Romance novels often run between 50,000 and 90,000 words on average. Larger print, or smaller print, of course, and wider or narrower margins, can make that vary, depending. I guess 50,000 is a short novel and some early novels before goes as low as 40,000 which can be considered to be a novella. This 90,000 word guideline for how many words in a novel is just that, a guideline. What is the recomended wordcount for a fantasyfiction book. The best way to tell for sure is to decide what size book you want the answer for paper b.
So 50,000 words is the minimum for a nonfiction book. May 07, 2018 this 90,000word guideline for how many words in a novel is just that, a guideline. Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. Perkins agency in new york says its much easier to market a firsttime novelists book if the word count falls between 80,000 and 100,000 words, or roughly 300 doublespaced, typed pagesthe average novel length. The sweet spot, according to donald maas, is 100,000 to 115,000 words. On average, young adult novels usually fall around 55,000 and 70,000 words. Larger print, or smaller print, of course, and wider. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about 246 to 307 ebook pages. The first answer, because its novella length, not novel length were talking adult fiction, not chapter books and novellas are hard to sell. It doesnt have to be exact, but its there to guide writers. Most print publishers prefer a minimum word count of around 70,000 words for a first novel, and some even hesitate for any work shorter than 80,000. But, most nonfiction publishers want to be sold the concept, and therefore be able to discuss the direction of the project, before you write the book.
A change of scene, a change of chapter seems to make sense to me. I am 42000 words in to my first novel and i have 39 chapters, so on average its just over words per chapter, though some may be nearer 2000. It should be enough to communicate your message effectively. Jenkins started strongly but weakened, along with the. Joe abercrombie, while not my thing, is very good at this. The sweet spot, according to donald maas, is 100,000 to. This 90,000word guideline for how many words in a novel is just that, a guideline. Geared towards teenagers, young adult ya books address heavier topics and have more adult themes than childrens literature, and. Sure, but this ballpark range is where the novel has settled over the last twenty years or so. However, i understand that the length of twilight is unusually long for a debut novel. If im writing a novel, this gives me 40 chapters and 70,000 words when im done.
This is a story that is between 10,000 and 40,000 words. Oct 01, 2012 a scene that takes place in ten or fewer pages can comfortably be considered short. Ideally, you want to give your reader something she knows. While 50,000 words is a fairly firm minimum, plenty of ya books reach up to 100,000 words, with a sweet spot at 75,00080,000.
The grandfather of modern christian fiction, in his steps by charles m. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. Sep 18, 2017 in comparison, the database gives an average length of 89,000 words for adult fiction excluding fantasy, smack in the middle of the commonlycited range of 80,000100,000. Alternatively, this is an acceptable length for a short work of non fiction. Anything above 70k but less than 115k science fiction and fantasy tend to run up around 100k115k words.
The length can vary greatly between genres, though. I personally find the trend these days, particularly in thrillers, is to use shorter chapters. By most peoples standards, 40,000 words would be pretty short for a novel. Based on what my friend who writes ya does, she seems to write about 70,000 or a bit more words for her books which are published by one of the large us publishers. I heard 10,000 words can be accepted as an ebook at a short length at least for nonfiction. Frequently asked questions getting published meg cabot. While 50,000 words is a fairly firm minimum, plenty of ya books reach up to 100,000 words, with a.
Jun 27, 2019 how many words should a fantasy novel be. The science fiction and fantasy writers of america specifies word lengths for each category of its nebula award categories. Urban fiction publishing requirements urban fiction news. But, most non fiction publishers want to be sold the concept, and therefore be able to discuss the direction of the project, before you write the book. Fantasy and science fiction novels are known to be lengthier than other books. In fiction novelist jane smiley suggests that length is an important quality of the novel. May 14, 2018 with a track record to back them up, established writers have greater flexibility. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. Feb 18, 2012 for much of the 20th century, novels averaged 75,000 to 80,000 words, making a book of fewer than 250 pages and sometimes barely 200.
Different genres have different preferences for novel length. The average length of a commercial novel today is between 80,000 and 100,000 words. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or short, perkins says. It depends on the font you are using, of course, but in general, 250300 words per page. Knowing how many words in a novel is the first step toward writing a book. This is due in large part to the variety of subgenres within it and the trend for a book series with an ever greater word count. The figure was found through looking at a number of books text stats, until brave new worlds 64,531 word count landed in the exact center of all books50% of books have fewer words and 50% of books have more words. Your chapter length has to work well with the overall word count of the book short chapters create an even distribution of both content and action. Instead, i looked at various scenes at the beginning, middle and end of each book, and multiplied the page numbers by the number of words on an average page an average manuscript page is about 250 words, but paper and font sizes vary with published books, so i had to do sample page counts for each bookfor instance, my copy of old man and. Average sentence lengths of famous novels and authors. Sep 09, 2012 i get a lot of questions about word count for urban fiction novels. A reasonable word count for a nonfiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words.
Thats the level where publishers may suggest dividing a story into multiple volumes. I use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. That said, the average word count for science fiction and fantasy novels generally lies between 100,000 and 115,000. How many words is a teenage fiction novel meant to be. If you are writing a standard length novel, aim for 80,000 to 95,000 words. Using this exercise, you should end up with a good idea of book length expectations for a novel like yours. Below is a short list of some famous novels and authors with their respective writing statistics. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. Now that weve covered how many words are in a novel, its time to break it down even further by finding out the ideal number of chapters in a novel and how many words are used in a typical chapter depending on the writing genre, word count in book chapters can vary considerably. Give the audience plenty of resting places and you will keep them happy. This popular genre averages between 75,000 and 120,000 words, unless youre writing a saga.
