Standard Single Title Novel Lengths

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JeanneTGC

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This is probably answered somewhere, but after searching the entire RWA site yesterday and then AW for over an hour today I haven't found it, so apologies for asking something likely already covered elsewhere and here goes.

I'm in the middle of writing a single title light paranormal romance/action novel. This is the first one for me in terms of it being light and breezy (going for a cross between Janet Evanovich and Christopher Moore), and I have no idea what the standard word count should be for something in this sub-genre. I'm pretty sure 100,000 words would be far too long, but I don't know if I should be aiming for 50K, 70K, etc. I also don't know if lengths can/should vary between the romantic sub-genres and what those recommended average lengths should be.

Any thoughts or links to where this is covered would be greatly appreciated!
 

Cathy C

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Not far too long at all. For light paranormal, you're looking at from 95-110K words. Most all of the single title paranormals (dark and light) are targeting a 100K cover size. At 50-75K, you'll struggle to find someone to accept it in the NY houses. 50K is just barely outside the "novella" category. 75K would put you in the category lines, but short of the H/S Nocturne line (which is most definitely NOT light) they're all a much higher word count.

Hope that helps.
 
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