Word count?

Hey there-

Just popping in like I do once every five years or so to ask if anyone knows anything about the word count of your average decent book to go with the deck. For a deck of say, oh I don't know, eighty-one cards. Like a nice sort of book with pictures and maybe even a hard cover, not a LWB, but the kind you get in a boxed set with the cards.

It's proving kind of tricky to get an idea of how long they are and I figured someone here might know off the top of their head.

Thanks!

Books associated with decks vary in length dramatically. I have seen anything from 8,000 to 140,000 words. The average for a full book (not a LWB) seems to be somewhere around 50,000 words, but there really isn't any standard length.

I guess it depends on what you want to cover, for example, do you want to go into detail about the creative process and your views on the cards, or just list keywords associated with each one? Do you want to include suggested spreads or advice for beginners?

On the whole, a page to a page and a half on each Major and three quarters to one page on each Minor. Usually includes some spreads and some comments from the creator(s). If the art is unusual, then some narrative on the art itself.

My own approach would be to write everything I thought was important, and then I'd stop.

But your publisher may have other ideas. Have they set no guidelines at all?

I don't have a publisher, that's why I was asking. I can run off a bit writing, and I didn't want it to be too long. It looks like it would be about 100,000 words with all the sections included.

I don't know if this will help you at all, but my Marseille Tarot Companion, included as a book with Lo Scarabeo's Universal Marseille kit, is about 20,000 words. The published book is smallish, at 64 pages. The word count was dictated by the publisher. That limit was sufficient for me to include page- to page-and-a-half texts for each Trump, as well as short chapters on comparisons of different decks, tarot history, Marseille deck history, and an in-depth discussion of reading methods and a sample reading.

There wouldn't have been space at that word limit to include texts for the pips and courts, but that was fine since the book shows readers how to create their own meanings, so pip and court texts would actually have been counterproductive.

My Tarot of Dreams Guidebook, included as a digital file with the original edition of the Tarot of Dreams, was about 50,000 words. This was a more standard size book with full discussions of both Majors and Minors.