Many writers question whether or not the word count of their manuscript matters. In a nutshell, it does. Literary agent Steve Hutson says he has to keep in mind what a publisher expects when he's reviewing manuscript submissions, and publishers expect that the books he is pitching will meet genre expectations. Every genre has its customary word count range, per Hutson. If a manuscript is too far outside the expected range, an agent like Hutson can't help you. He might know one or two publishers that will accept the outliers, but he is looking for books that can be submitted to 30 or 40 publishers. If your manuscript is 20,000 words or 200,000 words, you aren't ready to submit. Know the appropriate word count range for your genre and edit your manuscript until you get there. Learn more about word count ranges by genre here.
There is a link in the last sentence of the article that goes to a page of word count averages by genre: www.authorlearningcenter.com/.../word-count-by-genre-how-long-should-a-book-be
what a disappointment! tell us average word counts per genre. This got us NOWHERE
what is the formula for figuring out what the word count on your computer will mean in terms of the number of printed pages when the book is published?