While I’m on my writing soap box, abandon word count fixations. Write the whole damn thing. If you CAN break it up to relieve reader fatigue, go for it. If you feel like that would compromise the story, don’t.

HOWEVER, and this is something I struggle with, if you DO want to write a long book, consider shorter chapters or sections! I feel like it should be one or the other just to keep readers from tapping out over 2k word chapters.

In fact, thus far, my most common criticism is that it “looks intimidating”. When I press the issue, I come to the above conclusions. Either the book itself must be shorter, or the chapters have to be shorter. I feel like these are both reasonable approaches. You don’t want your readers getting lost in a sea of text!