Put simply, anything less than 70,000 words or over 110,000 might make publishers think twice before accepting it. A novella is a work of narrative prose fiction, longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. Bestselling author caleb carr may write novels of 250,000 words, but when you pitch your novel and offer up that number, be prepared for a glacial reception. Oct 27, 2018 i use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. When i write i use times new roman 12 font, about 360 words per page with standard margins, less if theres a lot of dialogue. Novelist jane smiley suggests that length is an important quality of the novel. For childrens fiction, the general rule is the younger the audience the shorter the.
Under 500 words can be described as flash fiction between and 8000 words is a short story also, most short story competitions will stipulate their required word length for entry between 5000 and 10,000 words is a long short story. Do check your comparable titles recent debuts onlyto make sure your story falls in that range. Science fiction and fantasy novels typically have a word count between 90,000 to 125,000 words. The di vinci code 2003 by dan brown is 8,380 words christian book word count. Keep in mind that a few of these are translations of foreignlanguage novels, so the statistics will not be perfect for those. The following are average wordcount ranges by genre. Fiction refers to a story containing imaginary or made up events.
At a writers conference i recently attended, publishing veteran jane friedman said 80,000 words is good for most fiction, below 60,000 isnt novel length territory, and above 120,000 is likely too much. As you can see, word count for science fiction books vary widely. How does your book measure compare to whats succeeding in todays marketplace. This very abbreviated story is often difficult to write, and even harder to write well, but the markets for micro fiction are becoming increasingly popular in r.
Sep 20, 2019 as you can see, word count for science fiction books vary widely. For childrens fiction, the general rule is the younger the audience the shorter the book, and for ya novels the average is 50,00070,000 words. And, in case youre wondering, here are the average word counts for other popular genres. May 12, 2012 if you are writing a standard length novel, aim for 80,000 to 95,000 words. Everything you need to know about word count and book length for books. Assuming that the words in between the rest stops are any good, of course. Yet any piece of fiction climbing over the 110,000 word mark also tends to give editors some pause. Between 80,000 and 89,999 words is a good range you should be aiming for. However, many authors, frustrated with the low price of ebooks, have taken to writing ebooks that are between 40,000 and 50,000.
Typically, a book that is published in paperback format at a length of 300400 pages will come in between 80,000 and 100,000 words. A non fiction book attractive to publishers of bestsellers starts at around 75,000 words. Harry potter and the sorcerers stone is about 77,500 words total. In other words, a 12page story tends to be roughly 3000 words, etc. As previously discussed, there are different requirements for both fiction and nonfiction genres. To many words can work against you and not just because your audience may lose interest. Although the length of fiction is genredependent to an extent fantasy novels, for example, tend to be on the thicker side, sticking to the ideal novel length is still the best advice. Here are the average novel word counts in the top five genres in the book publishing industry in no particular order. A scene that takes place in ten or fewer pages can comfortably be considered short. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. If you set yourself a target of 85,000 words, youll know that if you fall short of that average figure, your story is either lacking in substance, or it doesnt have enough fuel to be a full length novel without some serious editing, and would. Why modern novelists need to watch their weight books. Book page count calculator how many pages is my novel.
But for mainstream ya it is always best to stick to under 80k. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. In other wordsthe book might look like a doorstop but its never a slog of a read. How many words in a novel vary depending on genre, audience, and the story itself but in general, the average words in a novel is between 60,000 and 90,000 words for most genres. However, we do not suggest writing a novel of 500,000 words unless you as established as stephen king is. For much of the 20th century, novels averaged 75,000 to 80,000 words, making a book of fewer than 250 pages and sometimes barely 200. The left behind series original books, not including the prequel, 19952007 by tim lahaye and jerry b. The trick with structuring a fantasy novel is to weave in the exposition with a very light hand, so it always feels as if the action is moving things along. There are plenty of books that purposefully play with the word counts of their chapters. Yet any piece of fiction climbing over the 110,000 word mark also tends to give editors. Know your content, know your mainline pitch and some. Smiley lists novels as typically being between 100,000 and 175,000 words, 3 while national novel writing month requires its novels to be at least 50,000 words. Each genre and subgenre has its own word count range. Though the average word count of a chapter is around 2,000 5,000 words, it all depends on your story.
By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages. On a more practical level, books are divided into chapters to make the experience of reading the book more userfriendly. Publishers and literary award societies typically consider a novellas word count to be between 15,000 and 40,000 words, although definitions vary the english word novella derives from the italian novella, feminine of novello, which means new. As with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. I get a lot of questions about word count for urban fiction novels. If you set yourself a target of 85,000 words, youll know that if you fall short of that average figure, your story is either. A nonfiction book attractive to publishers of bestsellers starts at around 75,000 words. The average short story should run anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 words, but they can be anything above 1,000 words. Words counts of bestselling novels better novel project.
Within the publishing industry we tend to talk about the length of a book in words rather than in pages. First time authors should steer clear of writing anything over 80,000 words. Oct 18, 2017 as with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. With fun, lighthearted, simple middle grade youll want to stay around the 20k30k word count range. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words.
Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. How many words are there on the average page of a novel. The 10step checklist to writing an aboveaverage novel. For adult fiction especially crime, thrillers, womens fiction, saga and romance, 100,000 words is a good. Flash fiction is a short story that is 500 words or less. In comparison, the database gives an average length of 89,000 words for adult fiction excluding fantasy, smack in the middle of the commonlycited range of 80,000100,000. Publishers and literary award societies typically consider a novellas word count to be between 15,000 and 40,000 words, although definitions vary. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. If the word count of twilight is disregarded, the average.