Thread by @LZats

I drank too much tea and can now hear my heartbeat in my ears, so instead of sending nice, measured emails, let’s do a quick thread on manuscript word counts!

Every book genre (and category) has industry-standard word count ranges.

Before we go further, what this does NOT mean: your book will automatically be thrown out if you’re a few hundred words outside this range

What it DOES mean: the traditional industry (agents, editors, publishers, and yes, readers) will come to expect some things from your book which are easily distilled into a word count “rule”. Let’s go into detail!

(Before I begin, a disclaimer: each genre/category has a rough range of acceptable word counts. Each person in publishing sets their own metric for how much they’re willing to stretch the sides of said metrics. This thread is not the place to ask if a specific word count is ok)

First, there’s a content reason for word counts! There’s a certain amount of story one expects in a novel, and a word count rule is a shorthand for that! Structurally, a novella feels different than a novel, regardless of how flowery or tight the language is.

Furthermore, the weight of an arc in a more trope-heavy genre (SFF, romance, WF, mystery/thriller) takes up a certain amount of space, and word count clues the writer into how to pace their story in a way the reader will like and expect!

So word count on publishing often works as a quick-and-dirty guideline to say “I expect X amount of plot and Z type of structure”. But what if you’re writing in a genre that’s NOT super trope-driven?

Then we think about money!

Most of book publishing balances on a knife’s edge of profit and loss, and most of the artsy editorial and design decisions are at least planned (if not made) before a book is even acquired.

Editors have to do lots of math to guesstimate the page count of print books, the amount of time it’ll take to edit the book, etc, before it can be deemed a good investment. So that word count range? Yeah, it’s important in estimating the cost of production.

If you end up adding 20k in a revision and your editor was trying to get you to cut 5k, chances are you’ll be told to go back and kill those darlings! Because every 250-350 words or so is an added print page, and those are going to impact the bottom line!

I do want to reiterate here that editors are wizards who can seamlessly hold the artistic merits of an edit note hand-in-hand with the financial considerations and want to add that that is a SKILL and I am in awe of them

Editors are geniuses in knowing how much space certain content should take up. Need another example? Look at the nonfiction editors! These editors buy books mostly on proposal, with just a sample chapter or two.

Because the book isn’t written yet they need to know exactly how long the project should be to a) be a good project b) be a financially viable project and c) give readers their money worth

Now, the “give readers their money worth” is a bit of a fraught issue because SOMEONE (ahem, rhymes with shmamazon” has been spending years systematically undervaluing books while doing a whole host of other bad things…

but there’s a fine line between “making the publisher an acceptable amount of profit per sale” and “is priced at a point that conveys worth but is also accessible to the consumer”. These points vary across print, e, and audio.

The publisher’s side of the math happens before the consumer gets to the product—their acceptable cost is reflected in the list price. But the consumer line is a little bit up to you. Are you the type of person who will pick up a slim hardcover and blanch at the price per page?

Are you the type of person who chooses how to use their Libro.fm credits based on audiobook length so you can “get your money’s worth”?

Will you buy any print book so long as it’s designed well and you can treat it like an art object or collectible?

Certain genres and categories can count on more of one type of consumer than others, but ultimately, those word count guidelines, if you follow them down the track, from art to production to sales, end up being a key tool to attract the kind of buyers publishers need

It’s easy to look at guidelines from agents and say “well, they’re just lazy! They just don’t want to read a 200k book!” (Which, I mean, true. Do you know how long it takes to read 200k?!) but agents don’t work in a vacuum

Agents are always responding to market conditions. Yes, we’re trying to put our mark on the market, but we can’t out-taste the fact that printing a 200k-word debut might put a publisher financially upside-down

The reason there’s a range is because there is variability, there is room to be surprised by the art, to push some boundaries. But like with most publishing things, there are levels of financial and artistic reasons behind this seemingly arbitrary rule

Do you can go over or under the recommended word count of your genre! Just know that it’s not individual laziness or apathy you’re combatting—you’re standing your story up to a lot of complicated metrics that also vary from house to house.

These metrics also shift based on your sales record and brand, the book’s print run and marketing plan, and things you’ll never be told about, like the price of paper in a given season. So all you can control? Word count.