Question --

[mmerriam]

Hey writers, when you send out a manuscript (especially a novel) are you using word processor word count or the standard publishing formula (which usually yields 250 words a page in Courier 12pt)?

Comments

[rarelytame.livejournal.com]

I use processor word count (Word), but I round when reporting my wordcount at the top of the MS or in the cover letter--usually to the nearest hundred.

If I'm sending out short fiction and my word count is slightly under or over the guidelines, I rewrite until it falls comfortably within the guidelines.

If I'm sending out a partial of a novel, I'm more lenient about going over, if the end of a chapter is at 52 pages, say, and the request was for the first 50.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I've been using word processor count rounded up to the nearest reasonable number, but I had wondered if publishers, especially traditional print publishers, would prefer it the other way for typesetting purposes.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

By the time it gets to typesetting, the book will have gone through revisions and editing and proofreading -- and the number will change. Even without all that, the typesetter will be making his own count.

The count is just to give the editor an idea of how long the book is. Word processor count, rounded to the nearest thousand, is fine.

B

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

You'd think as long as I've been doing this I wouldn't even need to ask. I've been using word processor count, but I was taught the other way back in the 1980s. I figured it was a good question to ask, just in case.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

They will do their own count if it matters to them. You can just make up a number if you like; it wouldn't make you particularly unusual.