I tend to be pretty wordy when I write.
Other people complain they under write.
So, the question is, how many words do you need?
50,000 is bare minimum for a novel.
Young Adult is the current trend – I must get 3 emails a week for seminar ads claiming to teach you the final word on writing in that genre, because it’s outselling everything else right now.
Jerry Jenkins recently gave a list of word counts for the Harry Potter series…
From jerryjenkins.com/book-word-counts/
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone — 76,000 words
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets — 85,000 words
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban — 107,000 words
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire — 190,000 words
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — 257,000 words
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince — 168,000 words
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — 198,000 words
So the first two Harry Potter books were right at the absolute maximum word count limit for that genre – and then took off from there.
What I’m seeing over and over again is that for a first novel, 110,000 is top line in most genres. Of course, if you’re writing YA novels, your editor is going to demand a 30,000 word cut. If Rowling had tried to publish book #5 first without being a smash hit in books one and two, I’m sure she would have been rejected – or ordered to cut 180,000 words from the novel.
so here it is – 110,000 is the MAXIMUM in most genres.
50,000 is the MINIMUM in most genres.
Plan on 85,000 words for your novel Share on XIf you’re at 210,000 words in book one – start looking for how you can cut this into two books, or see where you can slash half of the book without destroying it.
Will publishers publish an epic (over 110,000 words) novel from a new author?
It would have to be so well written and so well edited that they’d lose sleep over NOT signing you.
Bottom Line:
Plan on 85,000 words, and allow for running up to 110,000.
