[John Jarrold]

You're welcome to say I said so, if it helps! Look at it this way: long books sell, short books don't (in SFF terms, in the UK - and I think largely in the US). So when a publisher takes on a new writer, who will not be easy to sell to the book trade, do they make things MORE difficult for themselves by insisting they write at a length that is uncommercial? Not unless they are deeply stupid...