I read somewhere that a Science Fiction novel must be over 70,000 words to be considered for publishing. What is your experience with word count for Science Fiction? Have you published (self or traditionally) Science Fiction novels with less words? Was it successful?
Science fiction as a genre sits at the higher end of word counts, for both a debut novel or a release from an established writer. 70K is way too short for either of these scenarios. I'm only talking traditional publishing; I suppose anyone can self-publish against market trends and hope for the best. The sweet spot is at around 100K. You can probably get away with 90K at a minimum or 120K as a maximum for a debut novel. I presume we're talking about adult fiction? For YA, for sure you can get away with 60-70K, that's not unusual.
Thank you. That's a lot of words! (for the adult fiction) I was going by the classics like Asimov's Foundation, (70k words) Neuromancer, (80k) Do androids dream of electric sheep. (in the vicinity of 80k) Maybe word count has gone up since then. It looks like I will need to spend more time writing than I initially thought.
It also depends on the publisher. Example: Tordotcom (an imprint of Tor, and not to be confused with "tor.com") will only publish scifi of novella length. Ive read a few books published by them and they are almost always 250pages and below (shortest ive read was like 192 [EDIT] 106 pages) 70k is right around their alley
Thanks J.T. Woody. Something to think about. I'll see how I go. If stretching the story too much will sound artificial I will consider my options then. Hopefully there's enough material in my head to get to 90k, while still keeping it interesting.
