Books for 8-12 year olds: Question about length

Sage

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My MG is under 30K. The protag is 12. Only one agent has said it's too short (she also thought the protag sounded too old from the first five pages), but it doesn't seem to be a problem for anyone else, since I've gotten more requests for this novel than any other.
 

Sage

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Oh, and my chapters average about 1K. I have one chapter that is only two sentences long.
 

MJWare

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Hedge makes a good point, though I kept my chapters longer because I wanted each to end in a cliff hanger.

I've seen MG go both ways, and I figure I'll let the agent advise me (if I ever get one) if I need to change.

MY MG is just a hair under 30k (13 chapters). The agents I've spoken too didn't seem worried.

I'd try formatting your manuscript both ways and go with what seems to fit your story best.

Remember your audience haven't been independent readers for all that long, and some may still be reluctant to read a whole novel. Seeing shorter chapters helps them feel like getting to the end is doable. The last MG I read (The Underneath) had about 120 very short chapters.
 

abctriplets

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I always heard that the average for MG was 25-45k, with exceptions of course. With this in mind, I always tried to get my WIP to the middle of the average, so that there was no chance that a question about page count would adversely affect my chances. That being said, some books are naturally short, and some are naturally long, and you'd be better off leaving them as is.
 

profen4

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well, I pushed myself and managed to add another few thousand words, but only got the manuscript to 31K, but I've sent out a handful of queries and I've received full requests from all but one agent. One agent I queried said she preferred the MG novels she represents to be around 40-45K words, but since she liked the first 3 chapters and the premise, she wanted to read more.

I really appreciate this discussion - I wasn't even going to try agents with this one . . . I just figured it was too short.

Cheers,
S
 

Alanna B.

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A long time ago I sent an MS (25K) to an agent that said she didn't rep anything under 40k, the rest were not so strict. I wonder if it was the same agent! Good luck with your fulls!! :)
 

timp67

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well, I pushed myself and managed to add another few thousand words, but only got the manuscript to 31K, but I've sent out a handful of queries and I've received full requests from all but one agent. One agent I queried said she preferred the MG novels she represents to be around 40-45K words, but since she liked the first 3 chapters and the premise, she wanted to read more.

I really appreciate this discussion - I wasn't even going to try agents with this one . . . I just figured it was too short.

Cheers,
S

That's great! Story trumps all. :)
 

MsJudy

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This thread and Sheila's got me thinking about trends, so I asked Jennifer Laughran (Ask the Agent) what she thinks about the chances of books under 30K selling these days. I'll post her answer when she replies.
 

Smish

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And for any MG writers who are querying agents, Ms. Laughran recently posted that she'd like to see more MG in her inbox...

Her thread's a good one to check out; lots of MG related posts there.
 

Shady Lane

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I'm working on an MG right now. It's currently almost 18K and has about 3-4K left to go. so it's going to be a little one. It'll probably gain a few K in revisions, but I don't imagine it being far about 25K ultimately. It's okay. I like short books.