Page Count
In my day-to-day life, I manage the proposal operations department for a government contractor. My team of proposal managers ensures that our company's proposals will be compelling - give the government a reason to hire us - but also compliant.
One of the biggest challenges when it comes to compliance is page count, or page limits. Most of the time, the Requests for Proposal (RFP) do not give us nearly enough pages to write what we need to write. So, we spend a lot of time and energy worrying about how to write as compelling a proposal as possible within the confines of fewer pages than we would like.
In my fictional writing, of course, I have no such constraints. In general, though, I like my books to be in the 300-400 page range. I think that makes them substantial, but not daunting to read. I remember when I was reading the Harry Potter series by Rowling, and each book was substantially bigger than the last, till the final book totaled well over 700 pages in hardcover (which is why it had to be two movies). I have no aspirations to write a book that long, though I suppose I should never say never.
But my father's biography is proving to be shorter than I would have thought, and perhaps shorter than I'd like. By the time it's done later this year, I suspect it will be only about 200 pages. If you had asked me, I would have thought there would be no way to cover the expanse of his life and career in so few pages. But that's where I am.
Interesting.
One of the biggest challenges when it comes to compliance is page count, or page limits. Most of the time, the Requests for Proposal (RFP) do not give us nearly enough pages to write what we need to write. So, we spend a lot of time and energy worrying about how to write as compelling a proposal as possible within the confines of fewer pages than we would like.
In my fictional writing, of course, I have no such constraints. In general, though, I like my books to be in the 300-400 page range. I think that makes them substantial, but not daunting to read. I remember when I was reading the Harry Potter series by Rowling, and each book was substantially bigger than the last, till the final book totaled well over 700 pages in hardcover (which is why it had to be two movies). I have no aspirations to write a book that long, though I suppose I should never say never.
But my father's biography is proving to be shorter than I would have thought, and perhaps shorter than I'd like. By the time it's done later this year, I suspect it will be only about 200 pages. If you had asked me, I would have thought there would be no way to cover the expanse of his life and career in so few pages. But that's where I am.
Interesting.
No comments have been added yet.
