When Is A Manuscript Too Long?

AKA Know Your Audience

How many words are too many? If you are writing for young adults or children, it may be a lower number than you think.

The following recommended word counts are based on a blog post about manuscript length by Mary Kole, and agent for the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, and the power behind kidlit.com:

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

May 20, 2010

Tags: agent  |  mary kole  |  word count

Categories: agents & editors & publishing | writing