MG Word Count

Here's a good guide for word counts: http://literaticat.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/wordcount-dracula.html

This is something I've worried about too and wrote what I've found in a blog post. I've seen many MG books be requested and sold 60k and up. I asked an agent about an upper MG fantasy word count at 40k and she said it was on the low side but some books are fine that way. The answer is that the MG market is changing. Upper MG is more like lower YA which means the word counts are trending up to fill in the gaps (at least, this is my theory) 60k is fine from my understanding. Anything much longer and you might risk some raising some eyebrows.

Here's the post I wrote about it. http://middlegrademinded.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-great-question-what-is-appropriate.html?m=1

EDIT: JVC, that's probably the best word count post I've seen. Most list MG at 20-40 as the OP said.

For further evidence, this was my pitch wars teammate who got the most requests of all the MGs in pitch wars and her novel was listed at 88k. There's a chance those agents would tell her to cut it if they sign her, but not one mentioned the word count.

http://www.brenda-drake.com/2014/01/pw-4-mg-language-dark-lovely/

sara_ash said:

I was just wondering what the average word count for MG books is.
I've written a fantasy story that is about 60k. It is targeted towards the upper end of this age group with the main character being 12.

I've read that the average MG book is 20-40k, but does this go up for fantasy books and if so by how much?

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My MG Fantasy is about 70K and it's at the upper age side also. I stressed about the word count too. It's been sold and I still stress about the word count - which seems silly, but doesn't stop me from worrying about it. I suspect it's something we writers dwell on too much.

Anyway, I think you're okay at 60K. To me, that actually sounds like a good length - there's some wiggle room for cutting or adding or both. Also, there's a site (www.arbookfind.com) where you can look up word counts on novels. All you have to do is specify parent, teacher, student, but there's no other sign-ins. When you click on a book, it gives you the word count. I think there were quite a few MG fantasy's between like 55K and 65K.

I hope that helps!

Don't get too hung up on word count. A book is as long as it needs to be. 60K for a MG book is absolutely fine. Mine clocked in at 49K in the end, but was 43K when it sold. You'll be surprised how much wordcount can change when you get on to edits!