Advice
How long should a manuscript be?
by Stewart Ferris
A manuscript goal in Quillmark should be the sweet spot for the shelf you are writing for, not the longest book you can imagine. Agents and editors use word count as a first filter: it predicts print cost, category, and whether the pacing will feel right to the reader who bought that kind of book. The ranges below are the bands houses and agents actually buy into. They are norms, not contracts. An imprint can ask for 55,000 words on one line and 90,000 on another.
Debuts are judged more strictly than later books. Over 100,000 words makes many publishers nervous outside fantasy, science fiction, and historical fiction. Under the floor often reads as a thin plot, except in picture books, category romance, and practical nonfiction, where short is the point. Count the story only. Front matter does not belong in a fiction word count. A trade paperback runs about 250–300 words a page, so 80,000 words is roughly 280–320 printed pages.