How Many Words Should You Write?

Authors often ask: "How Many Words Should I write?" Michelle Vandepas, a veteran publisher and best-selling author, answers this question. [Video + Audio]

Authors often ask, “How Many Words Should I write?”  Michelle Vandepas, a veteran publisher and best-selling author, answers this question in this episode.

 

 

 

 

Full Transcript:

I’m Michelle Vandepas, co-founder of GracePoint Publishing, and I want to share with you today the number one question I get asked when people start to write their book and ready to get it published: they ask me, “How many words does my book need to be??”. I gotta tell you, there’s no right answer, however, if you think in your mind that you want a regular size book, like this one – it’s got a spine, it’s a standard size book, lots of words in there – you might think that’s around 40,000 words or so, maybe 50,000 words. Having said that, this book is just a tiny little booklet, it fits in the palm of my hand, there’s no spine (you can’t read the title here). I don’t know how many words this is, probably about 5,000 or so, and I love that book. Some of the other books that I’ve published are just little guides, and not a lot of words. Room for notes, it’s a great little book, selling really well. But there’s maybe 1,000 words in here, right? And so, the more important question to ask yourself is, “How many words will it take for me to really describe my message and what it is I want to say?” Then, work with an editor to polish that all up, and that’s the perfect amount of words your book should have.

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Michelle Vandepas - Publisher
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