I'm asking this because I wrote a novel with 40K words, but somehow I feel it would sell more, or at least be more like a "novel" if I add stuff until it's 50K (I checked on Amazon and most best-sellers are 60K+). Now, the stuff I'm adding isn't entirely unnecessary: they fix some plot holes and add some background to the characters. Still, the novel reads just fine with the 40K.
Is my novel more likely to sell/become popular if it has 50K words? Or it won't make any difference?
40k is a good volume for a MG novel. YA is more like 60k. There are some questions here that give more detail.
If two books are equal in everything else, a publisher will buy the book with the "best length". But, as is more likely, if two books are different in everything including length, a publisher will buy the better book.
So, if your book is good enough that a publisher will buy it, length won't decide them against it.
I can't see that padding it out will make it sell better. It would put me off.
A novel doesn't have to be long to sell well. Look at 'Of Mice and Men', 'A Christmas Carol', 'Animal Farm', etc.
Since @what's answer and your comment clarified that it is neither MG nor YA, 40k is way closer to a novella than a novel.
A manuscript standard length is about 100k; the general range is 80k-120k.
Yes some best-sellers may be short, but the author name can help sell a thin book.
Now, it does depend on genre too, in some genres 60K may be the norm, while in others 150k-200k may be more common.
Personally if I am hesitating to buy a few similar books, I’ll decide based on width to get the most “bangs for my bucks”.
So yes, size matters :)
NB: Some great novels are created when 2 smilingly different ideas are merged. So maybe you could develop another concept to novella length and intertwine it with this one.
