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How long should a novel be? Guidance for fiction authors

19/4/2021

Here’s why it’s worth paying attention to the length of your novel whether you’re publishing independently or submitting to an agent with the aim of securing a publishing contract.

What determines word count?

Guidance on word counts differs according to:

type of book
target age group
genre

The infographic below provides a very rough guide to word counts – lower and upper limits and a midpoint. These align with publishing convention.

And these are conventions rather than rules, which is why the ranges are rather wide for some genres.

Economics: Printing costs

Pages cost money. KDP says: ‘Printing costs vary depending on page count and ink type (black ink or color ink). Trim size, bleed settings, and cover finish don’t affect printing cost.’

Bear in mind, however, that your chosen trim size will affect the number of words you or your designer fits on a page and therefore the page count, which in turn will affect printing costs.

It’s therefore worth experimenting with different trim sizes and interior designs if you’re going down the print-on-demand route.

There’ll be an optimal design that offers the desired aesthetic for your budget. Approximate calculations are available via the KDP print cost calculator.

If you’re printing in bulk with your own printer, there might be economies of scale on offer for larger print runs. Talk to the supplier and your formatter about how to keep costs down by tweaking the interior design without impacting on readability.

Economics: Editing costs

Generally, the more words in a book, the more each stage of editing will cost. Line editing 80K words will take perhaps a week longer than line editing 50K words.

If you’re working with a pro editor, remember to factor your word count into your chosen editor’s fee structure.

Expectations: Audience sweet spots

Readers have expectations. Back when my child was four, I expected the picture books I read for them to be shorter than the thrillers I read to myself.

And I don’t mind digging into 100K words or so for Baldacci because his books are quite detailed. Sue Grafton’s Alphabet mystery series has a different feel to it and I’ve come to expect a quicker read – around the 55–75K-word mark.

And if you're self-publishing, consider this from the IngramSpark blog: ‘With less time available for reading, it makes sense that readers want to get to the last page quicker. The trend for the past few years has been to publish books with less than 200 pages on average, or around 50,000 words’ (Self-publishing Trends 2018–2019).

Expectations: Agents and publishers

Agents want to sell books to publishers, and publishers want to sell books to readers.

Hitting an industry-standard isn’t about word count in itself. It’s about ensuring that the story is told with enough words, and only enough words so that readers are engaged.

Paying attention to word-count conventions reduces an author’s chances of ending up in a slush pile because there aren't red flags indicating overwriting if the novel is huge, and undeveloped story if the book's shorter than standard.

Why word counts help authors focus on quality

If you’re self-publishing, you’re in control. You might decide your thriller needs to be 130K words. If every word drives the story forward and holds the reader’s attention, great.

When the book's too long
If, however, 20K words are cluttering adverbs and adverbial phrases that could be removed or replaced with stronger verbs, the novel’s length isn’t serving the reader.

Or perhaps there are 30K words of laboured stage direction – detail that describes every mundane movement a character makes to remove themselves from a car, climb a flight of stairs, or move from one room to another. Often, nudges that enable the reader to make sense of space and place are enough.

Readers don’t count words, but they will start skimming over them if the prose isn’t tight. And so even if your first draft has X,000 words, use the revision stage to consider what needs to be removed or tweaked.

When the book's too short
If your novel’s word count is substantially lower than industry conventions, consider what might be missing. There could be structural issues such as a too predictable plot, undeveloped character arcs, or too few obstacles.

There could also be opportunities to show rather than tell a scene so that the narrative distance decreases and the reader is drawn deeper into character experience.

The difference between word count and page count

When it comes to novel length, bear in mind that page counts are affected by design (e.g. trim size, margin size, font size, layout) whereas word counts are determined by story alone.

Pro formatters can adjust the page count of a printed book by tweaking the design, though there are limitations.

No reader will be convinced that they’re holding an 80K-work crime novel just because 50K words are set in a Times New Roman 18.

On the other hand, if you’ve written 100K words aimed at the middle-grade market (8–12 years), you’d be wise to reduce the word count considerably rather than asking your designer to make your book look shorter by squeezing more words on each page!

Furthermore, when it comes to ebooks, there’s no such thing as a standard page because the reader controls how much text appears on the screen. Ebooks lengths are therefore measured in kilobytes (KB), not pages.

Summing up

It’s a cliché but a good story is as long as it needs to be. Longer novels shouldn’t be longer because they haven’t been edited, and shorter novels shouldn’t be shorter because the story is insufficiently fleshed out.

Pay attention to word counts as part of an evaluation process that ensures the words that need to be on the page are on the page, and those that needn’t be there are removed. That way, your story will be in the best shape for your readers.

Related resources for authors

Author resources library
Blog post: 6 ways to improve your novel right now
Blog post and video: Crime fiction subgenres: Where does your novel fit?
Book: Editing Fiction at Sentence Level
Blog post: Playing with sentence length in crime fiction. Is it time to trim the fat?
Book: Making Sense of ‘Show, Don’t Tell’
Blog post: Unveiling your characters: Physical description with style
Blog post: Using adverbs in fiction writing

Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.

