[Gary Wassner]

My agent recently told me to keep my third book in my GemQuest series down to 350 to 400 pages. She said that publishers (and readers) are turned away by books that are too long.
Is this true? For me, if the book is good, the longer the better! How do you feel? Is length a deterrent or a lure?

(as it turned out, i was unable to comply anyway, and it ended on page 505)

[Loque]

well, it tends to make little difference in price i find so the longer the better, certainly if an established favourite of mine (such as david gemmell or feist) released a book of only 300 words i would be dissapointed.

[kray3]

I have no problem with the "door-stopper" fantasy books.

As you mentioned, as long as the content is good, and personally i have no problem with alot of description so this is easily met, then the lenghth doesnt really matter.

[Rob B]

Size matters not, it is the quality inside that is what matters most.

That said, I sometimes have a tougher time reading books shorter than 200 pages vs. books over 400 pages.

[Bardos]

I agree with FF.

SIZE MATTERS NOT.
QUALITY IS WHAT MATTERS.

[Corwwyn]

It seems to me that getting into the bestseller list gives you a licence to go long, but ultimately, yep, I agree with the above posters.

Quality will do it.

Bear in mind not too many authors start with big books:

R Feist's Magician had a built in reader base due to the Midkemia RPG already.

L R Hubbard's Battlefield Earth had a built in Scientology crowd readership, despite the book having naught to do with the "religion".

R Jordan had a number of shorter books before he embarked on WOT.

A long book is a bit of a risk, but if its a winner, then it's well worth the payoff.

It depends on your desire to make a big story, and how comfortable you feel making the leap (remember, your hardest task will be sweet-talking your agents/publishers).

Best of luck either way. http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Alucard]

I like both. Sometimes I like a "quickie". Other times, I like a nice drawn out fantasy. Man, that sounds suggestive. Oh well. But basically, as long as it's good, I could care less.

[Radthorne]

Having been in the long-book boat, I would encourage you to follow the advice of most of the posters here. I received very similar advice from Vonda McIntyre, of whom I had asked basically the same question. She told me to "...make the book as long as it needs to be. An editor will help you trim it if it needs it."

I think what the agent is telling you is what will help her to sell your manuscript (authors without long track records being a harder sell if they have big books). The production costs for a 700-pager are naturally higher than for shorter books, and a publisher always wants to minimize the risks.

My first book, The Road To Kotaishi, has just been picked up by a traditional publisher after having been out as a POD title since last June. In its POD form it is 697 pages (hefty), and the new publisher wants to split it into two volumes (not two "books" but two parts of one book, similar to what was done with Tad Williams's Green Angel Tower). This is purely from a production point of view, as the POD book size is 6 x 9 and their trade paperbacks are 5 x 7; to fit 697 pages into the smaller size would make the pages tissue-paper thin with phonebook size type.

We'll probably do the same with the sequel, which they have also picked up. It will be interesting to see how it works! (This is an independent press, not a New York house, so they can do things a little differently...)

Kevin Radthorne

Author of The Road To Kotaishi
www.sff.net/people/radthorne (http://www.sff.net/people/radthorne)

[Sar]

Shorter books need to be a lot more concise and punchy, whereas longer ones can develop the characters and situation. However a book should be well written regardless of size. This should be the criteria on which a novel is published - not size

[Aglaranna]

I don't buy/read books based on how thick or thin they are. Price wise there isn't much of a difference.

A longer book is great if the content is there - evolving characters, strong plot line and with descriptive story telling.