RARA-AVIS: Why books are over two hundred pages

robert bee (Baldrick@worldnet.att.net)
Fri, 11 Sep 1998 09:16:58 -0700 Hi,

My name is Rob. I'm a lurker who has posted a couple of messages, but on a
couple of occasions when I've tried to post something it didn't show up on
the list for some reason.

I agree with Fred and Mario that short hardboiled novels are among the
strongest in the genre, including the work of Goodis, Willeford, Hammet,
etc. The problem is that currently publishers have the idea that long
novels sell better. Note: publishers are not asking for more complex,
developed work, they just believe longer sells better. This trend is
connected with the decline of the short story. In the 50s for example
there were 18 professional mystery mags. Now there are only three. For
some reason length equals "marketability."
To continue this thread, I am a writer and I have been researching markets
for hardboiled novels. Most publishers require novels to be a mininum of
75,000 to 80,000 words, whereas some of the better hardboiled novels of the
50s were around 50,000 words. Cain would have problems publishing these
days.

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