Books are often classified by their word counts. If a book is a certain number of words, it gets a label slapped on it and that label can make or break a sale. It’s true that a synopsis and cover sells a book, but the label on the book type by word count can also make a big difference when it comes to the book being bought. In the current world of books and writing, there are a handful of labels that serve as classifications for works based on their word count.

Flash Fiction (100-1,000 words)

Short Story (1,000 - 6,000 words)

Novelette (7,500 - 17,500 words)

Novella (17,500 - 40,000 words)

Novel (40,000+ words)

These are the rules set by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) and many people take these word counts as gospel. If someone puts their heart and soul into a novel, but it comes up short at 39,000 words, people will be quick to shut them down and say, “No, that’s a novella, but good try.”

Personally, I think these word count rules are trash. The British Fantasy Society (BFS) sets novella length at 15,000 - 40,000 words. The Pulp Fiction publishers of the 1920s stated that novellas started at 15K - 30K and novels from 30K - 50K; anything lower was a short story. In the days of the cowboys, Street & Smith published paperback books called “Dime Novels” that were typically 20,000 - 30,000 words long and “Half-Dime Novelettes” that were around 8,000 - 15,000 words long.

However, even today, some “technically” novellas are heralded as novels.

For example, I Am Legend by Richard Matheson is often labeled a horror novel and its official word count is 26K words. The Curious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is 27K words and is called a novel. Personally, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe is labeled a novelette when it's only 2,200 words. So, as you see, there’s a bit of discrepancy in the use of labels. I recently got invited to write a novella for a publisher and the minimum word count was 10,000 words, so, again, a bit of discrepancy.

When I started writing horror, my goal was to bring back the “novelette” as a form of popular reading. The majority of my works are novelettes between 7,000 - 15,000 words; they are separated by chapters when most aren’t and this is because of a personal gripe I have. When a book doesn’t have chapters, I think it’s nothing more than a long short story. Chapters are what separates a short story from being a novelette, novella, etc. I might be the only one who gets picky about that, but that’s okay. However, I’ve also had some of my longer chaptered works labeled as short stories in reviews and I cringe at the thought of a novelette or novella being labeled a short story; especially when short stories have their own classification.

Taking a page from Carlton Mellick III, the Godfather of Bizarro, I’ve since decided to stop using the term “Novella” to describe anything from 15,000 - 40,000 words. I think the term “short novel” is more fitting, especially since the works can carry on and be compared to the regular novel form. I’ve also decided to refrain from the word “novelette” and use “Mini-Novel” since the works are chaptered smaller novel-like books. It might not make sense to some and it might make too much sense to others, but it adds an air of legitimacy to the books themselves, in my opinion.

I think everyone writing horror should stick with the Mini-Novel and the Short Novel because longer works grow tedious. I’m not saying that because I’m broken at writing anything longer than 35,000 words, but rather because I’ve read some books that would have been just fine without the random 10K words of fluff throughout. However, I know some people get a big swelling of pride at writing long novels and I can’t fault them for that. Just my opinion in general as a horror writer.

When writing horror, rather than a long work of jump scares or quiet creeps that will break the reader down overtime; why not write a bite-sized book that will punch them out instantly? Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror work better in small sizes than as long and drawn-out epics; especially since readers want gore, shock and hopefully, a plot.

That reminds me, and this is off-topic and may catch a lot of commentary, but I see people go into a long thesis on the difference between Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror. Let me clear the air here as I’ve come to understand it.

Splatterpunk is a genre of horror that is essentially horror with over-the-top gore, violence, and transgressive material that furthers the plot.

Extreme Horror is a genre of horror where it's just gore and insanity for gore and insanity sake.

Seriously, that’s it. I don’t know where people are getting the idea that Splatterpunk holds some pseudo-socio/political message for the masses against capitalism, fascism or whatever. You read The Cellar by Richard Laymon (or really, any Laymon book) and you find a horror story with seriously dark themes/actions in it … you don’t walk away with some pretentious message of horror houses being used for dark purposes of a capitalist society bent on making money by exploiting fears. I get it, because Splatterpunk has the word “punk” in it, that must mean that it’s a punk ideology.

Here’s an idea: What if it's called SplatterPUNK because it was a PUNK idea in the 1970s to take the bland horror story and add seriously screwed-up shit in it? I know, mind-blown right?

As for Extreme Horror, it’s just shock for shock, there’s no plot or message or deep-seated psychological concept to take away from it. It's for gorehounds and lovers of the extreme.

There, I just saved you a lifetime of thought on what commentary you were supposed to get when you read the next Splatterpunk novel on your never-ending TBR.

My advice? Write what you like and if it comes out as a story of love, loss and gruesome cannibalism; slap a Splatterpunk label on it. If it comes out as a bunch of idiots running around and brutally hacking nipples off shoppers at Walmart, then slap Extreme Horror on it. Or mix it up. It’s up to you.

And if someone says it's not long enough to be labeled as a novel, call it a short novel. Simple as pie.

ABOUT JERRY:

Jerry Blaze is an award-winning author of Horror and Bizarro fiction.

After achieving success in the erotic market, Jerry decided to undertake Extreme Horror/Splatterpunk/Bizarro fiction writing and released several books. Some of his books have been bestsellers on Amazon. He has been awarded the 2025 Golden Wizard Book Prize and the Literary Titan award.

Jerry is a fan of Grindhouse and exploitation films from the 70s and 80s, often modeling his work on them. He currently lives in the American Midwest, but travels often to get inspiration or to run away from angry mobs.