Question 20

Would Agents reject an adult romance contemporary novel based on word count? Mine is 70k and I do not want to query it because I am scared of rejections. I tried expanding it but this is all I can come up with.

You can find this mentor, Sarah T. Dubb, here!

Thanks for writing in! I don't think you need to worry about 70k words being an automatic no from agents. It is a little low on the word count for what might be typical in adult contemporary romance (where most word counts tend to be between 80-90k), but plenty of category romances come in at 70k words, and it's definitely within a reasonable range. That said, if you're feeling insecure about it, have you reached out to any beta readers? Having people read your draft and give feedback is a really important step in preparing to query, and it might help you identify places where readers are eager for more information/action/expansion of themes.

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Question 19