Your book’s title, word count, and genre is typically stated somewhere in the query letter, either in the first paragraph or at the end.
- Book title. Everyone knows your book title is tentative, so you don’t have to explicitly state the title is tentative.
- Word count. If your novel’s word count goes beyond 120,000 words, you have a challenge ahead of you. Eighty thousand words is the industry standard for a debut novel. See this post for a definitive list of appropriate word counts by genre. If you have an off-putting word count, some agents recommend withholding this fact until the end of the letter, once you’ve potentially hooked them. Minimum word count for most books is 50,000 words, with the exception of children’s literature, as well as some gift books and illustrated works.
- If you’re unsure of your genre, you can leave out any mention of it. However, if you do, be sure to draw a comparison between your book and another recent title published within the last five years.