, diagram, or line drawing takes up approximately one third of a page, so tally that in there to determine just a rough page count. Both of my non-fiction books came in under novel length, but they had photos, line drawings, cartoons and other such things. Even sidebars break up the space differently on a formatted page.


Tri

[Carole]

I've heard that an acceptable range is 45,000 to 80,000, but it's difficult to get that lower range accepted if you are unpublished.

Don't take my word for it, SC...you know the boat I am in. That's just what I have found of a few diff websites.

[Timinator]

It actually depends on the publisher and the topic. Most of my topics have been of a technical nature (computer related), and have been around 350-400 pages. That's also with a lot of screen shots and some art. I know it's a little off the area that you're aiming for but I thought I would throw my two cents in.

[TashaGoddard]

It completely depends. There really are no set rules. Non-fiction books range from tiny little gift books to huge reference tomes. However, a good idea is to look at either other books on the same subject/of the same type or other books by the same publisher (which should also be of the same type!) and see what the range is there. Some publishers will also have specific guidelines on number of words, in which case you should take these into account.