If i were to ask you how long your book is, and you answer that it is 225 manuscript pages, i am still not clear. Now we have computers and word processing software. Estimate your page count book designer linda parke. Within the publishing industry we tend to talk about the length of a book in words rather than in pages. The harry potter books are popular, and once someone reads the first book in the series, they often end up reading the entire series.
If youre working on a novellength book, aim for 50,000 words at the very. Audiences are used to a certain story length and page count. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. Less than 100 pages and it becomes difficult for a printer to print the title of the book on the spine. Both length and price are clearly stated when the book is announced, and this information is one of the things that people. That said, if your book is around 40,000 words, youre in good company. By most peoples standards, 40,000 words would be pretty short for a novel. Calculate the number of pages using your current word count and the appropriate formula below, calculate the number of pages you can expect in your finished book. I was quickly flooded with emails from many an angry author for daring to put a word count on a level of book. If the average length is 300 pages, youre looking at a 75,000 word manuscript approximately one reason its harder for a new author to sell a 140,000 word manuscript is the size of the book. A story that is over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel.
According to this cool site, the one minute manager, talked about i. I put both the word count on mine and the number of pages, being the word count divided by 330, which is the number of words on a typical paperback page. This article how to write a bestselling business book has a good, concise, logical answer on the ideal length today for a business book less than 100 pages. How many words are there in the harry potter book series. In terms of adult mainstream fiction, that length would be considered a novella. It is no small task, so a huge amount of respect goes to you for this. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or. Any book that falls into this category needs to be a real pageturner. Heres how to find your books word count for a number of writing. When writing a longer book that is aimed at 12yearolds and could maybe be considered tween, using the term upper middle grade is advisable. Middle grade is from 20,000 55,000, depending on the subject matter and age range, and the word count of these books has been trending up in recent years. Failing to mention the word count, or committing the faux pas of stating the page count instead, will also see a quick rejection. However, this rule can be bent for the following reasons. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text.
This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. A young adult novel will run between 20,000 and 40,000 words. By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages. Usually, this will be a word count including notes and references and perhaps an agreed number of illustrations. Word counts of famous book series harry potter by jk rowling.
How many words in each book of the bible the holy word. I remember reading some westerns in high school and, if i. At an average reading rate of 125 words per minute, thats about 145 hours of reading. Miranda paul is an awardwinning author of more than a dozen fiction and nonfiction books for children.
Jun 27, 2019 a story that is over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel. How does your book measure compare to whats succeeding in todays marketplace. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. T he indie author chris fox coined the term potato chip chapters for easilydigestible book chapters of a certain size. Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book. An ebook could be 3,000 words or as long as a full length book. As a result, a 100k manuscript can size up very differently on a shelf. Jan 08, 2018 total number of words in your word document divided by number of words per book page your page count so far then add in all the extra pages for your front matter, back matter, images, chapter titles, and partsection openers see method 1, above. Find out how long it will take you to read any book by using our book word count search. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. Of course, a printed book probably needs to be at least 100125 pages in length. However, many authors, frustrated with the low price of ebooks, have taken to writing ebooks that are between 40,000 and 50,000. May 14, 2018 readers of individual genres anticipate certain book lengths, and so do publishers. Estimate a small reduction for the linesperpage and the number ofpages values.
Lets take a quick tour of copy fitting, casting off and related issues here. As you can see, you need to know your word count, not the number of pages your word processor produces. But while the length of a novel is to a large extent up to its writer, lengths may also vary by subgenre. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. Reading length is a participant in the amazon services llc associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to and affiliated sites. Some use 250 words per page, but 330 is closer to reality and gives a reader a good idea of book size.
Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. The length of your book will depend on a number of considerations. This reduction will be very small, like maybe 12 lines less per page, and 510 pages less for the book.
The length can vary greatly between genres, though. I think the daily totals, what you put out in work for a single day are important, what the length of the story is, in total, in unimportant, as a number. Smiley lists novels as typically being between 100,000 and 175,000 words, while national novel writing month requires its novels to be at least 50,000 words. Deconstructing five spooky picture books with spoilers and word counts. Famous book series and novel word counts number of words. Simply divide the total word count from your word document by the number of words per page. 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. Word count estimates are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Virtually every book i try to shop by a debut author thats any longer than thatregardless of categoryreceives the same response from editors. How to use our book page count calculator select your word print size select the book genre enter your books word count press calculate number of pages just 4 easy steps and youre done. Using this exercise, you should end up with a good idea of book length expectations for a novel like yours. Everything you need to know about word count and book length for books and novels and. When combined, the total harry potter word count is over a million words. On the upper end, a novel over 110,000 words is considered an epic.
The book with the least total number of words is sorcerers stones, while the book with the most words is order of the phoenix. This number was significantly different from the average we had seen for the estimated print length that had been given in the product details of each book s amazon sales page. Step 4 is measure your manuscript in word count, not pages. Id guess that the actual average number of words in a novel was somewhere. Now that you know the average number of words per page in your book, you can calculate the page count with a little arithmetic. For those who like to keep track of their reading word count or those who want to encourage their kids to read more the harry potter books series is an. Readers of individual genres anticipate certain book lengths, and so do publishers. This number was significantly different from the average we had seen for the estimated print length that had been given in the product details of each books amazon sales page. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or short, perkins says.
We hope one of these two methods works quickly and easily for you. That makes them more expensive to print and a bigger investment. A 40,000 to 80,000 word memoir is around 150265 pages, a standard book length for the genre. If you are an author of a book or know of a book s accurate wordcount, contact me. Word count signals to people what kind of book theyre dealing with. How to calculate your books length before writing helping. Thats the level where publishers may suggest dividing a story into multiple volumes. Sep 20, 2009 how to calculate book length in an earlier post i discussed broad issues relating to word count and book length but didnt actually explain how the length of a book is calculated. And no agents or publishers would even look past that number. We want to give authors an easy way to show how long their book or novel is. Length of a book is typically associated with its sizespecifically page countleading many. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to. Jun, 2017 different kinds of books should be a different length.
