Budgets and manuscript pages
6 Comments Published by Deanna Hoak July 3rd, 2007 in blog, copyeditingSomeone wrote to ask me what I meant in the last post about the budgets being kept artificially low by having books set in Times New Roman rather than Courier.
Here’s what happens at many publishers (big publishers are worse about this than small ones, generally, simply because they’ve been doing things the same way for so long): The production budget—copyediting, typesetting, proofreading, etc.—is set based on the number of pages in the manuscript, not on the number of words or characters or anything that would be sensible in the computer age. Just the number of pages. That might make sense if those publishers required a certain format for manuscripts, but they don’t. I get manuscripts from them in all kinds of fonts and point sizes and spacing. So a 100,000-word manuscript that is set in Times gets a lower production budget than a 100,000-word manuscript that is set in Courier.
Now, do the people in production know that this doesn’t make sense? Well, the ones I’ve asked about it certainly do. It’s just that publishing is very hidebound that way.
For myself, if I know that a manuscript is set in Times New Roman (or line-and-a-half spacing or 10-point type or whatever else), and if I know that the publisher will give me grief about going beyond the ten pages per hour they generally expect, I simply won’t take the project. I will spend the time on the book that it needs, and I turn down enough work that I’m just not willing to eat those extra hours.
6 Responses to “Budgets and manuscript pages”
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I'm a freelance copyeditor specializing in fantasy and science fiction. SF/F novels I have copyedited have been finalists for (and have sometimes won) the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke, Endeavour, Golden Spur, John W. Campbell Memorial, Quill, Locus, Philip K. Dick, British Science Fiction, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy awards. In 2007 I became the first and only copyeditor ever short-listed for a World Fantasy Award.
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OK… so here is a question. And I have been looking for a solid answer for ages now.
When submitting a manuscript what is preferred to calculate word count? The antiquated word count time 250 words per page in TNR formula or the computer count?
I have been told agents like the computer count, publishers and small presses that you submit to directly… like the page count times 250.
Any insight?
Mav
For novels, it’s perfectly fine to use your word processor’s word count, unless the publisher requests otherwise.
My manuscript currently has 237,000 words per MS Word, but its only 527 pages. Per the 250 words x 527 pages formula, its 131,750 words. Obviously this is a huge difference. Which is it? Can I use the lower figure in my query letter?
No, you definitely need to use the Word word count. The 250 words per page assumes that you actually do have close to 250 words per page, which yours apparently does not. (Perhaps you’ve set in Times, for instance, which skews that number hugely.)
thanks Deanna. it was a pretty silly to question to begin with, but what confuses me is that most of the paperbacks I read have 40 lines per page, with 10-12 words per line. I hate these fluffy, new age books like High Fidelity, et. al., with old-people font to fill up the pages. 250 words per page seems awfully skimpy to me. 400 would be closer to my preferred reading.
Well, the finished book won’t be set with the same font, font size, and spacing as your manuscript. The manuscript needs all the extra white space so that there will be room for edits, which are still often done on paper.