Project update: The novel draft is at 93,000 words, and I project that it will be finished some time next week. Then, of course, it will need to be revised. At this point in the writing, I’m aware of certain specific things that will need revision, and I’m already thinking forward to that process.

I’m back and forth between thinking this is an exciting, original, fast-paced story, to thinking it’s an unpublishable mess. The experience of writing the novel has been much different from writing a short story, requiring for one thing a steady and long-term focus on the same world, the same conflict, and the same group of characters.  

I know publication is an up-hill battle. I hear a lot about writers whose first completed novel never sold, and it’s discouraging to think that after all those hours, and all those words, my novel may be destined to languish in a three-ring binder for a long time, maybe forever. In the same period of time, I could have written a dozen short stories.

I was wondering about the ideal length for first novels. According to the SFWA website, a novel must have at least 40,000 words, but it is very difficult to sell a science-fiction novel with a word-count in the 40,000 - 60,000 word range, unless it is a YA novel.

Also, according to the same website, it is preferable for a novel to have 60,000 – 90,000 words. That seems very little to me, in comparison to the many books I see lining the bookshelves at my local Borders and Barnes & Nobel. Most of those novels seem to be easily in the 300-400 page range, and many are quite a bit longer than that! My own novel draft (the first I will complete) will have approximately 100,000 words.

Anyway, here are some useful definitions:

Short story: 1000 – 7499 words

Novelette: 7,500 – 17,499 words

Novella: 17,500 – 39,999 words

Novel: 40,000 and up

The novel: I’m aiming for a draft of 100,000 words. I realize: (1) the story might require a little less or a little more, but I won’t know until I get to the end; (2) the final, revised novel may have more words than the draft.

All that aside, I’m wondering about the number of pages this amounts to. Not how many pages of double-spaced 12-pt. Courier or whatever, but how many pages in an actual printed book.

Looking at some of the paperbacks I have around my house, I’m guessing there’s an average of 400 words per page, which means a 100,000 novel = minimum 250 pages.

Is anybody aware of a formula for this? Is there an industry standard?