Typical Word Count for Humor Books

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CrankItTo11

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I'm trying to find typical word counts for humor books. I know a long time ago I saw a reference to a website where you could find word counts on published books. Anyone know where that website is... or was it all just a dream?

Thanks!
 

CrankItTo11

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No one wants to take a stab at answering this?

Would a 20,000 word humor book be marketable? What about a 200,000 word humor book?

Someone - stab, stab, stab.

Please?
 

mpclemens

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20K sounds pretty slim to me, but humor is such a broad category, that maybe I'm misunderstanding. Is this a work of fiction? If so, I'd look for the typical length of a work of fiction, and not focus on "humorous fiction." If you're writing a collection of essays (think Dave Barry) then look for typical essay lengths. The funny will take care of itself.

One of my favorite humorous writers is P.G. Wodehouse, and both his short stories and his novel-length works crackle along. There is not "ideal" length for a Wodehouse -- the story is as long as the story needs to be, and the humor leavens it. Unless he was writing on spec, I doubt he sat down at the typewriter and said: "Right, 25K word piece. Tally ho!"

My own humor-infused book (shameless plug) is a fantasy parody type of book. It was drafted during NaNoWriMo, and after edits, comes in around 60,000 words. But that's just how long it needed to be.
 

CrankItTo11

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20K sounds pretty slim to me, but humor is such a broad category, that maybe I'm misunderstanding. Is this a work of fiction? If so, I'd look for the typical length of a work of fiction, and not focus on "humorous fiction." If you're writing a collection of essays (think Dave Barry) then look for typical essay lengths. The funny will take care of itself.

One of my favorite humorous writers is P.G. Wodehouse, and both his short stories and his novel-length works crackle along. There is not "ideal" length for a Wodehouse -- the story is as long as the story needs to be, and the humor leavens it. Unless he was writing on spec, I doubt he sat down at the typewriter and said: "Right, 25K word piece. Tally ho!"

My own humor-infused book (shameless plug) is a fantasy parody type of book. It was drafted during NaNoWriMo, and after edits, comes in around 60,000 words. But that's just how long it needed to be.


Thanks for your reply! Sorry about the dramatic pause in my response.

I have a few humor projects that I'm kicking around right now. The one that I am specifically concerned about is, I'm afraid, too short. It's a little guidebook for a fictitious scenario (this isn't it... but similar to a field guide for surviving the robot uprising. That type of thing.) So it is definitely not a novel where I'd follow the standard ~80k recommendation. I have a feeling the joke will run it's course by 25,000 words or so. Maybe 30K.

I think it's pretty funny, but I'm not sure it is marketable as a book. Too slim, right?

In another thread (I ended up asking this question over on the Agent forum) someone suggested it might be a "gift book."

Thanks!
 

Ken

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... it's gotta be long enough for readers to sink their teeth into, or dentures if catering to an older audience. And that goes for just about any sort of book. Yours would seem to have a fair amount of blank space, between each guideline as opposed to continuous text. So try to calculate by the page. If your 20,000 words would fill up 100 or more pages then possibly you've got just about enough. I've seen humor books that slim. It couldn't really be less than that though. G'luck.
 

DerekT

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I'm no expert, but I co-wrote The Little Book of Cynics - an impulse buy collection of quips and witticisms. Essentially it comprised 100 or so gags. Probably still out there on Amazon as used, as it's now out of print apparently.
 

Once!

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I would have thought that a humorous book might work at 20,000 words if it is fairly self-contained (eg a collection of jokes). But a humorous novel at 20,000 sounds a little bit too short. It needs to work as both a novel and humour.
 

Rick G

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I'd say it depends on the type of book. Is it straight humor, or a full story? A solid story, humor or not, should be able to support any size (ie my longest is a horror comedy coming in at 96k).

Also, if you think it's too short then price accordingly to size. Ie $.99 for a novella size.
 

Tiarnan_Ceinders

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I can contribute a bit since I've actually published a humor book.

If it's a collection of gags or short jokes, you should take a look at previously published books by the company that are reminiscent of yours. I found that my publisher usually did books with around 100 pages and the books were quite small, so there were three short jokes per page.

So when I pitched my idea, I provided them with the first 30 jokes, and told them my plan was to write 300-350 just like them, so the bad ones could be cut from the book without them ending up short on jokes.

Worked like a charm.
 

ryanswofford

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I'm hoping to have mine done at about 60,000 words, same as most novels (roughly 200-230 pages). But like Tiarnan said, you could also write a collection of gags - a great idea!
 

feath

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I'd say, as long as it takes to tell the joke. joke books could be quite small - as big as it takes to list them all. Where a book that is a typical story, with humor woven in, can be as long as it takes - I'm thinking of Terry Pratchett's works.
 

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20K words sounds like about 30 or so pages. Is that right? If so, it may be close for an "airport book" (the .99 cent download you read while waiting for your flight).

I'd be curious to see what others think about 30 - 40,000 words for such a book.
 

Clifforis

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20K words sounds like about 30 or so pages. Is that right? If so, it may be close for an "airport book" (the .99 cent download you read while waiting for your flight).

I'd be curious to see what others think about 30 - 40,000 words for such a book.

I thought the standard was about 250 words per page? so 20k would be 80 pages

I am coming to the end of my WIP, a satirical murder mystery with elements of crass sexual humour, and am concerned about the length (48,500 words). I like it as it is but for some reason have an overwhelming desire to make it 50k, so am looking for ways to pad it out.

Probably not the best way to approach things :Shrug:
 

HoldinHolden

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I researched this to death as well. I have a self pubbed non-fic parenting humor book, and am revising my 2nd. I couldn't find specifics, but what I gleaned from scanning the web for answers was around 50k is a pretty solid number (this is non-fic humor). I always read that numbers like 20k wouldn't get published, but I suppose it also depends upon what avenue of publishing you're looking at. As a self-pubber, you can publish anything you want, any length, any format.
 

Koulentis

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'Eats, Shoots, and Leaves' is humorous non-fiction and has 45K words. David Sedaris collections and the Barnes & Noble selection of comedian memoirs also run about the same. Even Jeff Foxworthy's latest (he sells more books than anyone) is around 45K words. A 45K single tale humor book is rare. The 80,000 humor novel is exceedingly so.
 
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