Okay, wasn't sure. I hear a lot of people say that 12,000 words or 18,000 words or even 20 - 30,000 words is a novel, and it isn't. 120,000 -- now that's a good, meaty novel! And 70k - 80k is a decent one.
Twenty-odd years ago, the threshold for something being "novel-length" was roughly 80k and up. Now some publishers consider 40k - 50k to be a novel, and I find I'm bothered by that for two reasons:
One, it seems to me to indicate that the general reading public's attention span either has slipped incredibly far, or is expected to do so, such that in order to be published and read, original fiction will have to be shortened so drastically that authors will either have to oversimplify plots or avoid any of the sort of detail that actually makes a story interesting. I really don't know that I want to live in a world where best-selling novels for adults will eventually be somewhere around the level of juvenile fiction I read in the mid- 1970s, which is what I fear could happen if the trend continues. (Not to mention that I'm averse to plunking down full price for a book and expecting several evenings worth of enjoyable reading, only to discover I've finished it in two.)
Secondly, it bothers me as an author who simply does not write short, simple stories bereft of detail and world-building. If the market for long work goes completely away, there's virtually zero chance of my ever being published by a publishing house, and precious little for my selling many copies of my work even if I self-publish.
Sorry to be on the soapbox, and none of this is or was directed at anyone here; I'm simply venting about something that has been in my awareness for a while and really bothers me.
Twenty-odd years ago, the threshold for something being "novel-length" was roughly 80k and up. Now some publishers consider 40k - 50k to be a novel, and I find I'm bothered by that for two reasons:
One, it seems to me to indicate that the general reading public's attention span either has slipped incredibly far, or is expected to do so, such that in order to be published and read, original fiction will have to be shortened so drastically that authors will either have to oversimplify plots or avoid any of the sort of detail that actually makes a story interesting. I really don't know that I want to live in a world where best-selling novels for adults will eventually be somewhere around the level of juvenile fiction I read in the mid- 1970s, which is what I fear could happen if the trend continues. (Not to mention that I'm averse to plunking down full price for a book and expecting several evenings worth of enjoyable reading, only to discover I've finished it in two.)
Secondly, it bothers me as an author who simply does not write short, simple stories bereft of detail and world-building. If the market for long work goes completely away, there's virtually zero chance of my ever being published by a publishing house, and precious little for my selling many copies of my work even if I self-publish.
Sorry to be on the soapbox, and none of this is or was directed at anyone here; I'm simply venting about something that has been in my awareness for a while and really bothers me.
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