Graphic Novel Page Limit

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SampleGuy

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What is the basic page limit for graphic novels to get published? I know manga books go up to two hundred pages, but I am not sure how much pages I should do for my own novel.
 

snafu1056

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Depends on the publisher. They all have their own ranges. But in most cases anything over 100 pages is a tough sell, especially from an unknown. They'd have to really like the project to agree to something that long. I believe most printers print pages in blocks of 8, so your page number will have to be evenly divisible by 8. If you end up with a few extra pages you'll have to fill them with something.

Don't go by what the Japanese do. Japanese manga have whole staffs of artists who work long hours to put out all that content. In the US youll most likely be working with someone who has a day job, a family, and other art projects to juggle along with yours, which means it will take a loooong time to finish those 200 pages. You'll be lucky if it only takes a year. It might take two. On the indie level everything is DIY. Publishers don't really do anything but print and distribute the book. Everything else is up to the creators. Even most of the advertising will fall on you.
 

SampleGuy

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What does divisible by four and eight mean? Is it like a book of four issues?
 

dpaterso

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Methinks it refers to how the printer cuts up a sheet of paper. 8 graphic novel pages might be printed on one big sheet, which would then be cut up and sorted into page order, to be assembled into the book. You can't have blank pages so either the graphic novel's length is 32 or 64 or 128 pages, etc. (or any multiple of 8) so the print run is x number of printer sheets each containing 8 pages, or else you fill any remaining blank sheets with other content.

That's not to say you won't find printers who, using smaller scale equipment, can print your graphic novel directly onto single sheets. I see comic makers doing this all the time. Depends how thick the graphic novel is and whether it can be bound by the smaller scale equipment.

-Derek
 

SampleGuy

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Thanks. I guess I'll try to keep my book under a hundred pages.
 
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