1. Board Book — 100 words max
2. Early Picturebook — 500 words max
3. Picturebook — 1,000 words max (Seriously. Max.)
4. Nonfiction Picturebook — 2,000 words max
5. Early Reader — This varies widely, depending on grade level. I’d say 3,500 words is an absolute max.
6. Chapterbook — 10,000 words max
7. Middle Grade — 35,000 words max for contemporary, mystery, humor, 45,000 max for fantasy/sci-fi, adventure and historical
8. YA — 70,000 words max for contemporary, humor, mystery, historical, romance, etc. 90,000 words max for fantasy, sci-fi, paranormal, etc.

you love her, don’t you?

As you can see, manuscript length for young adult (YA) and children’s books depends on the age of your target audience.

And while there are individual reader exceptions (I bet you were probably reading at a higher age level than your actual age when growing up. Me too.), the above rules are what the agents and the publishers of the world play by, so if you want to play in their world, you have to play by their rules.

At least to for the first few rounds of the game. Once you’ve established a track record with your agent and your publisher by having steady sales, longer manuscripts are more of an option.

Logan: So what are we talking here? Short novel? Kafka length, or longer. Dos Pasos? Tolstoy? Or longer? Robert Musil? Proust? I’m not throwing you with these names, am I?
- Gilmore Girls, “Let Me Hear Your Balalaikas Ringing Out “, 6.8

blue brings out your eyes

First you need a pitch to practice. A pitch consists of the 1-3 sentences that sum up your novel.

How do you sum up over 80,000 words?

With multiple attempts.

With practice.

With chocolate or cake or caffeine – whatever it takes to keep you working on that pitch.

The pitch for one of my novels has been refining itself for over a year. Another novel’s pitch came out in two weeks. It’s wacky that way.

Once you have a pitch, say it out loud. Pitch to your pets or your furniture. Say your pitch every time you walk through your kitchen or at every stop light.

At first, you’ll stumble over the words. Sometimes they just don’t come out; sometimes they jumble around in your mouth and then spill out in the wrong order.

Break your pitch down into each sentence and repeat it. If you’re still running into trouble, break your sentences down into phrases and repeat and repeat and repeat. Then string everything back together.

If there is a specific place that you always screw up, try some other words.

You should be able to pitch your manuscript as if you were talking to a friend about a book you loved and want them to read.

And be sure to do all this practicing earlier than the night before you meet your potential agent.

Willow: How can you be so calm?
Oz: Long, arduous hours of practice.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “The Freshman”, 4.1

cue the mermaid

You’ve spent a lot of time on this manuscript/house, and care a lot about it. But you have to distance yourself. Other people are going to tell you what you need to fix before they will buy it from you – this is your critique group. No matter how much you love the color purple on the bedroom walls, in order to sell your manuscript/house, you probably ought to change that.

Once you are ready to sell your manuscript/house, you need a real estate/literary agent. Be sure to find an agent that represents your kind of manuscript. If you are trying to sell a single-family dwelling, you would not work with a real estate agent that only represents multi-tenant corporate buildings. Research agents that are selling what you want to sell.

A reputable agent is going to take a cut of whatever the publisher pays you for your manuscript. Just like in real estate, that agent gets paid when you sell your house. Agents who ask for up-front fees are not the kind of agent you want to work with.

Once you an agent agrees to work with you to sell your manuscript/house, trust and follow their advice. They are the experts in their business, which is why you want to work with them. Your job is to write; their job is to sell and negotiate the contracts that conclude that sale.

If you have a question, ask your agent. You and they are partners in this adventure and partners help each other achieve the goal. If you read the acknowledgments at the beginning of a book, it is highly likely that the author mentions their gratitude to their agent.

And while the real estate metaphor holds true for a lot of literary agent aspects, there is one exception that greatly benefits the author: your agent can sell your manuscript multiple times as they make deals regarding the different rights of the property. These include, but are not limited to foreign rights, audio rights, and film rights.

Phoebe Abbott Sr.: You know this house is an unusual house, because there’s three bedrooms, and no bath. But the ocean’s right there.
- Friends, “The One at the Beach”, 3.25

Step 1 - read the Writer Beware website (starting with the Literary Agents page) and the Preditors & Editors website (starting with the Agents & Attorneys page).

Step 2 – Find the name of a literary agency or agent that represents the kind of novel you have written. Do NOT send an urban fantasy to someone who only publishes westerns. Most literary agencies have a website, like the Knight Agency, with a page that will tell you what their agents represent and what their submission guidelines are. Some agents, such as Nathan Bransford, have a blog where they discuss what they represent, as well as helpful tips about submitting. Also check out the Acknowledgments pages of your favorite books – authors often thank their agents there.

cinderella

Fabulous! You’ve found a reputable agent you want to send your manuscript to.

Now what?

Step 3 – FOLLOW THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES for that agency/agent. Prove to them you can follow directions. You’d be surprised how many people can’t.

Step 4 – Record who you sent what to, when. This can be done in a notebook or a text file or a spreadsheet.

Step 5 – Celebrate! You have done more than most people who want to be writers.

And the most important post-agent submission step of all …

Start working on your next manuscript.

Sheldon Cooper: While Mr. Kim, by virtue of his youth and naiveté, has fallen prey to the inexplicable need for human contact, let me step in and assure you that my research will go on uninterrupted, and that social relationships will continue to baffle and repulse me.
- Big Bang Theory, “The Jerusalem Duality”, 1.12

tree

There are over two million Google results for the words “query letter”. Like most information on the Internet, you will find some of it to be contradictory. As always, check the two most important aspects of any online article – the date and the qualifications of who wrote it.

Personally, I don’t know the right number of paragraphs to have in a query letter. I do know what a query letter does and does not need to contain because I’ve read a lot of those web pages listed in those search results.

You should read a lot of those pages as well. Eventually they will all start to sound the same, which is when you know it’s time to stop reading and go write your own query letter.

To start you out, I’ve personally found these three resources to be better than others. Follow any links in these articles, and then follow those links too.

• How to Write a Query Letter by Simon Haynes – good overview
• How to Write a Query at the Agent Query website – detailed article, good examples, includes info about non-fiction queries
• Query Letter Mad Lib by Nathan Bransford, agent – the minimum requirements of a query letter, also check out his Anatomy of a Good Query Letter posts one, two, and three … actually, just read all of Nathan’s blog

Holden: They’re just questions, Leon. In answer to your query, they’re written down for me. It’s a test, designed to provoke an emotional response… Shall we continue?
- Blade Runner