What classifies an actual book?

Question

What makes an actual book legally a book?, and not simply a publication/article/review/journal/paper? How many pages at minimum does a Book have to be to make at least paperback form, and to be sold at no less then $10.00 a copy? I have a work in progress for fiction/non-fiction and wanted to know exactly what it takes to get it published as a "book", I realize technology today is kinda putting a damper on "Printed" Media, and I think this may be one of the more serious questions on Yahoo! Answers that doesn't have an exact answer many places online, so I can't simply "search" for it and thus am properly using Yahoo! Answers, hope you are happy? Oh and furthermore are citations needed for a book? do I have to quote sources becuase its a completely original work of fiction/non-fiction too, thus I don't need any sources. Thanks for all the serious intelligent answers. ;)

Answer 1

It will depend on the genre, but there is no set minimum number of pages required. As long as you can convince a publisher that the book is worth printing, they will. Many books for very young children are less than 10 pages, for example. An agent could tell you whether your book is marketable or not.
As far as quoting sources, you go on to say that you don't have any because your work is entirely original, so I'm not sure how this applies. I think you've answered your own question here.

Answer 2

I hope you don't mind the long answer.

A piece of work is a book if a publisher puts it into book form and sells it as a single entity. Number of pages has little to do with it, because the size of print, and size of the page can cause a differance even with the same work. Number of words is more important to an agent/publisher. And that varies with the genre. A childrens book is much shorter than one meant for young adults, and that is shorter than an adult novel. Paperbacks are not always shorter, but yes some are, such as the mass market paperbacks that pump out romances by the hundreds. A literary book can go to 100,000 words or even more, but the bulk of novels are between 80 and 100 thousand. (250 to 400 pages printed novel) I have some non-fiction research books that are less than 200 pages. (note that articles, short stories, essays, peotry, are printed in magazines, anthologies, or collections, and are not books by themselves.)

Prices on a book are set by the publisher and a novel can cost as little a they want, I've seen books on the internet for less than $5, and I've seen paperbacks that are priced at $25 (way overpriced) so price is not a criteria either. Only the fact that a publisher had printed or posted the book as being a single novel or group of short stories/poetry, etc that are available in one bond unit.

Print books will never go out of business, but they are changing and it is becoming harder all the time to get into print. They want to know that when they print up 5,000 copies of a book, that they will be able to sell them. While on the internet, epubed or print on demand books are a dime a dozen (and seldom as well written although there are exceptions).

You say you are writing a fiction/non-fiction work... It can't be both and you will need to research the right market for your book so make sure what you writing. I've been told that non-fiction, in some cases, is easier to get in print than fiction.

I'm not sure what you mean by citations, but yes you do have to put the source of all quotes, and you have to get permission before printing. A reputable publisher/agent should be made aware of that, too.

You should mark any sources that you get any information from.

I write historic suspense/mystery set in the Civil War era and I carefully track the sources of information. Though I don't use quotes from these books, I feel that it's a curiousy to list the books. Those interested enough in the period may want to read more, though this isn't a necessity.

Good luck. Visit my site and contact me if I can be of other help.

Answer 3

A book is a set of pages most often more then 10.Look at all the children's books,they sometimes only have 6-8-or maybe 10.
A book can have a hardcover as long as you want to pay for it,no matter how may pages.I think a book has to have over three hundred pages to be a novel.
It will not matter to a real book reader as long as he likes what he is reading.I have read twenty books in the last four months,they had anywhere from 200 to 1000 pages but if a book does not peek my interest in the first two chapters it goes back on the shelf.
I you took something out of another book you have to give the source unless it is a public book like an encyclopedia but it would be nice to mention what set it came out of.You just don't want to plagiarize someone else work.If in moult ask a Liberian.
Good luck with your book,keep your mind on the writing and the rest will take care of itself.

Answer 4

There are no hard rules for cost, length or format.

You can do "publish on demand" or E-book.

No one can tell you how much or how little to charge for whatever you are doing. This is a market-based concern.

The cheapest way to publish is in booklet format - a stapled, half-page formatting you can self publish on your own at home with copies and staple your own covers, and sell it for whatever you want.

You answered your own question about sources.

Secret: re "recommendations" by famous people in related fields - the author of the book to be published usually writes the quote they think that person should make, and sends it to the famous person with a galley copy of book, to sign off on. They either do or don't sign off.