Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I'm wondering. But would 54-84K generally be considered to long? Assuming I write at around 600 words a day. I have an outline, but that doesn't really tell me anything about final length.
Word Count for Young Adult Novels?
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Personally, I try to keep the word count between 62500 and 70000...not going over 70000 by too much if I can help it. Any longer, it tends to get sort of wordy and takes away from the action (a problem I've struggled with).
I know Veronica Roth wrote on her blog that most YA novels (being published by first time authors) are usually around 80K to 90K, but there was no word on specific genre so that could mainstream or apocalyptic, etc and not fantasy. Obviously stuff has to be cut, but if its going to mess with the plot/story then I can understand why cutting 80K is too much.
I was considering at one point remove the first prologue, and actually just submitting that a a short side story to like a magazine. Its related to the plot, but you could read it more as a short. That could remove 2,400 words right there to replace with something more relevant.^^
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tbh, I'm happy if I can get above 50k. I underwrite like hell.
Sweet spot, from what I've heard, is 60-75k.
Sweet spot, from what I've heard, is 60-75k.
When I started editing my novel I was at 165,000 words and I didn't think I would be able to cut anything out. But after seven drafts later, my word count is just under 124,000 and still counting. You do have to be brutally honest with yourself and start cutting that fat like you life counts on it. I found that I had to rewrite several scenes to get where I am now. But my story is much tighter and smoother than it was before. Set a goal for yourself and do the best you can.
If you sell your book to a publisher, you can't then sell the prologue to a different publisher (even a magazine) if it utilizes the same world and/or characters.
I've seen that anywhere from 47k to 100k is acceptable. Just depends on the genre of the novel.
Can you not? I've seen people pub short stories set in the same fantasy or sci fi world as their novels, IIRC, though I can't name any off the top of my head, so maybe you're right!
Or cut completely. You're going to have to learn to let stuff go when you cut it. Not everything you've written in a book will make it to publication. Even stuff we love sometimes needs to be cut if it doesn't fit in the book. But you just save it in a special file so you can enjoy whenever you want to
I was thinking I'd heard of cases of this, too, although I don't know any to name.
You certainly can publish short fiction set in the same world as your novel. Your novel publisher does not own the rights to your world and characters unless you've signed them away, which would be very ill-advised.
A novel would be a different matter, but then you'd presumably be under contract and the publisher who bought your first novel would have first refusal on your next one.
That seems to be my thing, I always prepare a world first before writing a collection of stories even if they are related.<_< Well that's kind of the issue, its a short story that's an interquel to the main novel, but works as a stand alone.
Cat Hellisen (Nakhlasmoke on AW) has a short story on Tor.com which is a prequel to her novel When the Sea is Rising Red.
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This isn't true, as far as my experience goes. In 2009 I sold a short story to the Irish Times which featured the characters of the novel I have coming out next year. I think ( though my memory is a bit hazy) Neil Gaiman did something similar with the characters from the Graveyard Book. Your publisher doesn't own your characters or setting (unless you signed over the rights - as you would have to do in the case of some romance publishers and some ruthless 'story developers')
Oops - my mistake. I thought there was something about protection of characters, but there's not.
Carry on. Nothing to see here.
My mind is inventing clauses that do not exist.
Thanks for the link. I found it very helpful. I think at the end of the day you need to remember that you are producing a product that needs to meet the requirements of your buyer....I know we like to believe that this will be someone in a bookstore, but the reality is that it is first of all a publisher. Find out what they want and do it.
Sorry to bring this up again, but I'm one of these writers who can't write long stories at all. I've been querying a MG sci-fi and one of my dream agents said she loved it, but wanted it to become YA. I edited like a mad woman, and got a manuscript with 60k words. Is it okay for YA sci-fi? My protagonist is 15, so I guess it's "lower YA."
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60k is only few thousand words short of the YA sweetspot. I'd send it back to agent, acknowledge that it might be short for the market but that it feels complete to you right now, tell agent that you feel you need feedback from a fresh set of eyes to know what parts need expanding. If they're worth their salt at all this will be fine to them, especially if they asked for a rewrite in the first place.