Bug: Chapter 1 Review part 1

Chapter 1 Review

I have identified the following issue with Chapter 1 of Bug:

• It is 9k words long.

• For audio, this is about an hour.

Now let’s answer the question:

Is 9k words too long for an opening chapter

To find this answer I looked at some of the best-selling books in the genre as well as some of the books I own in the genre. I wanted to compare their opening chapter lengths to mine.

Books I own in the Genre

• Going Home - 6,599 words

Best Selling in Genre

• #2 Black Autumn: Surviving the Crash - 6,512

• #3 Undead Ultra - 2,080

• #5 Edge of Collapse - 1,703

• #6 Black Autumn Travelers - 2,707

• #8 The Girl at the End of the World - 3,493

• #44 The Stand - 3,701

I know that this is a small sample but I think it answers the question.

• The shortest chapter is 1,703. This means 9k words is about 528% longer than the shortest.

• The average chapter is 3,828. This means 9k words is 235% longer than the average.

• and the longest chapter is 6,599. This means 9k words is 136% longer than the longest.

It appears that this chapter needs to be cut in half.