Start with the recipient
No ideal length suits every publisher. Check editorial fit and whether a complete work, excerpt or initial presentation is accepted. Distruttori di Terre illustrates a maximum in explicitly sized cartelle; reread the page before sending because it can change. Character quantity cannot establish quality or publication probability. Length is one condition among others, not a replacement for project relevance.
Identify the whole work
Establish which chapters, unified copy and attachments form the evaluated manuscript. Do not add a complete document to its duplicate standalone chapters. Move rejected drafts and notes out of the delivery copy into a safe separate archive. Alternative passages can otherwise inflate the count. Name and retain the delivered version. A changed ending creates a new version for later proposals.
Define scope
Check title page, contents, notes, bibliography, glossary and appendices; fiction and essays need not treat them identically. Body 342,000 + apparatus 18,000 = 360,000 characters; excluding apparatus leaves 342,000. Keep subtotals. Material missed by import remains part of delivery: check format limits and count required omissions separately. Visual length does not prove complete extraction.
Keep exact battute
Font size and white space do not establish battute apart from method-specific conventions. This site excludes line breaks; see the counting method. Use a clean text copy for an independent character counter check and prescribed software/method for the final result. Do not choose the lower result to pass. “About two hundred cartelle” can describe a work, but a precise ceiling needs unrounded quantity.
Convert the agreed unit
360,000 = two hundred cartelle of 1,800 or 180 of 2,000. State the divisor. If the required size is absent from calculator presets, enter a custom value rather than the nearest one. Reverse checks yield 200 × 1,800 = 360,000 and 180 × 2,000 = 360,000, useful when transcribing figures between sheets.
Pages describe the file
Report requested pages for the actual delivered document. Fonts, margins, spacing and chapter openings alter pagination, which cannot establish invariant text quantity or future book pages. Follow an explicit character-based page definition where given; otherwise use the specified page settings. Keep characters and pages separately labeled rather than inventing a fixed conversion.
Attachments have their own tasks
Manuscript, synopsis and biography can have separate thresholds. Measure and check each separately. Confirm that synopsis matches the delivered ending and other materials use the current title; numerical compliance cannot fix inconsistency. If only an anonymous manuscript is requested, do not prepend a biography automatically. Keep separate versions and measures when recipient instructions differ.
For details, see synopsis length requirements.
Declare and inspect
A useful statement identifies title, version, “360,000 characters including spaces, body and apparatus included, two hundred cartelle of 1,800”, adapted to actual requirements. Open attachments from the delivery folder rather than recent files and inspect beginning, ending and chapter presence. A right count of the right copy is wasted if another file is attached. Keep the sheet with the submitted files for later questions; it documents material rather than merit.
The complete manuscript and its units
| Example measure | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Body and apparatus | 342,000 + 18,000 | 360,000 characters |
| Cartelle of 1,800 | 360,000 ÷ 1,800 | 200 |
| Cartelle of 2,000 | 360,000 ÷ 2,000 | 180 |
| Book pages | Layout specification needed | Cannot be inferred from these data alone |
Sources and checks
- Distruttori di Terre, invio manoscritti · A manuscript maximum with a defined cartella size.