Word Count

wendy · Post by **wendy** » Mon December 6th, 2010, 4:28 pm

[QUOTE=LoveHistory;75507]Congrats to Chris and Proseking!

Fabulous news - especially in this tough economy. Many congratulations to you both.

fljustice · Post by **fljustice** » Mon December 6th, 2010, 4:54 pm

[quote=""cw gortner""]
My first Spymaster Chronicles' book, The Tudor Secret, is just under 100,000 words. Last week I learned to my astonishment that Target has picked it for February as a Bookmarked Breakout book, which will give it special display and in-store promotion. Costco has made a significant buy, as well, and Borders has selected it as a BOGO pick in February (on the Buy One, Get One table); the initial print run is also the largest I've had yet on a book. [/quote]

Congratulations, Chris and Proseking! Great news for the new year.

cw gortner · Post by **cw gortner** » Mon December 6th, 2010, 7:23 pm

Thanks to all of you for the congrats. It still feels surreal to me. Congrats to Michelle, too, on her Target buy! And to Proseking, on the new book. And To EC, on her new manuscript, which I can't wait to read. And to LoveHistory, for 89,000 words, no mean feat!

So, I believe only an acquiring editor performs actual editorial work, like revisions and cuts. If a book was first bought, say, in the UK, and then sold abroad to the US and/or other countries, those sales abroad are considered "foreign rights" and the editors purchase the book as is, in its original published format.

The UK probably has less stringent word counts overall. I remember aeons ago, when an agent I had was shopping a manuscript of mine, she got several rejections in the US based on length so she did a few submissions in the UK. We didn't sell the book but length never came up an issue; a bunch of other stuff did.

MLe, The Last Queen was bought in paperback by Target as general stock, so it had no special visibility in the stores. It just went out on the shelf to swim with the others. Target isn't a book store, per se; it's a big-box store that sells books, so the Book Club and Bookmarked Breakout levels are coveted by publishers. The article I linked shows how Tatiana's Key went nano based on its Target exposure. Not that this will happen with every selected book, naturally, but it's why Target has become such a prime buy.

Good luck with your edits. 110k is better, yes, and I agree: cutting can be very advantageous to a book, overall. I find that when I cut, I actually get into a different mode: the ruthless editor mode. As writers, we have to divorce ourselves from our prose and attack it with a proverbial ax. I like doing it now, but the first time I had to cut a manuscript significantly, I felt horrible. I imagine filmakers go through a similiar process when editing a movie for release. But, in the end, what stays always works better without the clutter.

Julianne Douglas · Post by **Julianne Douglas** » Wed December 8th, 2010, 6:25 am

Congrats, Christopher, on your awesome news, and thanks to you and everyone else to the very valuable information in this thread!

I'm 53,000 words in and just had a killer idea that will really add another layer to the ms, but will entail going back to the beginning...I'm trying to ignore it, but it won't go away.... has that sort of thing ever happened to you, and what did you do about it??

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Wed December 8th, 2010, 10:56 am

Write the killer unless you've got a close deadline. If the killer will take the novel to another level, then why settle for what you've got?

The fact that you're thinking about it and it won't go away is more or less telling you what you know already.

Libby · Post by **Libby** » Wed December 8th, 2010, 12:37 pm

Go back to the beginning Julianne and write it in. You won't be able to progress otherwise.

I've been in a similar situation with my WIP, except that it was stuff that I needed to take out. I had a 'bogus' sub plot that I knew wasn't working, but since I made the decision to cross out thousands of words the rest has flowed.

There's no need to get it right first time - and why waste such a good idea? I think that you always need to be open to re-thinking what you're working on.

SarahWoodbury · Post by **SarahWoodbury** » Wed December 8th, 2010, 4:45 pm

Honestly, I never get it 'right' the first time. Well . . . maybe I've never gotten it right at all, but I've rewritten both my most recent books 3 times--like ripped them apart and put them back together. You're only 53,000 words in so now is the time, as painful as it may be to do.

cw gortner · Post by **cw gortner** » Thu December 9th, 2010, 12:21 am

Ditto. Go with the "killer" idea. I just had something similiar happen with my second Spymaster book. After plotting the whole book out in a 12-page synopsis for my editor, I was washing the dishes of all things and *ping!* this whole new idea came over me. I tried to ignore it; I dreaded doing this synopsis over, as it had taken me almost 2 weeks to get it right.

But in the end, I did. That idea wouldn't let me alone. Of course, it's a synopsis and not 53,000 words into the manuscript. That is tough. Still, if it doesn't let you be, it means something. My sole warning would be, make sure the idea is truly strong enough to merit another layer in the book; that it will make the story all the more irresistible and enrich the readers' experience. Remember, extra plot points mean extra words . . .

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Thu December 9th, 2010, 12:25 am

[quote=""cw gortner""]Ditto. Go with the "killer" idea. I just had something similiar happen with my second Spymaster book. After plotting the whole book out in a 12-page synopsis for my editor, I was washing the dishes of all things and *ping!* this whole new idea came over me. I tried to ignore it; I dreaded doing this synopsis over, as it had taken me almost 2 weeks to get it right.

But in the end, I did. That idea wouldn't let me alone. Of course, it's a synopsis and not 53,000 words into the manuscript. That is tough. Still, if it doesn't let you be, it means something.[/quote]

Washing dishes is a very important part of the creative process

Actually I am only slightly tongue in cheek. Connect with water in some way - like putting your hands in it and let your mind wander and like as not an idea or a solution will come - really!

cw gortner · Post by **cw gortner** » Thu December 9th, 2010, 5:00 am

[quote=""EC2""]Washing dishes is a very important part of the creative process

Actually I am only slightly tongue in cheek. Connect with water in some way - like putting your hands in it and let your mind wander and like as not an idea or a solution will come - really![/quote]

Oh, whew. Good to hear it's not some freakish trait of mine. I actually do a lot of my best thinking in water. Interesting . . . Of course, it's not very glamorous to say on a panel: "Oh, yes! I thought of that while I was scrubbing my pots!" but the truth is, I often do.