Is 126 pages a good book size?

Question

I have been writing my book for about a year now, and I finally changed the online format to fit what a novel size would be, its 127 pages, is that a good length of a book?

Answer 1

I believe that your book can be any size you want. It can be from 1-1000 pages long. If you're speaking in terms of getting it published then you could get any size published but It wont sell well if it's too short. In your case, if 127 pages matched your story then that's ok because there is no set length to how long books have to be. On the other hand if the plot does not follow the book and it just ends like too suddenly then it might be too confusing for the readers. Do with the information what you will.

Answer 2

We don't do that in the industry, everybody measures by word count.

Typically, depending on the publisher, there are about 250 to 300 words per page, but do not measure in pages.

I am guessing 127 pages, times 250 words per page, is about 32,000 words, up to about 38,000 words.

Depending on the genre, novels average from 70,000 to 100,000 words. The maximum (unless you are famous, like Stephen King) is about 140,000 words. The minimum to be called a "novel" is about 50,000 words.

What you have written falls into the category of "Novella", Roughly 17,500 words up to 45,000, with some gray area between it and a novel.

Below a novel is a short story, which is typically over 1000 words, up to about 7500. Again, gray area between that and Novella, although I understand some now call that gray area "Novelette".

Anyway, it sounds like you have written a Novella. It would not be considered a "Novel."

There are much fewer publishers that will take a Novella, most of them focus on Novels. There are economic reasons for this; for example, marketing a novella would cost just as much as marketing a novel (the ads are the same size, each impression costs just as much), but consumers are not willing to pay the same price for both. And producing a novella (cover art, actual printing) is not that much less expensive than producing a novel twice as long.

Answer 3

In the English-speaking publishing world, book length is conventionally not measured in pages but in word count. Most writing software will show the word count for a document.

Agents and publishers expect first books by previously unpublished authors to fall within a certain range. That range is determined by reader expectations and production cost. If your book is too long or too short for you genre, the likelihood that it will be rejected by an agent or publisher increases. Many agents have published blog posts listing recommended lenghts.

Here are some guidelines for a few select genres:

• Realistic Middle Grade: 25,000-75,000 words, sweet spot: 40,000-55,000 words
• Science Fiction and Fantasy Middle Grade: 35,000-90,000 words, sweet spot: 45,000-75,000 words
• Realistic Young Adult: 45,000-90,000 words, sweet spot: 55,000-80,000 words
• Science Fiction and Fantasy Young Adult: 50,000-150,000 words, sweet spot: 65,000-85,000 words
• Literary Adult: 70,000-100,000 words, sweet spot: 80,000-90,000 words
• Science fiction and Fantasy Adult: 90,000-125,000 words, sweet spot: 100,000-115,000 words

Different agents recommend slightly different word counts, and there are other genres with other ideal lenghts (Romance, Western, etc.), so if you know your genre, I recommed that you do a little web search and collect some of the numbers that get recommened and try to stick to a length that lies somewhere in the middle of what most agents recommend.