I was sure someone asked this before, but couldn't find it. Any way what is the minimum word count in a YA novel? I read someone it's 50,000 words, but I want to see if different people have different answer.
Replies
Excellent answer, Victoria.
I am struggling to keep below 130,000 words after mutiple edits, but I must keep within the guideline.
Louise is right. 65,000-130,000 is for adult fiction, Adrian.
And that space in books is created by the fact most bookbinders only bind in certain multiples. (Actually, they can make a book any number of pages but it costs more so publishers always go for the multiples option.) It might be the case the option for that size of book (and I'm completely guessing here) is 376 pages or 400 pages and 376 is too small so they choose the larger option and spread the book out more in the typesetting phase. There used to often be several blank pages in the back of most books but I've noticed recently that publishers have started using that for advertising of the next book by the same author, or even a more detailed mention of previous work. A non-fiction book I bought last week has the blurbs to all her previous fiction titles in the back. Some fiction books with a sequel all ready to go to print have the first ten pages of the next book in the back to whet your appetite.
But incidently, I believe this is why publishers don't like books to just tip over a certain number of words for their genre - because (dependant on the book's size) they have to go for the larger number of pages option which is more expensive for them and there is likely to be space left over. That's less of a problem if they are able to turn it into advertising space, though. It just depends if you are one of those authors who always has the next book's title and blurb ready by the time the current one goes to print.
Sorry if that wandered off-topic a bit, Antoinette.
I stand to be corrected, but I believe somewhere between 65,000 to 130,000 is mentioned in the Writers' and artists' Yearbook. However 50,000 is fine. Publishers know how to spread the word count to increase the number of pages in a book. An example, there is usually much white space at the ends, and the beginning of chapters in many books.
Excellent answer, Victoria.
I am struggling to keep below 130,000 words after mutiple edits, but I must keep within the guideline.
Louise is right. 65,000-130,000 is for adult fiction, Adrian.
And that space in books is created by the fact most bookbinders only bind in certain multiples. (Actually, they can make a book any number of pages but it costs more so publishers always go for the multiples option.) It might be the case the option for that size of book (and I'm completely guessing here) is 376 pages or 400 pages and 376 is too small so they choose the larger option and spread the book out more in the typesetting phase. There used to often be several blank pages in the back of most books but I've noticed recently that publishers have started using that for advertising of the next book by the same author, or even a more detailed mention of previous work. A non-fiction book I bought last week has the blurbs to all her previous fiction titles in the back. Some fiction books with a sequel all ready to go to print have the first ten pages of the next book in the back to whet your appetite.
But incidently, I believe this is why publishers don't like books to just tip over a certain number of words for their genre - because (dependant on the book's size) they have to go for the larger number of pages option which is more expensive for them and there is likely to be space left over. That's less of a problem if they are able to turn it into advertising space, though. It just depends if you are one of those authors who always has the next book's title and blurb ready by the time the current one goes to print.
Sorry if that wandered off-topic a bit, Antoinette.
I stand to be corrected, but I believe somewhere between 65,000 to 130,000 is mentioned in the Writers' and artists' Yearbook. However 50,000 is fine. Publishers know how to spread the word count to increase the number of pages in a book. An example, there is usually much white space at the ends, and the beginning of chapters in many books.