This is a question I get asked by prospective authors all the time. The truth is, it depends. It depends upon your publishing goals, genre expectations, and general feeling for the book. A lot of the novel’s length will be determined by your writing style and the plot chosen, but these are some great guidelines to get you closer to market expectations for your book.
Story Length Categories
If you have a goal to write a particular type of published work, it’s good to have the approximate length of that story in mind:
Flash Fiction or Short Short
100 – 1,000 words
These popular stories are quick and easy to write and can often be found in glossy magazines.
Short Story
1,000 – 7,500 words
This is what we consider the classic short story found in fiction journals and anthology collections.
Novelette 7,500 – 20,000 words
Also known as the once-popular zine. This can be a difficult length to have printed outside the DIY realm, but they fly like hotcakes in the digital world.
Novella
20,000 – 50,000 words
Very popular in ebook publishing. Though, technically The Great Gatsby falls in this category.
Novel 50,000 – 110,000 words
Ah, the format we all know and love. The I-want-to-write-one-before-I-die length.
Epic 110,000+ words
Now you’re in class with the Goldfinches of the industry. Note, however, that publishers grow more and more hesitant to publish works this long. Fewer readers have the time for them.
Novel Length by Genre
Did you know that different genres have different length expectations for the novel? And how!
Middle Grade: 30K – 55K
Young Adult: 55K – 80K
Literary Fiction: 40K – 120K
Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, Historical Fiction: 80K – 125K
Once you read these genre expectations of novel length, they almost seem unsurprising, right? Of course middle grade readers don’t have the same attention span as lit fic readers. And when was the last time you picked up a fantasy novel that wasn’t the size of a Tolkien? Exactly.
Using Your Story Structure as a Ruler
There are common themes of pacing that can be used to determine if you have a fully developed story as well.
If your novel is too short for its guides above, you can use these points as a flexible template to find place where your story should be bolstered. If it’s too long, you can pinpoint areas to cut. Both are a service to readers who want to savor your story rather than rush or laze around.
Act I Break – The end of the first act should fall at approximately 25 percent of your full story. This act break can typically be identified by your character’s first new complication or conflict after grappling with the inciting incident. Something in their circumstances will fundamentally change.
Midpoint – As the name suggests, this should fall at approximately half way through a novel. It is also the point in the story where the primary character’s experience changes from reactive to proactive.
Act II Break – The second act usually ends about ¾ of the way through a story. At the end of it, there should be a renewed sense of urgency added to the plot. This pace change will be escalated until the climax of the novel.
Climax – Approximately 90 to 95 percent of your story should be complete before you arrive at your climax scene. Too early, and you will lose readers in the denouement.
Whether or not your story makes the mark on the story length guidelines above, you should always do an internal check for these story points. Agents, editors, publishers, and readers expect these patterns, and ignoring them may leave your story feeling lop-sided. But it’s a great tool to help you edit before you submit.
If you’re still struggling with your story structure after this review, hiring a developmental editor may be just the thing you need.
Accounting for Editing
This is a relatively minor note, but I like to remind authors that going through copyediting and proofreading should expect ~10-15% shrinkage in word count over the process. As an editor, the vast majority of changes I make to a document are cuts. This is to preserve the voice of my authors as close as possible rather than writing in my own. It’s likely you’ll see some writing from your editor, but edits for clarity, duplicate information, and out-of-character moments result in cuts that make your manuscript shorter.
Note, these are expectations created by the market by agents and publishers. They are trying to appeal to the largest audience possible. But the beauty of being a self-publishing author is that you can find your niche audience. Just because they’re niche doesn’t mean they aren’t plenty large to support an independent author’s career. They just may not be big enough to prop up a publisher.
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