I was thinking, just how many words does one need to commit to paper to have a "novel" that is of publishable length? Obviously, there is no hard and fast rule, but is there a minimum? For example, I've read that 60K words is a count to shoot for, but is that an average, or is it a minimum? Like, if you have something that feels "done" and it's around 50K, is that too short?

Obviously I am asking for a reason. I have something that is in the 50K range, and I've been trying to "stretch" it, but it just doesn't feel like I can add words to it at this point.

Thanks, if anyone has any input.