Early
reader – 3500 word max
Chapter
book (6-8 yr) 10,000 word max
Middle
Reader (8-12) 35,000 words
max for contemporary, mystery, humor, 45,000 max for fantasy/sci-fi, adventure
and historical
Young
Adult (12-18) 70,000 words
max for contemporary, humor, mystery, historical, romance, etc. 90,000 words
max for fantasy, sci-fi, paranormal, etc. (middle
reader and YA kids like to read about characters a couple of years older than
they are)
Novelette
– 7,500–20,000 words
Novella 20-30,000 words 80-120 pages
Short Contemporary 50,000-60,000 words 200-240 pages
Long Contemporary 70,000-80,000 words 280-320 pages
Short
Historical /Mainstream 90-100,000 words 360-400 pages
Romance
novel 90-100,000 words 360-400 pages
Long Historical/ Mainstream 108,000-120,000 432-480
pages
* These are ballpark figures and the submission guidelines for a particular publisher should be the final word on the matter.
On first time authors publishers tend to want between 80-100,000 words. A person submitting above what they are looking for, should consider that each 10,000 words over the guideline is a 10% increase in print costs, and publishers are not into paying more money on unproven writers.
SOME
SPECIFIC PREFERRED WORD COUNTS (SUBJECT TO CHANGE):
23 House - prefers
65,000 words
Abingdon - 70-100,000
AMG - minimum 50,000
Avalon - 40-70,000
Avon - 60-90,000
B & H -
60-80,000
Baen Books - 100,000 word
minimum
Baker/Revell - 80-100,000
Barbour 80-100,000
Belle Books - 75,000
Bethany House 80-100,000
BMH
50-75,000
By Grace 30-85,000
depending on genre
CLC
under 60,000
Comfort - middle reader
40-60,000 others at least 80,000
David C Cook 80-90,000 (Suspense 60-75,000)
Crossroad 50-60,000
Crossway 90-100,000
Desert Breeze 50-75,000
Dorchester 70-90,000
Eakin
Middle
reader 25-35,000 YA 40-50,000
Echelon 50,000 minimum
Elijah 50-100,000
Faithwords
100,000
Father's Press 25,000
minimum
Five Star
(Teckno) 65-120,000
Frederick Fell 60,000
Gentle Path 50-90,000
Georgetown Univ 80,000
Gollehon 50-80,000
Grand Central 75-85,000
Greenwood - up to
100,000
Group 32-62,500
Hannibal 50-60,000
Harlequin 50-100,000
Harper One 40-80,000
Heartsong 45-50,000
Heartspring 60-75,000
Hendrickson 40-125,000
Hill Street 50-85,000
Howards 50-75,000
Jossey-Bass
60,000
Judson Press 30-75,000
Knopf 50-150,000
Kregel 80-100,000
Langmarc 40-75,000
Love Inspired 55-75,000
Love Inspired Historical
70-75,000
Love Inspired Suspense
60-65,000
Magnus 25-75,000
Marcher Lord 65,000
minimum
Medallion 80,000 for
adult 55,000 YA
MIRA 85,000
Mission City 50,000
Monarch 60-100,000
Moody 90-100,000
Multnomah 90-100,000
Navpress 80-100,000
New Leaf 25-100,000
Perigee 60-80,000
Poisoned Pen 65-100,000
Revell 80-100,000
Sheaf House 70,000
minimum
Silhouette 50-75,000
Silver Dagger 50-80,000
Steeple Hill 80-125,000
Strang 80-120,000
Summerside 80,000
Thomas Nelson 80-100,000
Tyndale 75-110,000
Vintage Romance 75,000
Waterbrook 80-110,000
Whitaker 70-100,000
William Morrow
50-100,000
Zondervan 70-100,000