How long should my first YA Fantasy Novel Be? I have seen posts that say it should between 40000 - 60000 And I have seen others saying it should be between 70000 - 90000 What would be the best length for getting an agent for my first time novel? Thanks.
Same question over and over again. 60 - 80k is the generally accepted ideal length for YA. The answer is not going to change.
I don't think it matters too much. As long as it is well-written and interesting, that is. Of Mice and Men had less than 30,000 words and I believe Animal Farm had a similar amount. That being said, that was a long time ago, and nowadays they are probably expecting more than 30,000 words, but you get my point.
Good example, Xyphon. However, today, I believe that people prefer short to long. Not novellas, but short novels. My next novel, regardless of YA or Adult demographics will be no more than 240 pages long (236 would be perfect). And when I advertise it in Kindle, I will make sure that I include in the description that the print length is 236 pages. Because I truly believe people would rather read short than long. Stephen King is coming out with a thousand-pager. But he's Stephen King. I'm going to get it, and I'll probably read it. But I'm not looking forward to it. But I collect his works, so I'm going to put up with it.
From what I've heard, most publishers won't even consider something as long as 1000 pages unless it is from an already famous author, or if it is really something special. I don't enjoy reading a 1000 page novel because more often than not, they are boring for a large portion of the novel. However, I wouldn't doubt Stephen King's ability to write a 1000 page novel. He did write The Stand, after all, and I believe the uncut edition was something like 1100 pages.
The standard for an average novel length is 80,000-110,000, and for YA, more like 50,000 - 80,000. But fantasies can be longer than average because of more time spent worldbuilding (not that you should infodump about it) and describing creatures, so you'd be fine clocking in at 100,000-120,000 for an adult/older teen fantasy and at 80,000-100,000 for YA fantasy. The first Harry Potter book is, I believe, around 92,000 words, and the first book in the "His Dark Materials" triology is about 115,000.
Look at YA novels you like, that are about the length you think you want to write, and check THEIR word count. Just make sure you're looking at contemporary YA, not stuff that's ten years old! That will give you a really good idea of what is being published now, by who.
