Again, I don't understand why this should motivate him to release it as one book, instead of two, if he gets the opportunity.

I do not mean that the book should be cut to fit an arbitrary size.

I mean he should pressure the publisher as much as possible because IT IS POSSIBLE to publish 400k books. Add more lines on the page and you suddenly decrease the pagecount by 200 or more.

If the book is complete at 300k, then I'd say he should be able to edit and make the best thing at, say 350k at most?

350k = roughly 800 pages. It's not the end of the world.

If it's 300k it can comfortably squeeze in 700 pages or so.

Hmm. I'm attempting to summarize a few points here, but I don't have the time to go hunt the little bits that are relevant.

For now I got one:

It is almost exactly 300 000 words as it stands.

Yes, but I can’t really comment on them. TUC wraps all the arcs established through the series thus far – brings me to the end of my original story idea, way back when. If I were to keel over tomorrow, the mortician would have to use forceps and wire to wipe the shit-eating grin from my face.

1- 300k words, or 350, or even 400 shouldn't motivate a split in two books. That's why, regardless of the volume of stuff, Bakker should push as much as he can to do all of it in one volume.

2- The hype here is about Bakker playing his hand. For years he teased some big splash. Regardless of sequels past TUC what we expect is that he plays his hand fully, instead of keeping hiding it. So this plays a role in how the book will be received. It isn't much about "closure" to plotlines. It's about him being generous about the point of the series, instead of just teasing something that never actually comes.

So, it's not much a case of TUC needing to be a "game finisher", and more a case of it being a "game changer".

(add here the blog quote where he says that he's sure TUC will draw attention even from those who don't read him, because the idea behind the whole thing has never been realized, or something along those lines)

The point is: he hyped TUC not as a pleasing book for the fans, but something that is supposed to have a big impact even among those who aren't currently following the series. So it's not about fanservice kind of stuff, and more about revealing this hidden hand.