Ordinary Day

That should be marketable if you find the right agent. What I've heard since finishing my MS was 80K-120K for mainstream, 90K-130K for SF/fantasy. When I was shopping the MS around, one agent told me she'd take a look if I got it up to 70K, another said 65K.

At the time I felt it would be easier to write a new one than to add 20,000 words without weakening the story, so I got started on the next one and searched Ralan's for small presses that would look at a manuscript under 50K.

But if professional agents were telling me they'd look at 10,000 to 15,000 words under the standard minimum, then,unless I was badly misinformed--which seems unlikely--you shouldn't have trouble with 5,000 under what I've heard was the maximum.