As I progress (slowly) on Spells of War, it appears that it won’t run to the 80,000 words or more that a respectable fantasy novel is supposed to have. But does it really matter? A thick book looks more impressive than a thin one on a bookstore shelf, but this work isn’t likely to see anything more than print on demand.

Some famous books have surprisingly low word counts. By industry standards, a “novel” has to be over 40,000 words long (some say 50,000). But Animal Farm is just 30,000 words long, and A Christmas Carol is a mere 28,000 words. That puts them in the novella category. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a mere novelette, coming in under 20,000 words.

Electronic publishing lets a work be whatever length it needs to be. Printed books compete on the basis of their physical appearance. With electronic ones, it’s not a factor; author recognition, design, and promotion become proportionately more important.

If you’re writing for a genre that has specific expectations, the word count will make a difference. “Category” novels, such as Harlequin romances, need to have a certain structure and word count. They’re commodities, and the reader wants predictability more than novelty. Genres like science fiction and historical fiction, on the other hand, are so broad that there’s no universal expectation. The readers are more concerned with whether it’s a well-told story.

Just be sure to present your work honestly. Don’t call a piece that’s 35,000 words long a “novel.” If you think it needs to be longer, add substance rather than padding. Mozart is reputed to have said his music had “exactly as many [notes] as necessary.” The same should apply to a written work.