Book Length...

[rainoclock]

I have (finally!) finished my book (comedy memoir). It is however quite long!! 100,000 words to be precise. I am sure there are bits I could cut but not a huge amount and I know you should be aiming for around 80,000 words - although no idea where this number comes from and if you do have to stick to it for submissions?

80k is a good length for most full-length books, but there are variations depending on genre. 100k does sound a little bit long for a memoir, especially if it's meant to be comedic: I'd be tempted to put it aside for a few weeks then revise it again, to see how much you can tighten it up.

Better to have too much than too little! I agree with putting it aside for a couple of weeks, then looking at it afresh. Congratulations on finishing it - that's a massive hurdle!

Is this helpful? www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/word-count-for-novels-and-childrens-books-the-definitive-post

Well done on finishing your book!

That’s a great link editingfairy. I’m writing an NA romance, so somewhere in the range of YA or Adult romance. At 75,000 words it’s in the ‘possibly too short, but probably ok’ range, which is good to know!