As an indie author, you always have the freedom to play with word count, to modify, expand, compress, and assess what works best. By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages. Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book. Most of the suggested word counts for fantasy seem to suggest 100kk180k, which strikes me as reflecting epic fantasy or sword and sorcery. Ya manuscripts can have a word count anywhere from 55k to 90k. Book length word count science fiction and fantasy world. Because yes, different types of books require different book lengths. What is the average number of actual words in comic books. Of the 161 stories listed, 3081 is the median word count number in the middle and 4052 is the average word count. Feel free to contact me directly for any feedback, corrections, r. They can be up to 180,000 words, or even over 200,000, but the novel must be wonderful and must fully justify its word count. This question came in as a reader comment on one of the earlier blog posts.
So if youre writing a series, start small, then increase the word count with each release. Search for word count totals in books word counters. In contrast, word count is finite and usually i can calculate book length with about 99% accuracy in part because also included in any calculation is a count of figures, tables, etc. Put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be around 8090k. The one main advantage this genre has over every other is that. Im 52 000 words into my first draft, and if my chapter length remains the same throughout the rest of the novel, i will land at around 110 000 words give or take of course.
The sweet spot, according to donald maas, is 100,000 to 115,000 words. Is 109,000 words to long for a ya adult fantasy novel. August 28, 2010 word count is the devil you have to love, or at the very least, respect. Im having an tricky time finding information on the the minavgmax word count for urban fantasy novels. 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. Follow this rough word count guide as you embark on your literary journey. In other words, you must be scrupulous about editing every sentence for length. Length matters less for ebooks than it does for print.
Once you have decided what type of book you are writing, which genre you are writing in and the approximate word count, you can then consider which of two ways you will approach your writing. The average word count for a typical novel ranges anywhere from 70,000 to 120,000 words, with the average hanging. What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a nonfiction book. Books written specifically for the ebook market do tend to run shorter than books for the print market. He claims that 121,000 is the average successful ebook length. Aug 05, 2019 for most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. For them, chapter books aimed at 710 year olds come in at between 6,0008,000 words. Typical dystopian novels run between 60,000 and 120,000 words, though this genre has the flexibility to be longer. Im 55 years of age and writing a book which covers 7 years, from 2001 until 2007, of my life. Most publishers these days will accept manuscripts in any clear, easily readable font, but there is a lingering belief.
For debut books in this field the average word count tends to be 35k and it has therefore become the marker many industry professionals look for in queries from new writers. Armed with these word counts, i now have a range of lengths that have been proven popular. Learn the average wordcount for every type of novel, novella, genre, etc. These are books that resemble young adult in matter and storytelling. Heres a quick word count guide for adult fiction, adult sff, young adult contemporary, young adult sff, and middle grade. Word count for book series the first book in each series below was the authors first. Im curious about your advice compose the novel in the standard format from the start rather than changing it later why does this matter. The average word count range for fantasy books is between 90,000125,000 words. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. And you will instantly lose readers if you are too far off the general norm.
Nov 11, 2010 word count for novels and childrens books. Shorter novels such as fahrenheit 451, the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, the great gatsby, and slaughterhousefive are between 4050,000 words. Are you wondering what the word count for your book should be. Jan 18, 2010 word count, with a little help from amazon.
Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. To find the word count at for a particular book, search the books title, and click on it. Everything you need to know about word count and book length for books and. Surely when writing the important thing is to get words on the page even if theyre in pink comic sans. You are welcome to share 65 bestselling word counts with other writers. If youre writing for a more literary audience, then the rules above apply on upper limits. Because it allows me to check out length for published books in my genre. Jun 27, 2019 put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be around 8090k. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words.
For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. Theres no point in obsessing about word choice if your story has whole scenes and whole subplots you can axe. Science fiction and fantasy novels typically have a word count between 90,000 to 125,000 words. Or perhaps because these novels tend to be part of a series, readers are more bought in and are looking for a longer continuation of the story. Shareranks is about ranking things that are top, most, greatest, or even worst in all categories. The novel that im writing is at 53,000 words and i was trying to figure out how many words is average for a book of my genre. But i cant edit any more out otherwise the story line is going to be way to fast paced or important plot threads are going to be. If you have 6 panels, stick to a maximum of 35 words per panel. This averages to about 22 to 23 chapters per novel, with the average chapter length around 4,280 words. But ebooks dont have printing costs, and you cant tell at a glance how long they are.
