A Purposeful Advice Column: Counting Your Words

Dear Purposeful Prose,

I’m almost finished with my first draft of my YA science fiction novel, and it’s around 250 pages. I see a lot of writers talk about their number of words rather than their number of pages, though, and I find it confusing. Why does word count matter so much, especially if I’m self-publishing?

First of all, congratulations on your new first draft! Science fiction novels are some of my favorites. Growing up, I feel as though science fiction texts played a significant role in my critical thinking skills, my appreciation for those in STEM fields, and my early exploration of highly complex societal issues. How long did it take for a book, or series of books, to do this? Which edition did I have? Who published it? What helped that publisher to recognize that book was profitable?

The publishing industry is vast, and there are many avenues by which to pursue publishing. You can query an agent, submit to a publishing house yourself (if the guidelines state they will accept unagented work), move towards vanity publishing, or fully self-publish. Maybe, before you submit your work for publication, you want to work with an editor (like myself), and you’ll notice that our prices are also per word. 

Editors generally price per word because your page length depends on your font size, formatting, and a lot of other stylistic variables that word count simplifies. Word count gives editors a good idea of what to expect when approaching a new project.

Regardless of the length of your book, there will be a place for it in publication. Your word count will not absolutely remove your book from consideration, but it can influence a publisher’s choice to take it on. Publishers agree with editors. A page can look like anything. It can have a bunch of footnotes, images that take up half the page, large font, small font, or margins of unusual size. 

Publishing houses, for the most part, make it their business to stay up-to-date on what readers of specific genres expect, and they will try to model your book according to those expectations. 

If your book is less than or around 50,000 words, as an example, the spine of your book will likely be smaller and less eye-catching than a book that has a larger spine. If it’s priced the same way as books with a larger, more eye-catching spine, it might not be seen as equal in value on first glance.

At the same time, a book with around 150,000 words or more will cost more to print, so it’s riskier to take a chance on a book of that length, especially if you’re publishing for the first time. 

Check out this graphic from The Write Practice:

This chart can give you an idea of approximately how long, based on genre, a publisher or reader will expect your text to be.

Self-publishing, while a completely valid option, carries its risks. I’m sure that you took these risks into account when you chose to self-publish. You will retain all rights to your work, and the way that your work is presented to the world will be entirely up to you. 

Something to keep in mind, in marketing your book, is that not all self-published authors have the same insights into the publishing industry that a company will have. This is not to discourage you. Knowing how a publishing company would market and knowing more about what goes into a publisher’s decision to take a book can be helpful when you are making decisions about your book. 

I, among many others, are rooting for you in your publishing journey!

If you have a writing or editing-focused question, I would be more than happy to dedicate a post to you. Contact us for any questions you might have or to schedule a free consultation with yours truly!

All submissions will remain anonymous unless you explicitly request for me to include your name.