YA Horror & Word Count

Jone,
I read on a writer's blog that her word count for horror YA was 40,000. She has an agent and a contract for several books. I'm sure it varies here and there, but adult word count is about 80,000. I would say no more than 60,000, but it depends on the agent and the publishing house. Write what you want and then worry about trimming it down later. This business is quite subjective. It depends on so many factors. Remember though, that your audience is YA, not adult, therefore the word count it not going to be as long as the latter. Good luck!

I've read that YA generally falls between 45k and 60k...but I know there have been longer.

Pretty much, but it depends on how fabulous the writing is or if the word count is totally suitable to the story...

Some pubs have specific required lengths - most want 300-400 pages...

jonereb said:

How many words in a 300 page novel?

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The usual rule of thumb is 250 words per mss page, but when it comes to published novels you get a lot of variation due to width of margins, size of type, and leading (space between lines).

In the past, most published SF and mystery novels were right around 200 pages, which made them just about 50,000 words. In the past decade publishers -- and presumably readers -- have developed an appetite for doorstop-sized novels. I've wondered a bit why this is, but I have no explanation.

JDCrayne said:

In the past, most published SF and mystery novels were right around 200 pages, which made them just about 50,000 words. In the past decade publishers -- and presumably readers -- have developed an appetite for doorstop-sized novels. I've wondered a bit why this is, but I have no explanation.

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I think it's always been more a matter of money than of preferred length. The longer the novel, the more money it takes to publish it, and SF has never been a wildy popular genre. But SF has always been big on trilogies.

Most readers have always preferred long novels, assuming they're also good novels, and one of the most popular SF works of all time, the most popular trilogy, was Asimov's Foundation novels. Behemoths all.

Most of the short novels came about because of the paperback revolution, more than anything else. For a lot of years, short just worked better, was cheaper, and held together better in paperback format.

jonereb said:

Observation and question:
If YA books shouldn't exceed 60K
and novels are about 80K,
What becomes of books that are 60 - 80K?
Is 60K too short for an adult novel?

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Jonereb,
An adult (literary) novel or a mystery is generally at least 70,000 words. A genre novel (sci-fi, fantasy, horror) is at least 80,000. Most agents will tell you that 60,000 is too short for an adult novel. There are some children's books that exceed word count, i.e. Harry Potter. The Notebook is an adult novel that was quite short. Word count is subjective but there are exceptions. My dark urban fantasy was around 62,500 when I first completed it. Then I had to go back and edit and add a sub plot. It's now about 81,000, where it needs to be. Just write and worry about word count later.

Jamesaritchie said:

Most of the short novels came about because of the paperback revolution, more than anything else. For a lot of years, short just worked better, was cheaper, and held together better in paperback format.

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That's a good point. Thick paperbacks used to split along the binding and fall apart in the middle, but they don't do that as much anymore. Maybe better glues and production methods made the thicker books possible.

I sold a YA horror recently that came in almost smack on 55,000 words originally, and I was told it was exactly the right length, if that helps...

Willie

jonereb said:

HorrorWriter, Who told you to add a subplot? Was this something you did on your own to increase the word count? Or was an agent or editor involved? Just curious. It's difficult for me not to keep an eye on word count, knowing that I need to reach at least a minumum in order to be viable.

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Actually, an agent asked me to add a prologue so that I could address some issues in my story. I added a sub plot so that other details that were mentioned would make a little more sense, to me and my audience. I don't like fillers, so my sub plot was not one. It was merely a device to make my story cohesive. Hope that helps!