Another one on word count...

[NordicNobody]

I've just finished writing a book for struggling readers. I've tried to pitch it at an interest level of age 9-11, but at an age 6-7 language level. I've spent many years working with struggling readers in primary and I've been guided by the national curriculum, so I'm confident the language level doesn't go above what's taught in ks1. It's the word count I'm unsure about. It's about 11,000 words so far. It seems a bit long for a chapter book (Internet says 5-10k) but too short for a MG book (internet says 20-50k). And when I look for advice on hi-lo books I get results saying anything between 500 words to 50k "depending on the reader". Ive not done any editing yet but if I make the changes I want the word count is more likely to go up than down (not by a huge amount though). This is my first go at writing a book like this so I'm a bit lost.

You know on Amazon, if you buy a book it'll say something like, "People who bought this book also bought..."

Which books do you think your potential reader would also be reading? I would get a copy and do a rough word count of it and do something similar.

I don't understand why your interest and language levels are so different. The only time I've seen this is in specialist books for adults who are learning to read. If you're aiming for the mass market, shouldn't the levels be the same?

So sorry, just seen it's for struggling readers. Do those books exist in any quantity or is it something you thought there would be a market for?

Please forgive my complete lack of understanding of your OP! I was reading it quickly on my phone.

Haha it's ok, thanks for replying. No there isn't much out there in the UK for struggling readers. I've done lots of reading interventions with year 6s and almost always end up having to write my own short stories for them as the books for their readering level are so babyish. There seems to be an OK choice of hi-lo books in America (high interest, low vocab) but there's not much in the UK and none of its available on Amazon. It's definitely not a mass market idea, but there are a few specialist publishing houses in the UK that market directly to schools. It's a genre I feel quite passionate about and would like to expand, but unfortunately there isn't a lot of guidance about things like word count.

The kids I'm writing for want to be reading things like Harry Potter, Alex Rider, and Beast Quest, but are more likely to still be plodding through Biff and Chip. I want to write something they won't find boring or feel embarrassed to be seen reading, but I don't want it to be so long they get overwhelmed.

Sounds great. Don't know anything useful about the word count but love the idea.

Barrington Stoke have a range of books for this market, all the ones I have seen have been much shorter than yours, but worth a gander to see what's out there... particularly if it broadens the variety currently available.

Thanks!

Was just going to suggest Barrington Stoke too! I'm a specialist dyslexia teacher and we have a lot of these books.