| ceramiccoconut | Publishable Word Count For Lit Fic? |
    16,669 / 50,000 Official Participant
Joined: Oct 4, 2009
Location: Texas Posts: 101
Posted on:
Nov 7, 2009 - 13 29 |
I know we're aiming for 50k here, but I always write more than that, so I'm not worried. I also know that most publishers require a novel of longer than 50k in order to publish it. Most of my research comes from genre fiction, where the general consensus is roughly 75k minimum (some 85k). But what about literary fiction? What is the typical requirement for publishing a literary novel these days? I'm just curious. |
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25,099 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 17 08
Just do the same type of research on Literary works that you've already done for those other Novel types, that should give you a figure to go by.
----------Chance is only Fate using a pen name ~ ej runyon
'01 Your Little Red Book...'02 Treasure Island Vin Rose (win)...'03 A House of Light and Stone (win)..'05 Good People (win)..'06 Subway Tunes (win)...'07 900 miles (win)
'08 Bridge to Story
35,007 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 18 36
Animal Farm is literary fiction and it is a mere 30,000 words. Just putting that out there.
----------07 - the paxtangbo; or the birth, death, and violent emotions of arnold nawrocki and others like him (WINNER)
09 - the adventures of panda bear, the magic talking snake
16,669 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 19 02
Yeah... a lot of older lit fic is novella-length. However, the market is different today, and agents/publishers seem to look for different things. So I was just more curious about more modern day lit fics.
38,018 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 04 04
I'm currently in the midst of working with an editor of a small publishing house in regards to my 2007 Nanowrimo novel. This particular house looks for 60-65 K. My novel clocked in around 80k when I was finished. I managed to carve that down to 69K before I started submitting it. The editor and I are trying to whittle it down to 65K without losing any of the threads. After the last revision it now stands at 66K.
I get the feeling from my research that 70k is the max for lit fic.
68,392 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 04 34
BookEnds, LLC is a literary agency with a lot of interesting information, and there is a post on word count:
“Women’s fiction, literary fiction… 80,000 to 100,000 (sometimes 125,000, especially in the case of literary fiction).”
http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2009/07/word-count.html
----------Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.
16,669 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 06 37
“Women’s fiction, literary fiction… 80,000 to 100,000 (sometimes 125,000, especially in the case of literary fiction).”
http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2009/07/word-count.html
Yeah, I saw that last night. I thought that was insanity. 125,000 words for a book with little to no plot? No wonder the genre is a tough sell.
20,343 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 06 46
I honestly wouldn't know what publishers would want nowadays though.
----------A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction. - Oscar Wilde
76,298 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2009 - 09 43
“Women’s fiction, literary fiction… 80,000 to 100,000 (sometimes 125,000, especially in the case of literary fiction).”
http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2009/07/word-count.html
That's what mine will end up as, and that's also what I read. I'm going for it. I have a lot I can cut if they want me to.