Comments on Wylie-Merrick Literary Agency: Count Elusiva

Scott: Don't have any idea as to the word count pe...

2008-08-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

Scott:
Don't have any idea as to the word count per page for large print books.

Large print is usually sold as a secondary right rather than a primary. In other words, the book is published in another form (hardcover, trade paper) and then the large print rights are sold as a sub right. Some large print contracts do specify the font size limits, but, because the original book was printed in another format before being published in large print, apparently words per page is a non-issue for everyone except the publisher.

Just out of curiosity, what is the word count per ...

2008-08-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

Just out of curiosity, what is the word count per page for "large print" books? What point font size is "large print" books? My public library has an entire section for these novels and it has quite a following of senior citizens. How much of a market is it?

Hi Pagecrazy:Splitting a large novel into two or t...

2008-08-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Pagecrazy:

Splitting a large novel into two or three novels is not up to the agent to figure out as the writer should have already been aware of this. Agents expect works that are publisher ready. so it's up to the writer to do his or her research to find what is marketable and what isn't.

If you actually get an MS that is 200,000 or even ...

2008-08-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

If you actually get an MS that is 200,000 or even 400,000, couldn't it be split into a series or sequels?

Go with the machine word count--it's close enough ...

2008-08-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

Go with the machine word count--it's close enough unless you're a publisher and want to convert MS to printed book pages.

Then the logical solution for too thin of books is...

2008-08-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

Then the logical solution for too thin of books is BIGGER font size! :-)

Actually, this worked well for One-Minute Manager. ;-)

I've found the machine's word count tends to be qu...

2008-08-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

I've found the machine's word count tends to be quite a bit off from the calculated word count. I set my page up to give 250 words/page but I don't think the machine counts the spaces.

Oh yeah, most definitely we see manuscripts that h...

2008-07-31T18:41:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, most definitely we see manuscripts that have too many words. I'd say anything over 110,000 is pushing the limit. Occasionally we get books that are over 200,000 words and Robert received a query once on a 400,000 word monster. But mostly word count is too low--around 50,000 or 60,000 words. Normally we like word counts for popular genres to run around 85,000 words. That gives publishers a nice sized novel of around 320 to 350 pages, the average hardcover book size. For some reason thin books don't sell well nor do those that are too fat. Fat books are hard for readers to hold up and thin books seem to get lost on the shelf.

The normal whine ... errr, I mean ... the normal c...

2008-07-31T17:41:00.000-07:00

The normal whine ... errr, I mean ... the normal concern is about having too small of a word count. However, I wonder about the opposite. Too many words. Have you guys rejected novels for being too long?