I think it's also interesting that Sanderson is on record suggesting that starting with an epic fantasy book is a daunting prospect and one he wouldn't recommend, that it was his 14th book that finally got published. But I still think setting this as the benchmark for a debut novel makes it harder to break into publishing.

You're right, Brian, that I was going across all the genres, and epic does run longer than any others. In fact, I would argue that these figures tell me the opposite of what you mean, and that only a handful of successful sff authors are succeeding in putting out such long works, and if you are an aspiring sff author with something at 200k to give yourself the best chance possible, it would be better to edit it down, if you can, or split it into two books.Įdit: lots of posting while I waffled on. The bottom line is if you take these figures as a guideline when you are starting out you limit your market, you limit yourself to specialist sff agents, and you give yourself less chance to succeed. Ergo, since the thread specifically says this is info for debut books, I think it is very misleading to anyone dropping in. The Wars of Light and Shadow – Janny Wurtsīut, ahem, using my thinking cap tells me that these are all established authors and once I am established - ha! - i, too, might get the leeway to produce an epic piece of work should I choose to do so. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever – Stephen R. Scott BakkerĪ Land Fit for Heroes(?) – Richard Morgan King Killer Chronicles - Patrick Rothfuss Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson Joe Abercrombie - First Law (& standalones)Ī Song of Ice And Fire - George R. I've been doing some research into epic fantasy word counts recently, especially to get an idea of debut novel figures over recent years.Īnyway, here's the figures and facts I have so far - looks like big debut novels are anything but unusual in epic fantasy now:ĮDIT: General word counts in epic fantasy series included for reference

The night angel trilogy