Another Annoying Question

Do you think there's a chance that when you go back to do revisions your word count might increase? When you sub to your Betas or CP, they might be able to tell you if there are places where you can expand a little. Just a possibility.

As far as their word counts go, most of the writing guidelines I've seen on the website say something like 65,000-70,000 or 55,000-60,000. Does the line you're targeting say you have a range to work with? If it does have a range I would do my best to stay within it, but I honestly don't think being 1000 words below the count will completely ruin your chances. You can also check out their writing boards. They have Q&As there all the time.

Good luck!

A Beta reader is somebody who reads your work after you've finished doing your revisions. They're sort of your last line of defense before you send your work off to an agent or publisher, and they give you one last check for grammar/spelling, as well as anything like plot holes and things like that. From what I understand, it works best to have somebody who is a non-writer (or somebody who is not your CP) read prior to sending out becuase they will look more at that "big picture" than at the nitpicky stuff that writers look at.

A CP is a critique partner. They are the lovely people who do all the nitpicky stuff, and usually you trade work with them (it's very quid pro quo with that sort of thing) along the way. These people are usually other writers. Find somebody who has about the same skill level as you, and who really understands your genre, in my opinion. But I'm sure others may disagree on this

You can go to the Beta Reader thread to post an "ad" for either of these.

Hope this helps!

1,000 words one way or another near the word count guideline will not be a problem.

Just know that Harlequin is now USING COMPUTER WORD COUNT. Yes, that's correct. COMPUTER WORD COUNT.

The new word count is what has me most concerned about the new book I'm working on right now. 65k isn't that much space to tell a Super story. <sigh> But I'm going to do it, by gum. <G>

For me, it's a good thing they're using computer word count. Because I don't write dense. So that will give me more pages to play with than someone who writes dense.

Still, I'm pretty sure I'll be coming in more at the 65 end of the range than the 60 end. <G>

Susan G.

mollyluna said:

So, they're scanning manuscripts before they read them to determine word count? That seems very time-consuming.

Click to expand...

I don't understand why you'd even think that. <scratching head>

No, they depend on you to tell them what the accurate word count is in your cover letter. Which is why I try to make sure I keep everyone up-to-date with the changes at HQ.

Word count is extremely important at HQ as each line has its specified range so the books can be printed in their given number of book pages. This is achieved by "playing" with font size and margains. (I'm talking about the final printed books here, not mss.)

So, if your book comes in at the higher end of the range, you get smaller font and margains.

Now, like I said, being off by 1 or even 2 k isn't enough to put an editor off an otherwise terrific submission. But there will be much gnashing of teeth (mostly by the AUTHOR, mind you!) if they buy a manuscript and it turns out to be the wrong word count. Because the author will suddenly find herself either cutting vast amounts of words, or adding vast amounts of words, probably in like a 2 week turn-around.

And at some point in the process, you do have to submit the ms on disk. (After purchase. Usually after revisions, when you send the final revised ms. I think. <G>)

So, while they aren't going to "analyze" your ms before they read it to see if you have the amount of words that you say you have, it behooves you to be accurate from the start.

Susan G.

Of 2 minds, not following publishers' format guidelines can be the quick trip to having your ms tossed. Having something that is worth their ignoring the 1K lack means they need to feel psitive enough about it to read it.

These are great links! My novel length fiction always comes out shorter than I like also. I'm definitely going to check these out and try them on for size. Thanks to everyone who posted them!