How long should my manuscript be?

Question

It's my first attempt at a murder mystery novel, and I wrote without worrying about length. I just wrote until I was done. Now I am afraid that it is too long. My word count comes in around 109,000. Do I need to butcher it to prevent agents/publishers from being scared off?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Your book needs to be as long as you think it needs to be. The only people you should listen to is the publishers They are the ones who will tell you how much it needs to be cut and other things like that. If an agent thinks that your book is to long then they will probley say almost the same thing that i have just said and really to tell you the truth it dose not matter how long the novel is as long as the reader likes it

Answer 2

That's about 420 book pages. For a murder mystery page turner that's a good number of pages to tell a story. No, when you make your first contact with an agent, usually they just want a query letter. With a publisher, it varies. Some want the first chapter only, some want just an outline.

Answer 3

Your book is too long. Not that it is 109,000 words, but that you need to edit the book if you haven't already done so. You need to cut roughly one word per sentence on average. Go over your work and snip away. Make things clearer, use action verbs, cut the fat.

Answer 4

there is no set length. when you're satisfied that you've told your tale, it's the right length. have you seen the length of some books? Michener, King, Rowlings are all long novels.

Answer 5

As a new author you need to keep your book under 120,000 words until you have a name and you have done that. Its not too long.

Answer 6

No, not at all. 110,000 words in a book is still okay. I just read a great mystery novel at 210,000 words!