May 11, 2012 this question came in as a reader comment on one of the earlier blog posts. How to increase your novels word count noveldoctor. Put simply, the sweet spot for a novel s word count is generally said to be around 8090k. When writing a longer book that is aimed at 12yearolds and could maybe be considered tween, using the term upper middle grade is advisable. I also include word counts from some best sellers in. How to beef up or slim down especially for freelance writers, but some tips that will help novelists, too an agent on word counts and here, where she defends her position writing nowadaysword. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. Aug 28, 2006 it is a way an author can estimate word count, but its just as easy these days to use the word count function on your average word processing program to get a pretty accurate count.
Id guesstimate that nonfiction books generally yes, this is very rough run perhaps 150450 pages, and at about 350 wdpage that works out to something like 50150k words. On the macro level in any type of edit, but especially a wordtrimming one, you always want to start with the big picture. The maximum word count for new authors is lower than established novelists. This is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. Chances are your cozy mystery or literary novel is not an epic. I have rounded the averages down slightly, both to account for twilights outlier status and. Publishers are probably more open to this approach, since when you become more established, theres less risk for them with bigger books. With upper middle grade, you can aim for 40,000 55,000 words. Target your novels word count based on the most popular length for your genre. Fits what ive heard that publishers want shorter and shorter books. Think twice before querying your 291,000 word book. For young adult fiction, the word count is once again lower, with the ideal. When converting character counts to words, a measure of 5 or 6 characters to a word is generally used for english. Most people who selfpublish their ebooks dont give word counts, since the typical reader has no idea how many words are in a book.
Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. Whether youre just curious about how many words are in these books or youre writing a book and want to compare the length of your novel to these famous tomes, then read on to find the word counts of famous books and series. From picture books to ya information to get you started at. If your story justifies the length, you neednt worry if you get up to 150,000 words. Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. I was surprised when smashwords founder, mark coker, revealed that on average, as word count decreases, so do sales.
Publishers and literary award societies typically consider a novellas word count to be between 15,000 and 40,000 words, although definitions vary. In any of these books, some chapters are longer than others. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. Novelist jane smiley suggests that length is an important quality of the novel. Feel free to contact me directly for any feedback, corrections, requests, etc, here. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. Try not to completely tether yourself to word counts. That said, this figure differs from book to book and organization to. In the traditional publishing world, its a length that publishers would avoid due to increased printing costs. Stephen king word count 112263 274,672 bag of bones 203,3 black house 252,270 blockade billy 15,917 carrie 60,718 cell 121,931 christine 193,602 cujo 121,150 cycle of the werewolf 15,955 desperation 195,011 doctor sleep.
This question about average word count was on my mind as well, when i started writing my book. Stephen king word count 112263 274,672 bag of bones 203,3 black house 252,270 blockade billy 15,917 carrie 60,718 cell 121,931 christine 193,602 cujo 121,150 cycle of the werewolf 15,955 desperation. Sep 14, 2010 could you let me know the word count of some common books and novel length guidelines. Standard word counts for books publishing with kindle. Most blogs and writer websites had the moreorless the same advice forget the length and the average word count of your novel. Use arrows to rank one item in the longest novels ever by word count vs another. Readers of fantasy are happy to read longer novels as they know it will take.
Duotrope a free writers resource listing over 3950 current fiction and poetry publications caps their search for short story publishers at 7,500 words, which means most publishers are looking for stories of less than that length. Could you let me know the word count of some common books and novellength guidelines. How does your book measure compare to whats succeeding in todays marketplace. Although, youll notice with the harry potter books the length of each book increases with each release in the series. Your best bet is to go to a good childrens bookstore and look at books like your own. Also remember because there are a bunch of new novel imprints opening their doors, a novella is 40k or less. Although amazon stopped offering this for new books several years ago, the feature still remained for older books. I would say again that reader expectations matter much more than industry rules. Go to that books page and scroll down to inside this book. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. Feb 12, 2018 heres a quick word count guide for adult fiction, adult sff, young adult contemporary, young adult sff, and middle grade. Also, you may want to bookmark this page, as it will be regularly updated a. What is the average number of actual words in comic books or.