She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP), a member of ACES, a Partner Member of The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.

FIND OUT MORE
> Get in touch: Louise Harnby | Fiction Editor & Proofreader
> Connect: Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, Facebook and LinkedIn
> Learn: Books and courses
> Discover: Resources for authors and editors

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Why 'show, don't tell' is a great business-marketing tool for editors and proofreaders

12/4/2021

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‘Show, don’t tell’ isn’t just a writing technique. It’s a principle that works for editorial business marketing too!

Visit the Branding page in my resource library to download this free booklet.

I WANT TO DOWNLOAD THE BOOKLET

More marketing resources for editors and proofreaders

If marketing's your Achilles' heel, take a look at the following resources:

3 ways to make your editing and proofreading website better – fast! (blog)
Branding for Business Growth (multimedia course)
Editor Website Essentials (multimedia course)
How to do Content Marketing (book)
Marketing Your Editing and Proofreading Business (book)
Marketing resource library (books, booklets and blogs and podcasts)
Overcoming marketing paralysis: How to turn overwhelm into action (blog and booklet)

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The fiction proofreading and line-editing process

4/4/2021

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This outline of the proofreading, copyediting and line-editing process is one way of organizing your editorial workflow rather than bowling straight into a project.

The fiction proofreading and line-editing process

What follows is my process – the steps I take and the order in which I take them. That doesn’t mean it’s THE process! You might prefer to organize yourself differently.

Editorial business parameters

My business model might look very different to yours. Here’s what you need to know about me when considering the process I outline below.

I work on raw-text files in Microsoft Word.
I work directly with crime fiction, thriller and mystery writers. I might be the only editorial person the author’s worked with.
I work only on fiction so my editing projects are straight text.
Most of my projects require line editing rather than proofreading.
Even when hired to proofread, I tend to work on raw-text files rather than designed PDF or hardcopy page proofs.
Unless otherwise agreed (and billed for), a project involves a single pass.

Proofreading designed page proofs

I no longer work on designed page proofs (PDF or hardcopy), but at the point in my career when I did, I used the checklist below.

THE PROOFREADING CHECKLIST

My preference is to carry out each check discretely so that I can focus on the specific task in hand rather than trying to spot different kinds of errors at the same time.

A free copy is available when you sign up to The Editorial Letter.

TAKE ME TO THE CHECKLIST

Step 1. Project legalities

I carry out the project legalities as soon as the author and I have agreed to work together and decided on the project's time frame.

This part of the process protects me and my client, and ensures we have a mutual understanding of the project’s terms and conditions.

WHAT I DO

Ask the client to complete the booking form and agree to the terms and conditions
Issue an invoice for the deposit
Ask the client to fill in an Author Preferences form
Check the signed contract is in order
Add the project details to my schedule

SHOW ME THE FORM

SHOW ME A SCHEDULE TEMPLATE

Step 2. File checking and organization

This work takes place as soon as the book file arrives. The checks ensure I can find the material, and that it’s usable when it’s time for the edit to begin.

WHAT I DO

Create a project folder
Check the book file can be opened and is readable
Check the page count to confirm that all the content is available
Save a copy of the project file with a unique name, eg Smith-LH-Edit-020421-v1
Place the original and the copy in the project folder

Step 3. Template creation

This part of the process helps me get organized. I do it before the edit begins.

WHAT I DO

Customize my style-sheet template and assign a unique name
(eg Smith-LH-style-020421-v1)
Customize my report template and assign a unique name
(eg Smith-LH-report-020421-v1)
Save the templates to the project folder

Step 4. Technical setup

Next up is some technical setup related to Microsoft Word.

WHAT I DO

Open the book file and make sure Track Changes is switched on
Check that the VisibleTrackOff macro is functioning. This ensures I never forget I’ve switched off Track Changes temporarily
Open Word’s Set Proofing Language function to ensure it’s recognizing the appropriate version of English
Uncheck the ‘Do not check spelling or grammar’ box

Step 5. Styles

Now it’s time to assess the book file’s styling. Even though an interior formatter might work on the design at a later stage, I want to ensure that the different elements are formatted consistently.

Word’s styles palette is the tool of choice. If I decide to make changes, I can amend the style rather than trawling through the entire book file line by line.

STYLES I TYPICALLY SET UP

Title
Author
Chapter headings
Subheadings
Full-out first lines
Indented paragraphs
Section breaks
Other elements (eg texts, letters, diary entries)

TAKE ME TO THE FREE WEBINAR

If I’m line editing, the author might have done some or all of this work. If I’m proofreading, another editor might have done it.

After I’ve set up the styles, I apply them to the book file.

Step 6. Chapter sequence check

Now that my chapter headings are styled, I can locate them in Word’s navigation pane and ensure the numbering is correct.

