30 Tips for 30 Days: Kick-Start Your Novel and Get Out of Your Own Way. A Nano Handbook by Devon Ellington.
The following excerpt is copyrighted 2007 by Devon Ellington. It may not be reproduced in any print, electronic, or other form without permission:
Word Count:
The type of book you write determines your word count. Romance novels and many mysteries often come in between 75,00 and 90,000 words, while literary fiction and fantasy hover around 100,000. Do some research within your genre and figure out a rough number.
If this is your first novel, try to stay around the 100K ballpark. It will make it an easier sell when you get to that point.
Take your number and divide it by the days you plan to work. That will tell you your daily quota. Your quota is the number of words you need to hit every day in order to complete your work on time.
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