Getting conflicting advice about word counts. Basically, what is the ideal word count criteria for an historical fiction/saga type work?
Replies
80 ~ 90K, but do not get intimidated. Your novel just needs to be interesting. I'm writing my second draft and it's about 125K (believe me, I still didn't reach the middle). Go on, and good luck!
A publisher might ask for a shorter first novel for purely economic reasons. The longer the novel the higher the production costs and this can eat into the budget for the additional marketing and publicity that is needed to promote a first-time author and ensure the book sells well enough. Unfortunately, publishers have to follow both their heads and their hearts!
Yes, i don't understand why publishers think a first novel should be shorter - surely it is good enough or not - I am afraiid my historical romance is longer and the editor said he couldn't see how it could be shorter as it is an epic. Of course it is not the first book I have written but I have not been published.
Jonathan who did you Self pub with? I am thinking of going down that road too.
I was told my book was literary and one of the best my editor had read but no one has taken it on.
I think you have to be a celebrity or a journalist to gegt published.
80 ~ 90K, but do not get intimidated. Your novel just needs to be interesting. I'm writing my second draft and it's about 125K (believe me, I still didn't reach the middle). Go on, and good luck!
A publisher might ask for a shorter first novel for purely economic reasons. The longer the novel the higher the production costs and this can eat into the budget for the additional marketing and publicity that is needed to promote a first-time author and ensure the book sells well enough. Unfortunately, publishers have to follow both their heads and their hearts!
Best wishes,
Writers' & Artists' Yearbook
Yes, i don't understand why publishers think a first novel should be shorter - surely it is good enough or not - I am afraiid my historical romance is longer and the editor said he couldn't see how it could be shorter as it is an epic. Of course it is not the first book I have written but I have not been published.
Jonathan who did you Self pub with? I am thinking of going down that road too.
I was told my book was literary and one of the best my editor had read but no one has taken it on.
I think you have to be a celebrity or a journalist to gegt published.