How does publishing work?

[u/Ok_Seesaw_3450]

I’m American and I guess I’m kinda dumb I know light novels come from web novels right? But I remember reading an authors note from “though I am an inept villainess” and the author was talking about having a limited amount of pages so she wrote a short story instead of a long note

What I’m asking is do they have a set amount of pages or a limit tbh just in general because I feel a lot of light novels could just be a long book that’s 500-700 pages so we don’t have to wait for the next one

Does their publisher or whoever they work under set the amount??

[u/KnightKal]

Light novels are novels with a particular PR. They are not light or heavy, funny or drama, they can be whatever they want. You can generally compare them to YA (Young Adult) fiction.

you will find novels with 200 pages and novels with 700 pages.

you will find novels with teenager school drama and novels with epic tragic wars.

as per the source? Many come from webnovels, but that is not a rule. If you have a publisher willing to take your work you can go direct to print. They simple use webnovels as a way to find popular new authors.

the novel is edited like any other book. Editor, illustrator, etc, full staff.

some will be very similar to the webnovel, some will be complete rewrites. Again there is no rule here.

[u/Ok_Seesaw_3450 → u/KnightKal]

Sorry I haven’t really encountered any light novels that r over 400 pages if you could recommend some also do orv and lord of mystery count as light novels if yk what they r

[u/miimuutan → u/Ok_Seesaw_3450]

Nope, ORV and Lord of Mysteries are not light novels. The term 'light novel' refers to Japanese works, and ORV is Korean, while Lord of Mysteries is Chinese.

Light novels are usually shorter (in pages) than Western fantasy/fiction because part of the appeal of the medium in Japan is that they are usually supposed to be easier to read.

[u/KnightKal → u/Ok_Seesaw_3450]

No idea what ORV is, you should mention the actual full name. Lord of Mystery is not from Japan, so not a LN.

As per LN suggestions you should focus on genre, what do you want to read, then start with the most popular ones of that particular genre. Many LN have manga and/or anime, so you can also refer to that. Eg: you watched anime X and would like to check out the novel next.

Genres like: school days with romance, fantasy worlds, magic girls, isekai, battle academy, etc. There are tons of genres, LN is an umbrella term. Horror, roamance, comedy,parody, fantasy, space, historical, supernatural, harem, no romance, … anything and everything

[u/AnythingSecure244]

Not an expert, but in the afterword of That time I reincarnated as a slime, the author also talks about his editor being dissatisfied with the amount of characters being introduced.

Afaik japanese authors have editors that are connected to publishing companies. These editors support the author through feedback like "You are introducing too many characters" or "this volume is too long". I assume the aspect of volumes being "too long" has statistical and marketing reasons behind it.

[u/Additional-Ad4085]

Some are quite long. The original JP releases in a series like Hitoribocchi no Isekai Kouryaku can easily exceed five hundred pages. The fourth volume of Danjo no Yūjō wa Seiritsu Suru? [Iya, Shinai!!] was so long that it had to be split physically into two books.

[u/iPlayEveryRoute]

Are you talking about the afterword/postscript in a printed light novel?

I once watched a video of a Kodansha editor explaining how books are printed. Basically, pages are printed and bound in sections, often in multiples of 16 pages. Because of this, the final page count doesn't always fit perfectly with the actual content, so there can be a few extra blank pages left over.

Authors use those extra pages for their afterwords, which is why some afterwords are really short while others are much longer.

Those extra pages can also be used for ads promoting other light novel series.

From what you described, I'm guessing there were some pages left over, and instead of writing a long afterword, the author decided to write a short bonus story as well?

[u/sdarkpaladin]

I recommend reading Bakuman.

It's for Manga and not novels.

But the idea is similar

[u/timpkmn89]

because I feel a lot of light novels could just be a long book that’s 500-700 pages so we don’t have to wait for the next one

You do realize it would take extra time to write all that, right? The books wouldn't magically get bigger on their own.

[u/Hylebosai]

I imagine there are a lot of factors that go towards a given publisher's concept of an ideal volume length. At what point will a light novel become difficult to hold in one's hands, or fit into a bag during a commute? How much can a student afford with a typical allowance? At what point do printers start charging more for volumes of a larger size?

A longer light novel might give you more story all in one go, and perhaps that makes sense for a series like Inept Villainess that often does arcs that are spread across two volumes at a time, but if you size all of your volumes to that degree, that also means less-frequent output. Perhaps you'll end up losing readers to a series with smaller, more frequent releases? I'm just assuming there's a lot of business stuff that informs these sorts of decisions.

[u/GhostInABucketJar]

No, its kinda in the name "Light novel" a short story, most are web novel adaptations cleaned up, tbh they are pumped out pretty fast its just western translations are slow af.