It’s not uncommon for authors to shift chapters around, and that’s where problems slip in.

WHAT I CHECK

That the chapters are sequenced correctly
That there are no chapters with the same number
That there are no missing chapter numbers
That the headings, subheadings and first-paragraph indents are styled properly

Step 7. Front-matter check

I like to cast my eye over the front matter separately from the main edit.

The most exciting part of the project for me is the edit itself, so doing mundane but critical technical checks separately ensures my eye’s on the ball and I'm not making assumptions.

WHAT I TYPICALLY CHECK

ISBN filled in (if available)
Author name correct
Title correct
Publication date correct (if available)
Copyright

Step 8. Macro run and style-sheet build

Next, I run a selection of pre-edit macros.

Editors use all sorts of different software and tools to complement their eye depending on the issues they need to check, the material they’re working on, and their clients’ needs.

The macros I've listed below are not what you must use; they’re just my preferences.

MACROS I TYPICALLY RUN

PerfectIt (Intelligent Editing)
PropernounAlyse (Paul Beverley)
CompareWordList (Allen Wyatt)
GetSpellingErrors

SHOW ME MACRO RESOURCES

I use what I learn to start filling in the project’s style sheet.

At this stage I’m making early decisions about spelling, hyphenation, capitalization and proper noun usage, and noting any red flags.

RED FLAGS INCLUDE

Inconsistent character names
Characters with similar or the same names
Inconsistent spelling of place names
Language that’s prejudicial or misrepresentational

Even if I locate problematic language, I’ll not make any decisions about what needs to be done until the contextual edit begins and I can review it within the wider story arc. At this point, I'll just highlight.

I’ll also record initial observations that are key to the line edit.

INITIAL OBSERVATIONS

Narration style (e.g. first or third person)
The novel’s base tense (eg past, present)
The author’s preferences (expressed via the Author Preferences form or email)

Step 9. The edit

Now it’s time to begin editing. This is the fun bit, what I've been hired for! It's the non-technical part of the job but the most time-consuming.

I work through the book file line by line and edit according to the agreed scope of the project.

WHAT I DO

Directly edit the text
Type comments in the margin with indicators to relevant sections in the report
Add information to the style sheet
Add examples from the book file to the report where appropriate

Step 10. The part-way PerfectIt check

One third of the way through the line edit, I run PerfectIt again.

That’s because I’ll have made many new style choices that affect, for example, spelling, capitalization and hyphenation, ones that I didn’t pick up during my pre-edit macro run.

BENEFITS

A part-way PerfectIt check does the heavy lifting, allowing me to locate additional inconsistencies quickly.
The more mundane technical work the software does, the fewer distractions for me while I’m editing for sense and sensibility.

Step 11. The technical tidy-up

When the edit is complete, I carry out another round of checks for layout, consistency, spelling and grammar – a final technical tidy-up to that ensures everything’s spit spot. A little Mary Poppins never hurt anyone!

WHAT I DO

Run PerfectIt again
Run Word’s Editor and review its grammar and spelling suggestions
Remove any unnecessary highlighting
Review my comments for clarity
Double check for rogue double spaces, and spaces at the beginning and end of paragraphs using Find/Replace

Step 12. Style sheet check

Next, I review the style sheet to ensure that it’s fit for purpose.

WHAT I DO

Check that my notes make sense
Remove spelling and grammatical errors
Remove highlighting

SHOW ME A TEMPLATE

Step 13. Create the editorial report

Now I create my editorial report. I use a detailed template that’s already populated with client-friendly summaries of the theory behind the edits (accessible via my course How to Write the Perfect Fiction Editorial Report).

WHAT THE REPORT INCLUDES

An introduction that outlines the content
Any red flags I need to alert the author to
A narrative analysis (explanation, evaluation, and guidance)
An analysis of the dialogue (explanation, evaluation, and guidance)
A layout review
A summary

Step 14. Delivery and invoicing

Finally, I prepare the files for my client. It's time to show them what I've done and why I've done it!

WHAT I INCLUDE

The edited book file with all tracked changes and comments
The edited book file with all changes accepted but comments still showing
The edited book file with all tracked changes accepted and comments removed
A PDF of the style sheet
A PDF of the editorial report

After I’ve emailed the files, I issue an invoice for the outstanding fee. Some editors choose to send the files only after all monies have been paid. How you do it is for you to decide.

Wrapping up

So that's my way. I hope it'll help you streamline your process if you're unsure where to start.

Just bear this in mind: There's no one best way. We all work differently, and there are multiple ways to edit efficiently and productively.

Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.

She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP), a member of ACES, a Partner Member of The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.

FIND OUT MORE
> Get in touch: Louise Harnby | Fiction Editor & Proofreader
> Connect: Twitter at @LouiseHarnby, Facebook and LinkedIn
> Learn: Books and courses
> Discover: Resources for authors and editors

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