A Question of Length

"But I'm paying for 80,000 words," one of my authors complained.

She signed up for an 80k-word book, but now we're halfway through it's clear it's more likely to come in at 50k–60k words.

It's not that I couldn't write 80k words. But they wouldn't necessarily all be good words.

I've trimmed a lot of fat, removed reams of detail, and focused on the stories that will mean most to a reader.

If it was any longer, it would become shapeless and bogged down in extraneous details.

As it is, it's going to be a great book.

(TBH, I suspect 80k words is too long for any business book by a first-time author. That many words take a long time to read … and readers are unlikely to commit for an author they don't know.)

As I reassured my author, "If there's enough good stuff left over, it can go in book two!"