tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125214612971306615.post7234788213826424759..comments2023-11-06T12:28:13.575-05:00Comments on A Million Monkeys: It's Not the Length that Matters ...Jon VanZilehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14026643422328853037noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125214612971306615.post-78115600677676082792017-01-30T00:18:10.170-05:002017-01-30T00:18:10.170-05:00Publishers define Middle Grade fiction as being fo...Publishers define Middle Grade fiction as being for 8 to 12 year olds. There is a big gap between the vocabulary and concepts an 8 year old has, compared with an 11 or 12 year old, hence the big gap in word count of novels. A lot of publishers' websites list 20.000 words as the lower end word count for Middle Grade fiction.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125214612971306615.post-39869817176717166852015-07-07T10:00:14.814-04:002015-07-07T10:00:14.814-04:00Get The Bad Beginning PDF Book From Here-
http://f...Get <a href="http://free-ebooks69.blogspot.com/2015/07/lemony-snicket-books-the-bad-beginning.html" rel="nofollow">The Bad Beginning</a> PDF Book From Here-<br />http://free-ebooks69.blogspot.com/2015/07/lemony-snicket-books-the-bad-beginning.htmlAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15487658616473363253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125214612971306615.post-86374580220210243272010-02-04T18:34:46.552-05:002010-02-04T18:34:46.552-05:00*snort* Truth be told, I'm welcome to go over ...*snort* Truth be told, I'm welcome to go over 48K and 4200 for Pub2; they just won't pay me for those words. She actually told me that most authors do, in a way to suggest that I was being ungenerous by NOT doing so.<br /><br />Uh yeah, no. I'm all out of free words. Except for on Lurker's blog. ;-)Spy Scribblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14299551957327543491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125214612971306615.post-11535773871857255342010-02-04T16:22:05.519-05:002010-02-04T16:22:05.519-05:00Mark,
Yeah, I agree that Snicket and Funke are o...Mark, <br /><br />Yeah, I agree that Snicket and Funke are outliers. I think even 100,000 is awful long for MG (not necessarily YA). I'd be afraid to try to market a book over about 80,000. I think the only reason, like you said, that Rowling and Riordan got away with later is because they were known authors by that point.Jon VanZilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14026643422328853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125214612971306615.post-24186795001650513862010-02-04T16:20:50.226-05:002010-02-04T16:20:50.226-05:00Melanie,
Agreed. I know a woman who insists that...Melanie, <br /><br />Agreed. I know a woman who insists that her 250,000-word book can't be trimmed even a little bit. She spent five years working on this thing and even got an agent (big name, too), but they can't sell it. Book. Is. Too. Long.Jon VanZilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14026643422328853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125214612971306615.post-71426312852534926292010-02-04T16:19:56.434-05:002010-02-04T16:19:56.434-05:00Natasha,
That's funny ... I've been ther...Natasha, <br /><br />That's funny ... I've been there with nonfiction article before, but my editors are never so forgiving. They're like, "Sure, make it as long as you want. We'll just cut."Jon VanZilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14026643422328853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125214612971306615.post-90550241441707181162010-02-04T15:30:58.127-05:002010-02-04T15:30:58.127-05:00To my mind Inkheart and the Lemony Snicket books a...To my mind Inkheart and the Lemony Snicket books are the outliers (and maybe the Hobbit, but do you really think The Hobbit is a kids' book?).<br /><br />JK Rowling's later books came after she'd been established. I thought the author of Inkheart was fairly establshed too. The Lemony Snicket is just plain weird, really a novella in length, and maybe even a short one at that. Plenty of short stories might fall into that category. Anything between 50,000 and 100,000 strikes me as more the range for MG and YA. Granted, for adult books, it tends to be 70,000 to 100,000, although if you're writing SF/F you can go up to 120,000 safely and maybe even in some espionage novels. That's for first novels. If you fall into the category of Made-The-Publisher-Boodles-O-Bucks, then you have a lot more leeway.Mark Terryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09410424046477699059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125214612971306615.post-11589946556421120812010-02-04T12:09:46.309-05:002010-02-04T12:09:46.309-05:00I try to follow the standard. I know people who fi...I try to follow the standard. I know people who fight it tooth and nail, but what's the point unless your self-publishing? If you want to fit into the industry, follow the industry's rules.<br /><br />I'm curious which of those authors published other books first. I know Harry Potter was Rowling's first, but I wonder if the others were debuts as well.Melanie Hooyengahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08781235493983907234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7125214612971306615.post-38128664607319302010-02-04T11:04:38.419-05:002010-02-04T11:04:38.419-05:00LOL! I write by word count, as my chapters must be...LOL! I write by word count, as my chapters must be 3K-4K or 3800-4200 precisely. This is how it goes for me:<br /><br />Week 1: "I think it's going to go over 12 chapters. Can I have just one more chapter?"<br /><br />"Sure."<br /><br />Week 2: "Please don't kill me, but it looks like I need two more, so fifteen chapters. Is that okay?"<br /><br />"Yes, that's fine."<br /><br />Week 3: "Okay, I promise this is the last time: I just need seventeen chapters. I'm POSITIVE this time."<br /><br />"Just let me know when it's done!"<br /><br />Publisher 2 is not flexible, though. Twelve chapters is it, so I have to split it into two parts, which means inflating it from 48K to 96K. Which is fine.Spy Scribblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14299551957327543491noreply@blogger.com