Getting Published - Your Questions Answered

[fictionality]

Thanks for your advice. Do you really think that it is better to place a collection in the English market though I have already some contacts to American authors and publishers? I forgot to mention that I am a co-editor of Internova, an international sci-fi e-zine. I also publish stories there. We have Eric Brown and Justina Robson as proofreaders. They could surely help me to publish in the UK.

[Sonja Ravenscroft]

Not so much publishing per se-but related.


I know how to layout rough a manuscript, but what I want to know is how can I figure out how many pages the novel is actually going to be in book form?


IE, if I layout a manuscript, 1.5 spacing, 11 point font size, "regular" page layout on Word, right now I have about 250 pages of manuscript.

I am ASSUMING that would not be the final page count of an actual novel-is there a rule of thumb I can follow (IE something like 10 manuscript pages works out to 5 novel pages(or whatever)?

[KatG]

Thanks for your advice. Do you really think that it is better to place a collection in the English market though I have already some contacts to American authors and publishers? I forgot to mention that I am a co-editor of Internova, an international sci-fi e-zine. I also publish stories there. We have Eric Brown and Justina Robson as proofreaders. They could surely help me to publish in the UK.

Sorry, I missed this and then I was offline for awhile. Yes, America or England, whatever is easiest for you. The American magazines are interested in international submissions, but certainly get some free advice on good potential UK markets from Brown and Robson, if you can.

[KatG]

Not so much publishing per se-but related.


I know how to layout rough a manuscript, but what I want to know is how can I figure out how many pages the novel is actually going to be in book form?


IE, if I layout a manuscript, 1.5 spacing, 11 point font size, "regular" page layout on Word, right now I have about 250 pages of manuscript.

I am ASSUMING that would not be the final page count of an actual novel-is there a rule of thumb I can follow (IE something like 10 manuscript pages works out to 5 novel pages(or whatever)?

This is tricky because publishers can greatly alter type size, margins, etc. so that there isn't a standard amount for printed pages. I've seen books where the U.K. version is half again bigger than the U.S. version and vice versa. You can do rough estimates, though I don't know of any particular formulas. If you've got 250 ms. pages, then estimating it as 200 print pages would not be horribly off. It could be fewer print pages and it could be more, but a general rule of thumb of print being 3/4 of ms. page totals is probably safe enough.

[Sonja Ravenscroft]

This is tricky because publishers can greatly alter type size, margins, etc. so that there isn't a standard amount for printed pages. I've seen books where the U.K. version is half again bigger than the U.S. version and vice versa. You can do rough estimates, though I don't know of any particular formulas. If you've got 250 ms. pages, then estimating it as 200 print pages would not be horribly off. It could be fewer print pages and it could be more, but a general rule of thumb of print being 3/4 of ms. page totals is probably safe enough.

That's fine, I just needed a estimate, thanks! I just didn't want it to be the other way-250 ms. pages is like 500 printed! LOL.

I don't have plans to serialize my novel into parts

[MLSawyer]

Sonja Ravenscroft - I'm 210ms word pages (not double spaced), 118k words which is going through the final stages of the type setting and so on it looks like I'll be just over 300 pages in a paperback... but again I'm also size 12 font...

So in my attempt to be helpful I've probably not helped at all so I'll just end with a Merry Christmas...

[KatG]

That's fine, I just needed a estimate, thanks! I just didn't want it to be the other way-250 ms. pages is like 500 printed! LOL.

I don't have plans to serialize my novel into parts

Usually, everybody uses word count instead of page count. If you've got 25,000 words, that's maybe 100 pages. A 120,000 word fantasy novel would be somewhere between 450-500 pages, and so on.

[Mr.Diddles]

Usually, everybody uses word count instead of page count. If you've got 25,000 words, that's maybe 100 pages. A 120,000 word fantasy novel would be somewhere between 450-500 pages, and so on.

that's great info- i wrote and published my first e-book recently and i knew very well the word count but had no idea what so ever how many actual pages it was. BTW are we allowed to have signatures here? i couldnt find the option in the CP and i don't see anyone else using them??

[KatG]

that's great info- i wrote and published my first e-book recently and i knew very well the word count but had no idea what so ever how many actual pages it was. BTW are we allowed to have signatures here? i couldnt find the option in the CP and i don't see anyone else using them??

Nope, no signatures allowed. They apparently cause software and other problems.

[Mr.Diddles]

Nope, no signatures allowed. They apparently cause software and other problems.

...So I guess if anyone wants to check out my totally awesome book, they'll have to look in my profile under contact info and click on the link to my blog...?

[KatG]

Yes, and people do do that -- if you don't push them.

[PeteMC]

I did that. It was... interesting.

[brod99]

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[yuanyelss]

know with the Macmillian New Writing submission, you have(or used to) to submit the whole manuscript. A first draft will not do, you need to submit the best you can...

[runslikeariver]

I'm new here. I've read this entire thread and I wanted to talk about the half million word mark. It has only been three years that I've been wriing with a computer. I've spent most of my writing life (first story at six) with my good old trusty Brother typewriter. I wrote my first novel many years ago and I kept going back to it. In the end I had written four drafts from 1st page to last. Since it started at 120K I figure that's pretty close to half a million. I was daunted by the task of putting it into the computer one word at a time, but I finally did it.
Next week I will be submitting it to a publisher. It is the first book of a trilogy and I thought I would spend my time waiting for a decision to good use. I am just blocking out the second book. I've spent the past five years trying to learn as much about the business end of it as I could. It has been my understanding that to succeed in this business you have to know how the process works.
I have seen many valid questions and loads of good advice in here. The only thing I can add is that I love my craft with a passion unmatched by anything else in this life. To do the work, to learn the business and to accept one rejection after another calls for a deep and abiding love, an ability to be objective, an idiotic sense of optimism and a blind and abiding faith that I am doing what I was born to do. And luck helps. Did I mention courage? Takes lots of guts to do what we do.
So thanks to all those who have shared their advice and opinions. May we all live next door to Rawlings someday!