What it means
A novella is a work of fiction longer than a short story and shorter than a novel. The most cited thresholds are the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association's award categories: short story under 7,500 words, novelette 7,500–17,499, novella 17,500–39,999, and novel 40,000 and above. Outside genre fiction the terms are looser, and many publishers call anything under about 50,000 words a novella.
Classics of the form include A Christmas Carol, The Metamorphosis, Of Mice and Men and Animal Farm — all around 25,000–30,000 words, all read in a sitting.
As a printed object a novella is thin: 30,000 words at a 6 × 9 in trim is roughly 100–120 pages, which is why novellas are often set at a smaller trim size (5 × 8 in) with generous leading, or collected two or three to a volume, so the spine has enough width to carry a title.
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