Question: How long are visual novels?

Light novel











Part of a series onAnime and manga
Anime
History
Industry
Original net animation
Original video animation
Fansub
Fandub
Companies
Longest series
Longest franchise
Lists
Manga
History
International market
Mangaka
Dōjinshi
Scanlation
Alternative
Gekiga
Yonkoma
Publishers
Best-selling series
Longest series
Lists
Demographic groups
Children
Shōnen
Shōjo
Seinen
Josei
Genres
Bara
Harem
Isekai
Magical girl
Mecha
Ryona
Yaoi
Yuri

Others
People
Mitsuru Adachi
Fujio Akatsuka
George Akiyama
Hideaki Anno
Hideo Azuma
Clamp
Osamu Dezaki
Tetsuo Hara
Mamoru Hosoda
Yukinobu Hoshino
Ryoichi Ikegami
Kunihiko Ikuhara
Ken Ishikawa
Shotaro Ishinomori
Ikki Kajiwara
Tomoharu Katsumata
Yoshiaki Kawajiri
Shōji Kawamori
Rakuten Kitazawa
Kazuo Koike
Satoshi Kon
Masami Kurumada
Kōichi Mashimo
Katsuji Matsumoto
Leiji Matsumoto
Hayao Miyazaki
Shigeru Mizuki
Hideko Mizuno
Shinji Mizushima
Daijiro Morohoshi
Tadao Nagahama
Go Nagai
Shinji Nagashima
Daisuke Nishio
Eiichiro Oda
Kyoko Okazaki
Mamoru Oshii
Rintaro
Takao Saito
Hiroshi Sasagawa
Junichi Sato
Sanpei Shirato
Masamune Shirow
Gisaburō Sugii
Isao Takahata
Osamu Tezuka
Akira Toriyama
Year 24 Group
Tatsuo Yoshida
Fandom
Conventions
Clubs
Cosplay
Anime music video
Otaku
Moe
Yaoi fandom
General
Omake
Terminology
Iconography
 Anime and mangaportalvt

A light novel(ライトノベル,raito noberu) is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students (young adult demographic).[1][2] "Light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called ranobe(ラノベ)[3] or, in the West, LN. The average length of a light novel is about 50,000 words,[4] the equivalent size of an American  novel,[5] and light novels are usually published in bunkobon size (A6, 10.5cm × 14.8cm), often with dense publishing schedules. A distinguishing characteristic of light novels is that they are illustrated with anime and manga art style, often being adapted into such media. They are mainly published in separate book volumes, while some of them have their chapters serialized in anthology magazines before collection in book form, comparable to how manga are published.
Details
Light novels are an evolution of pulp magazines. To please their audience, in the 1970s, most of the Japanese pulp magazines, which had already changed from the classic style to the popular anime style covers, began to put illustrations at the beginning of each story and included articles about popular anime, movies and video games. The narrative evolved to please the new generations and became fully illustrated with the popular style.  The popular serials are printed in novels.
Very often light novels are chosen for adaptation into anime, manga, and live-action films, and some of them are serialized in literary magazines such as Faust, Gekkan Dragon Magazine, The Sneaker and Dengeki hp, or media franchise magazines like Comptiq and Dengeki G's Magazine.
Publishing companies are constantly searching for new talent with annual contests, many of which earn the winner a cash prize and publication of their novel. The Dengeki Novel Prize is the largest, with over 6,500 submissions (2013) annually.[6] They are all clearly labeled as "light novels" and are published as low-priced paperbacks. For example, the price for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya in Japan is ¥540 (including 5% tax), similar to the normal price for trade paperbacks—light novels and general literature—sold in Japan. In 2007 it was estimated (according to a website funded by the Japanese government) that the market for light novels was about ¥20billion (US$170million at the exchange rate at the time) and that about 30million copies were published annually.[3] Kadokawa Group Holdings, which owns major labels like Kadokawa Sneaker Books and Dengeki Books, has a 70% to 80% share of the market. In 2009, light novels made ¥30.1billion in sales, or about 20% of all sales of bunkobon-format paperback books in Japan.[7]
There are currently many licensed English translations of Japanese light novels available. These have generally been published in the physical dimensions of standard mass market paperbacks or similar to manga tankōbon, but starting in April 2007, Seven Seas Entertainment was the first English publisher to print light novels in their original Japanese Bunkobon format.[8]  Other English-language publishers that license light novels are Tokyopop, Viz, DMP, Dark Horse, Yen Press and Del Rey Manga. The founder of Viz Media, Seiji Horibuchi, speculates that the US market for light novels will experience a similar increase in popularity as it has in the Japanese subculture once it becomes recognized by the consumer audience.[9]
Most light novels are published by Japanese writers, with very few exceptions. For example, Yū Kamiya, author of No Game No Life, is a Japanese-Brazilian writer who lives in Japan and publishes his novels through major Japanese publishing labels.
History
Popular literature has a long tradition in Japan. Even though cheap, pulp novels resembling light novels were present in Japan for years prior, the creation of Sonorama Bunko in 1975 is considered by some to be a symbolic beginning. Science fiction and horror writers like Hideyuki Kikuchi or Baku Yumemakura started their careers through such imprints.
In the 1980s, epic novels by Yoshiki Tanaka—The Heroic Legend of Arslan—took young male Japanese audiences by storm. Also, the RPG-inspired Record of Lodoss War novels achieved popularity. All of those were later animated.
The 1990s saw the smash-hit Slayers series which merged fantasy-RPG elements with comedy. Some years later MediaWorks founded a pop-lit imprint called Dengeki Bunko, which produces well-known light novel series to this day. The Boogiepop series was their first major hit which soon was animated and got many anime watchers interested in literature.
Dengeki Bunko writers continued to slowly gain attention until the small light novel world experienced a boom around 2006. After the huge success of the Haruhi Suzumiya series, the number of publishers and readers interested in light novels suddenly skyrocketed.
Light novels became an important part of the Japanese 2D culture in the late 2000s. The number of light novels series put out every year increases, usually illustrated by the most celebrated artists from pixiv and the most successful works are adapted into manga, anime and live action movies.
See also

List of light novels
List of light novel labels
Novel
Visual novel
Young adult fiction




 @ Reddit