I need some advice on length of short fiction.

Status
Not open for further replies.

afanofthetruth

i just finished a book that I hope to put out somewhere, very soon. This is my first short-story and I am wondering how much on the word count is considered enough to market?

I plan on looking in to this further, of course, and know at around 14,000 that I probably DO need alot more. But my story feels 100% complete. Of course I will be adding to the story just to thicken the story, but what do ya'll think?

:)
Renee

www.reneebagley.com
 

HollyB

Re: I need some advice on length of short fiction

Courtesy of Jamesaritchie:

Micro fiction--under one hundred words.
Flash Fiction--100 to 1,000 words.
Short short--1,000 to 2,000 words.
Short story-- 2,000 to 7,500 words.
Novelette--7,500 to 15,000 words. (Up to 17,500 words at some publications.
Novella-- 15,000 to 30,000 words.
Novel--anything over 30,000 words. (Anything over 40,000 at some publishers.)

---------------

What genre is your piece? Many SF/F magazines publish novelette length work, although it's generally considered more difficult to break into these markets with a long piece. Anthologies are another venue for a novelette length piece.
 

afanofthetruth

Re: I need some advice on length of short fiction

In my excitement I forgot to mention that the genre is young-adult. This was a story that just came to me, so I really never considered the break into the market part of it. I know that this genre helped inspire my great love of books at an early age, so I feel very proud to have possibly given something back I feel worthy.

I'll have to see what markets I can hit since it looks like I have a novelette. I'm wondering about the chances of a paying magazine centered toward the youth, or who knows what else. I'll find somewhere to distribute it because I want to see this story go out.

HollyB for the information and suggestions - very helfpul to me at this time!

:D


Renee
 

Jamesaritchie

Re: I need some advice on length of short fiction

The one area where word count is hard to determine is in the juvenile genre. Juvenil publishs take novels at all sorts of weird lengths, and you really have to check the guidelines of each publisher to know what length they want. But just generally speak, it still needs to hit the 30K mark.
 

Renee

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
1,339
Reaction score
341
Location
Texas
Website
www.reneebagley.com
Thanks James

James -- Thank you for the tips! I think 30k is a good number to attempt to hit. I don't think that'll be a problem at all.

PS- With the change in the board moving here to the new home, I changed names to my real name.
 

sthrnwriter

Snoopy Dance!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
2,629
Reaction score
342
Location
Oklahoma
Website
www.freewebs.com
I was actually wondering about this as well. One day I looked up on the internet about what the approximate word counts were for the different types of stories. I found the same thing as Holly except that there was also Long stories which were around 7,500 to 10,000 words. Just wondering if that is right or not?
 

Jamesaritchie

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
27,863
Reaction score
2,311
sthrnwriter said:
I was actually wondering about this as well. One day I looked up on the internet about what the approximate word counts were for the different types of stories. I found the same thing as Holly except that there was also Long stories which were around 7,500 to 10,000 words. Just wondering if that is right or not?

There are magazines that will take "short stories" of this length, but technically, anything over 7,500 words is a novelette, not a short story.
 

jwschnarr

Registered
Joined
Feb 15, 2005
Messages
17
Reaction score
2
Have you considered doing a couple more stories and turning them into a novel of long fiction? four or five themed works might be just the size you're looking for.

B.
 

Coco82

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
393
Reaction score
11
Location
Olympia, WA
I have a story about 13,000 words that is a crime story, where could I publish this?
 

sthrnwriter

Snoopy Dance!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
2,629
Reaction score
342
Location
Oklahoma
Website
www.freewebs.com
Jamesaritchie said:
There are magazines that will take "short stories" of this length, but technically, anything over 7,500 words is a novelette, not a short story.

Thanks for the help.
 

jwschnarr

Registered
Joined
Feb 15, 2005
Messages
17
Reaction score
2
Coco,

Good luck finding a place that will take something that big. The crime genre as of late is withering under the ever-healthy fantasy and sci-fi genres (read, the GOOD paying magazines) although there are some good places you can still hit up, such as Alfred Hitchcock magazine. A lot of the new crime mags are little startups that may not be able to afford the space in their mags for that many words.

B.
 

Renee

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
1,339
Reaction score
341
Location
Texas
Website
www.reneebagley.com
Just wanted to update my original posting. I've added several thousand in to my story on the word count. It's growing! Woo-hoo! lol..
 

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,446
Reaction score
25,466
Location
Snow Cave
Dying Genre

Coco82 said:
I have a story about 13,000 words that is a crime story, where could I publish this?
Coco, there isn't a market for a crime story this big, no matter how well-done it is, I'm afraid. The crime-mystery market has been shrinking for many years and neither of the two biggest US markets takes anything this long.

As my former critique group member used to say, "If it's good, save it for the anthology."

Maryn
 

Jamesaritchie

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
27,863
Reaction score
2,311
Length

Coco82 said:
I have a story about 13,000 words that is a crime story, where could I publish this?

This is a nearly impossible length to sell. It's way too long for magazines, and way too short to be published as a standalone.
 

SeanDSchaffer

Short short fantasy piece

I was curious if anyone knows where I might go to get a short short published? It's a little bit more than 1200 words. Fantasy genre.

Any ideas?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.