Popular novels word count 100k 105k books goodreads. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures of readability and to measure typing and reading speeds usually in words per minute. Famous book series and novel word counts number of words. However if youre curious to see what the average word count is for standard genres, check out the breakdown in the article. Publishers word count requirements were set up back in the days of typewriters when courier was the only option. Second, theres a reason publishers look for books of these lengths. A short story has a word count of under 20,000 words though anything over 10,000 puts it into that no mans land along with novellas where its a long slog for a short story but too short for anything resembling a novel.
Coyne uses the nanowrimo wordcount length of 50,000 words for his examples, calling 50,000 words a good foundation to build upon. In itself, no measure is perfect but personally i find word count the most useful. Therefore, word counts are still based on the standards of umpteen years ago. It mattered a lot in print books, where a book that was too short or too long would be rejected for printing and visual reasons. As you can see, established authors get much more flexibility when it comes to the length of their book. I got it from the scwc blog im attending in february. A novella is a work of narrative prose fiction, longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. I have rounded the averages down slightly, both to account for twilights outlier status and my own preference for brevity. Lets look at some chapter lengths, but remember that these are averages. This article suggests that essentially, it should be as long as it needs to be, meaning dont look at the word count, just get the story out then edit. Apr 07, 2009 im having an tricky time finding information on the the minavgmax word count for urban fantasy novels. Word counts for different genres of novels vary, but there are general rules of thumb that. It is, i think, the easiest to use to quickly find the word count of a book. The rules for word count are nothing if not flexible, in both traditional and indie publishing.
It is common for word counts to grow in length after the debut novel. Find the word count for published ya and childrens books. Perhaps 55,000 words is exactly the right length for your manuscript. The reason is that publishers think books of this length sell the best. Some resources like nanowrimo say novels can be 50,000, some books say 80,000 is average, and i just read an online article that said 120,000 is the upper end of the comfortable range for beginner novelists that publishers will accept. Longer books increase the number of pages that need to be printed. Hearthkeeper by cordelia kingsbridge, love, sex, and understanding the universe by harrie farrow, rubble an. The english word novella derives from the italian novella, feminine of novello, which means new. I also include word counts from some best sellers in each age category. It is a way an author can estimate word count, but its just as easy these days to use the word count function on your average word processing program to get a pretty accurate count. Literary agent danielle zigner takes a look at typical novel lengths and what appeals.
Line count varies depending on page size, font size, etc. Using this exercise, you should end up with a good idea of book length expectations for a novel like yours. Whats a normal word count for a childrens novel or collection. Jun 15, 2006 im 55 years of age and writing a book which covers 7 years, from 2001 until 2007, of my life. Word count, with a little help from amazon alexis grant. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. To be picked up by a traditional publisher, my manuscript needs to fall in a similar wordcount window. Word count for novels and childrens books at the guide to literary agents blog. The first novel in the harry potter series, harry potter and the sorcerers stone had 76,944 words. Once upon a time amazon offered text stats for a majority of their books, which included word count. Counting chickens a few words about word counts at hope vestergaards site. Again, word count shouldnt come at the cost of the story. If youre working on a novellength book, aim for 50,000 words at the very least but its better to aim for 90,000.
But genre books fantasy, scifi, or historical fiction are often longer. Opt already knows how many words opt has in the ms. Im a retired ministry of defence police officer and was seconded to the united nation mission in kosovo on three occasions. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. Unfortunately, amazon recently removed that feature as well. This is a work in progress, and will be updated throughout the next few weeksmonthsyears. The main takeaway from this is that your word count needs to bear some resemblance to reader expectation. The problem im having is that im thinking its to long.
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