I’ll bet you never thought about it. But there are certainly answers that you need to know. This posting was triggered by a post from Sue Collier this morning which stated the following:

“What length constitutes a book? It varies widely depending on who you ask. The U.S. Postal Service says you must have at least eight pages to qualify. International postal standards dictate that forty-nine pages is the magic number, not counting the cover. Anything under that is deemed a pamphlet or periodical. The Library of Congress requires fifty to get an LCCN. We usually encourage at least sixty-four pages, depending on the subject matter.”

Lulu and Createspace usually require 24 pages.

But it does matter. That being said. Books are getting shorter. Lower attention spans. Lower budgets. Whatever the cause, it seems to be happening. I bought a so-called novel the other day that was barely 150 pages. In my mind, that was a booklet.

What do you think?