How many pages?

johnro

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Please help the clueless!

I know to experienced writers this may seem a foolish detail, but ....

Many agents want "the first fifty" pages. The first 50 of my novel, as configured for a trade paperback, run about 65 pages of 12-pt, double-spaced, 1" wide margin PDF. Since many agencies seem to relish warning that if guidelines are not followed exactly, work will be deep-sixed, I'm guessing 'approximate' is not the right approach. So are we talking 50 physical pages, or are we talking the first 50 of the novel as it would be published?
 

Siri Kirpal

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It's the first 50 pages you typed...physical pages, excluding such things as the dedication, TOC, etc.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

Mustafa

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Please help the clueless!

I know to experienced writers this may seem a foolish detail, but ....

Many agents want "the first fifty" pages. The first 50 of my novel, as configured for a trade paperback, run about 65 pages of 12-pt, double-spaced, 1" wide margin PDF. Since many agencies seem to relish warning that if guidelines are not followed exactly, work will be deep-sixed, I'm guessing 'approximate' is not the right approach. So are we talking 50 physical pages, or are we talking the first 50 of the novel as it would be published?

How could you possibly have any idea how many pages your book would be if it were published? You don't get to pick the size of your book. you don't get to pick the spacing of the lines, or the size of the font.

To answer your question: Open your document in Word or which ever word processing software you're using. Double space your mss. Make 1" margins. Send the first 50 pages.

Good luck!
 

kaitie

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Don't worry if it's not exactly fifty pages, either. A couple of pages either way won't hurt you. Just pick a natural break in the story that occurs somewhere in that general vicinity.
 

johnro

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Thanks, all.

To answer the question "How could you possibly have any idea how many pages your book would be if it were published?", I used Scrivener, output to trade paperback....
 

Terie

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Thanks, all.

To answer the question "How could you possibly have any idea how many pages your book would be if it were published?", I used Scrivener, output to trade paperback....

But that's just some generic template. No one has any idea what their book will actually look like until the internal design is done by the publisher. There are bazillions of variables, such as margins, line spacing, kerning, font style and size, and so on. (/off topic)