Effect of e-Books on word count standards

[Matt Phillips]

Nathan - Do you think the rise of e-books will loosen standards for word count? Although the costs of paper, printing, shelf space for thicker books, etc. are not the only concerns agents and publishers have about offering representation or a contract for longer works, particularly by new authors, those factors are part of the reason we often hear things like "debut novels over 100K words won't even get consideration," right?

Of course some manuscripts are too long because they're poorly edited. But do you think the expanding e-book readership might reduce the number of instances in which well-edited, longer novels are dismissed out of hand?

Thanks!

[Nathan Bransford]

Nathan - Do you think the rise of e-books will loosen standards for word count? Although the costs of paper, printing, shelf space for thicker books, etc. are not the only concerns agents and publishers have about offering representation or a contract for longer works, particularly by new authors, those factors are part of the reason we often hear things like "debut novels over 100K words won't even get consideration," right?

Of course some manuscripts are too long because they're poorly edited. But do you think the expanding e-book readership might reduce the number of instances in which well-edited, longer novels are dismissed out of hand?

Thanks!

I actually think what will determine word counts lengths has less to do with paper vs. pixels, but rather reader tastes. Yeah, really long or really short books have physical considerations to take into account when they're printed, but if readers really wanted these books in large numbers you'd see more of them.