Paksworld

This is a very brief post relating to a comment someone made awhile back (and I’m too rushed this morning to look up–apologies.)   But I want to answer this while I think of it, since I meant to back then and didn’t.

What I remember is that I mentioned how many pages of the new book I had, and what the wordage was, and someone was surprised that it took that many pages (or was it that few??) for that number of words.

Back in days of yore, when I used a typewriter (and later, my first printer)  and was very, very short of money, I tried to cram as many words on a page as I could–double-spaced, because I knew manuscripts required that, but using elite rather than pica font size.  12 characters to the inch instead of 10.   Then I found out that Editors like to conserve their eyesight and strongly prefer 10 characters/inch.   Although I sold things submitted at 12 characters/inch (perhaps because I always used a clean ribbon and non-smudgy paper)  it wasn’t long before an editor asked if I could please, PLEASE use the larger font size.  Which means the writer needed more paper.   But by then I was making enough to afford the more paper, so I switched.

With electronic submissions, we don’t need to worry about the cost of paper (and yes, I know some still request paper submissions.)   What we do need to worry about is wordage, because every Editor has a size limit imposed by Publisher (sometimes overall, sometimes by genre, sometimes by author–what GRRM can get away with, First-novelist can’t, and GRRM didn’t on his first novel either.   There is, however, a standard manuscript format, used for decades, that allows you-the-writer and he/she/it/whatever the Editor to quickly calculate roughly how long the manuscript is.  Roughly.   Which is then easily translated into printed pages (by different equations depending on whether one-column for a book or two-columns for some magazines or three-columns (two text plus ads) for some websites.)   For ease of reading, Editor may, on his/her/its/whatever’s computer or mobile device change the font size to something that’s easy to read on the subway or the train or hanging upside down in a bat cave.

So.   10 characters to the inch, double-spaced, on an 8 1/2 x 11 page will, on average, yield really close to 200 words/page. If you write in short one-sound words you can cram more on a line.   If you write magnificently complex, elaborate, multisyllabic floridity, naturally fewer fundamental elements of meaning can be subsumed in one line.  Style matters.  But basically…200 words/page.  Lots of short dialog, you’ll come up a bit short.   Lots of long, explanatory paragraphs in simple language, you may get a bit more.

And yes, I do know your word processor has a word count feature, but mine (for instance) is teeny-tiny and down in one corner and I have to squint.  Page number (which isn’t going to exceed three digits no matter what) requires only a glance.   I’m now near the top of page 200, and the word count (squinting at five digits, no comma, dammit)  is 39478.   This ms. has some blank space between sections on purpose, and a fair amount of less-than-line-length dialogue.  By the end of the page it’ll probably be 39600.

When you’re writing on contract, Editor will often ask how it’s coming along.   The answer can be in either pages or word count, whichever makes you feel better, but Editor will likely use 200 words per, if you give Editor pages.  If you’re printing out as you go, for later editing, and doing it single-spaced to save paper,  Editor will react differently to “I’m 150 pages, about halfway”  and “I’m 300 pages, about halfway” unless you specify that the 150 pages is single-spaced.   (If you say you’re at 500 pages and halfway, editor will multiply by 200 and start worrying that it’s going to be too long.  Or not.  If you’re GRRM, no problem.  If you’re First-novelist, you may be reminded that your contract is for 110,000 words total.)

And why in the digital age would Editor worry about a book being too long?   Even if it’s only an e-book, it costs more to produce a longer book because of the editing, copy editing, make-up, and proof-reading.  All those take a given amount of time per page.  The people doing it either get paid by the page (copy editors who are independent contractors) or by the hour (publisher employees) and if it takes them twice as long to work on your book, they don’t have that time to work on someone else’s book.  (No, I’m not telling you not to write long books.  I write long books.   I like to read long books.  But realistically, long books cost more to produce, and thus are often priced higher–to keep the same profit margin–and thus take longer to recover those costs, besides Author, Editor, and Publisher having to listen to the complaints about the higher price and whether or not the Author wrote the book that long just to make more money off it.  [headdesk!!!])

So at some point in writing your book, whatever way you format the pages onscreen or print them for your own use, make a (digital) copy in standard 10 characters/inch (12 point)  type, double-spaced, and use that page count in communicating with Editor.  It will save you both moments of concern.  And when you submit it, do the same.   Until your Editor says “Why did you do that, we want it in teeny-tiny (or huge) Asimov Italic Bold, in orange on black…”

Which I promise you Will Not Happen (unless my Editor is reading this and decides to be funny next Halloween.  Have you ever looked at the Asimov font?  Eye-bending.)  (It was going to be a short post.  But I write long books.)