Am I totally wrong in saying that (and I read this somewhere) 80,000 was about the average acceptable length for a first novel? I think it was only a guideline, but it bothered me when my ms went up to 100,000.
Of course, as Teresa says, that might have been true for that week. This week might something else altogether.
I think you could probably ignore page count issues, though, until you get the contract. And then, whatever the publisher asks for, you do. The first step has to be to do everything you're asked in the guidelines, be a good little slave and bite your tongue a lot.
