Quote:
Originally Posted by Pulpmeister
Words per page depends on publisher, book format, and period, rather than genre.
For instance, during WW2, paper rationing was severe, and in the UK paperbacks used thinner and cheaper paper, smaller type, and narrower margins, to squeeze a book onto less paper. In addition, peace time books would usually end a chapter, leave the rest of that page blank, and start a new chapter on a new page, sometimes a quarter or third of the way down the page. This wouldn't happen in the wartime; there wouldjust be a line or two skipped between chapters. A book that might be, say, 230 pages in hardback before the War could have become 180 pages in wartime paperback.
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I wonder if that in part explains James Michener's 1st book "South Pacific." As I understand it from what I've read by Mr. Michener himself it was crowded together in just that way. And of course a lot of the old pulps went out of business during WWII as well due to there not being enough paper to go round.