Posted By Jill Myles on June 9, 2009
So. Wordcount. (Yes, I’m struggling for things to blog about, and Moonrat just posted something awesome on her blog and it reminded me that I wanted to talk about this.)
Here’s a great post from an editor:
http://romanticreads.net/2009/03/12/the-economics-of-word-count-requirements/
Here’s another great post from Moonrat (who is also an editor):
http://editorialass.blogspot.com/2009/06/is-there-word-count-cap-for-debut-novel.html
Here’s another great post from an agent:
http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2008/03/on-word-counts-and-novel-length.html
Okay. Did you read those three? All three of them mention word count. Did you also notice how small the word counts are? 80k. 85k. 90k max.
There seems to be this mythical unicorn of a concept that longer books still sell! Stephenie Meyer’s TWILIGHT was 700 pages long! JK Rowling’s books were enormous! Diana Gabaldon’s OUTLANDER is a brick of a book!
All right then. Let’s recap:
1) Did you make 50 million dollars last year like Meyer?
2) Are you JK Rowling?
3) Did you write OUTLANDER?
If you answered “Yes” to any of those questions, then please do ignore word count (and me!).
If you answered “No” like most everyone else, it’s something to pay attention to.
Bloated word count costs your publisher money. I’m sorry, but there it is. You can fit three fat books on a shelf where six slimmer ones might fit. You get paid the same for both. Would you rather sell three or six? Would you rather B&N or Borders order 3 copies of your book or six? What about Wal-Mart?
I buy a lot of books at the grocery store. My favorite one has the mini-racks – little black wire brackets that are made to cup the paperbacks. They can squeeze usually about five or so books in there. Last fall they reprinted GONE WITH THE WIND, gave it a snazzy new cover, and put it on the racks. Guess how many copies of GWTW could fit in each slot? One.
When I turned in GENTLEMEN PREFER SUCCUBI, I seem to recall the word count being around 95k or so. According to Amazon, my book is 384 pages long, and I still have no acknowledgements/author notes and I haven’t gone through copyedits. It could potentially keep growing:
Word count for my book!
I had no idea my book was so freaking long, you guys! But there it is. And maybe if my book would have been 70 pages shorter or something, B&N might buy 6 instead of 5 to put on the shelf. But it is what it is. And my book might cost my publisher just a little bit more than the last guy’s because my page count might be longer than Book X. Or my print run will be smaller. You can be darn sure that your print run is going to be smaller if your book is 500 pages long. Why? Because you’re going to require a lot more space on the shelf. And unless your first three initials are G. R. R. (and add an M), space is at a premium.
You want those pretty co-op slots at the front of Barnes & Noble. You want as many of your books squeezed into those slots. If your doorstopper makes it to co-op and you only have two on the shelf, and both sell, do you think they’re going to re-stock your book right away, or do you think an employee is going to wander past and just fill the blank slots with whatever is closest?
I visit a lot of writing boards. And word count ALWAYS ALWAYS comes up. And there seems to be this common misconception that “It’s okay for a fantasy novel to run longer!” or “Romance novels that are 500 pages still sell!” Usually these misconceptions come from one of three things:
1) Writing guides or writing books that are 20 years out of date, when the cost of paper wasn’t an issue, and when bookstores weren’t optimizing space like they are today.
2) The books that are 500 pages long were actually from authors that continue to have a backlist in print because they’ve sold so well for a dozen years (see OUTLANDER or GWTW).
3) That book is just that damn good.
And hey, maybe you’ve got #3. I’ve got confidence in my writing, but I know if I went back to my editor and said “Book 2 is going to be about 200k, is that all right?” she would probably need a drink. Or three. And then start writing me a tough letter about how I needed to chop my word count. Because she can’t go to marketing and say “About that book 2? Yeah. It’s going to be 700 pages long.” Marketing won’t like that. Publishing is all about the numbers, and you just threw off your profit margin by a landslide.
There was a great post from Anna Genoese a few years back about how every book considered for acquisition is immediately entered into a P&L spreadsheet to see how much money the company can make. I don’t have the link anymore (unfortunately) but it’s a real eye opener. You’re not writing a work of art for the publisher – you’re pitching a product to them. It’s all about the bottom dollar, baby.
Don’t get me wrong. Longer books still sell. Someone’s always going to pop on the message board and say “I sold my 170k book for a six figure advance!”
Wow, that’s awesome! Lucky you! You just hit the equivalent of the publishing lottery!
Some people also get 7 figure deals right out of the gate! Or tons of promo and publicity! And a 20 city book tour and a blurb by Stephen King!
And then there’s the rest of us. 
What I’m trying to say here…if you’d rather have the odds in your favor, take a long, hard look at your word count and see if you can’t shrink it a little.
When I queried my first book, the word count was 110k. I got nowhere, so I revised and dropped it to 100k. Got some interest. I *really* got interest when I mentioned that my book was in the lower 90s. Agents want something they can sell, and I imagine something that’s an easy sale makes it that much easier to get an agent. A long word count is automatically going to put you in the ‘long shot’ territory.
(And wow, this got totally Ranty McRanterson, didn’t it? My apologies!)
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Tags: publishing, un-asked for advice, word count
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