This video explains why word count is important and the word count ranges for various kinds of books. Right now, when it comes to novel length word count, its all about 90,000 words. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. A single novel can be longer, but once the length is above 110,000 words publishers may look at cutting it back, unless it is a particular kind of book books over the 110k word count are usually considered epics. The science fiction and fantasy writers of america specifies word lengths for each category of its nebula award categories. Her picture book nine months, illustrated by caldecott honoree jason chin, released in four languages. Though the average word count of a chapter is around 2,000 5,000 words, it all depends on your story. That means your manuscript must be at least 3540,000 words long. A novelist of my acquaintance insists that the only way to estimate the number of words in a book is to multiply the number of pages by 250. Search for a book, tell us how fast you read, and start reading. Jun 26, 2017 a single novel can be longer, but once the length is above 110,000 words publishers may look at cutting it back, unless it is a particular kind of bookbooks over the 110k word count are usually considered epics.
Aug 05, 2019 for most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Oct 18, 2017 as with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. That was the formula in the good old days when courier was the only typeface and typewriters were king. For adult fiction especially crime, thrillers, womens fiction, saga and romance, 100,000 words is a good. However, it will be on the short side, as the average length of a novel hovers around 50,00070,000 words. Longer books increase the number of pages that need to be printed.
All of these are average book word count ranges and should not be taken as the definitive word count you must reach in your book. Generally, 50,000 would be considered the minimum word count, and ideally a novel should be over 70,000 words. Generally i consider any novel that is less than 300 pages to be a short one, 500 page a medium sized novel and anything more than 750 a lengthy novel. Too many words and you risk losing your audience, too few and they might feel like they missed something. When it gets closer to 1,000, editors and agents may shy away. 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. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. Of course, how fast the narrator talks does have an impact, but for the most part, the number of words per minute is consistent. It is on the basis of this agreed length that the publisher costs the book and sets a price. Science fiction and fantasy novels typically have a word count between 90,000 to 125,000 words. Because yes, different types of books require different book lengths. So it is advisable to follow the guidelines on word length for this category.
Some use 250 words per page, but 330 is closer to reality and gives a reader a good idea of book. Let me tell you about how i had to remove my membership from a childrens writer forum because i responded to a newbie about this topic. The binding, font and paper size establish how many pages a published book will be. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. Most manga stories run for as long as their mangaka manga author wants them to, or as long as their readership demands.
For most publishers, a book is novel length when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. These are basic learning books that creatively teach colors, numbers or simple, fun stories for bedtime. 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. Length of a book is typically associated with its sizespecifically page countleading many to assume the largest and thickest book equates to its length. I found some disagreement about the ideal length of mystery novels. Novelist jane smiley suggests that length is an important quality of the novel. May 11, 2009 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. What isnt often considered is the sheer number of words a person who reads the entire series consumes.
Page count is determined by the publisher, not the writer. The best way to find out how many pages will be in your book is to use this calculation method. 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. Only 2 of the 7 harry potter books came in at under 100,000 words sorcerers stones and chamber of secrets which happened to be the first two books in the series. This will give you the approximate number of pages that will be in your book. The word count 788,280 is based on the kjv and seems to be almost exactly as wed expect see our page on how many words in the bible for more information on this.
The sweet spot, according to donald maas, is 100,000 to 115,000 words. One plastic bag, water is water, and i am farmer were all named junior library guild selections and her book whose hands are these. Then consider writing a manuscript of similar length. 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. Many of these books are written in rhyme or in a simple singsong meter that is catchy and fun. What follows is a rough guide to book length expectations in certain genres. Generally a 50,000 word novel would be the minimum word count. In fact, the majority of printed books are turned into ebooks. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words.
Mar 20, 2020 an ebook could be 3,000 words or as long as a full length book. Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. When talking about book length, its common to talk about word count rather than page count. An adult fiction book is most marketable in the suggested word count. Most editors wouldnt recommend going over 80,000, as it will inspire bad taste among readers. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about 246 to 307 ebook pages. Search for word count totals in books word counters. Novels intended for the adult market will be longer than those targeted at children and young adults. Then add in all the extra pages for your front matter, back matter, images, chapter titles, and partsection openers see method 1, above. The sorcerers stone 77,325 words the chamber of secrets 84,799 words the prisoner of azkaban 106,821 words.
There are plenty of books that purposefully play with the word counts of their chapters. Today, even after the introduction of what amazon calls version 2. Generally speaking a 70,00090,000 word count is a comfortable range. Such books will have a minimum length of 75,000 words but seldom exceed. Book page count calculator how many pages is my novel. Aug 10, 2011 i put both the word count on mine and the number of pages, being the word count divided by 330, which is the number of words on a typical paperback page.
Word count is a direct way to measure the length of a novel in a manner unaffected by variations of format and page size. Oct 10, 2016 the lengths vary hugely from title to title, but chapters released weekly seem to average 1620 pages while chapters released monthly average 3650 pages. That said, each manuscript should be long enough to adequately tell its story or. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. Word count and book length by maeve maddox a novelist of my acquaintance insists that the only way to estimate the number of words in a book is to multiply the number of pages by 250. Jul 23, 2012 of course, a printed book probably needs to be at least 100125 pages in length. There are some variations between versions with includedexcluded text and verses, however, for the purpose of establishing the relative lengths of each book, these counts are. As with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. If yes, then most publishers still work on specific word count lengths for books so youll probably be aiming for around 60,00080,000 words for nonfiction.