Book page count calculator how many pages is my novel. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. The formatting for a book containing such elements means the word count will differ from a book that has only words. Yes, you should go through the novel revision checklist and take out anything extraneous no matter what. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing.
On the upper end, a novel over 110,000 words is considered an epic. If you want to get published, you need to be aware that major new york publishers. This tool is helpful for all authors everywhere who want to figure out how many pages their final book will contain based on their current word count. Im curious about your advice compose the novel in the standard format from the start rather than changing it later why does this matter. Because it allows me to check out length for published books in my genre. I agree that it seems like for a debut author, the agent really looks at that word count. That said, this figure differs from book to book and organization to. Having some reallife examples at your side, you should get a better sense of. Word count, with a little help from amazon alexis grant. With that in mind, ive tried to put together the definitive post on word count for fiction novels, young adult, middle grade, childrens.
If they want a 6 x 9 book, this is only about 66 pagesalmost not a book. However if youre curious to see what the average word count is for standard genres, check out the breakdown in the article. Search for word count totals in books word counters. Jun 15, 2017 this is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. Yes, having a book that is overly short or overly long for its genre will incrementally decrease your odds of finding traditional publication.
Many urban fiction publishers dont require a synopsis but be prepared if you find one that does. Jan 08, 2018 calculate book page count using your word count. Your computer count will be considerably different from this basic calculation and when i was under contract to several na publishing houses, they werent at all interested in what i thought the word count was. If yours is too short, restructure it and add more tightly written stuff. As a result, a 100k manuscript can size up very differently on a shelf.
Hes been published by each of the three largest publishers in the world. The average across a sample of 50 books in august 2015 showed 172 words per kindle edition normalized page. Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book. For young adult fiction, the word count is once again lower, with the ideal. But if marketability matters to you, its not that simple. Never pad your manuscript just to meet a word count guideline. Most middle grade novels are between 40,000 and 69,000 words long. Failing to mention the word count, or committing the faux pas of stating the page count instead, will also see a quick rejection. Upper middle grade can hit in the 50k word count range possibly longer, if its something really special. The greater the word count the larger the book more sections and pages that.
Surely when writing the important thing is to get words on the page even if theyre in pink comic sans. Some authors believe the word count is irrelevantwhether it takes 20,000 words or 200,000 words, the book will be done when youve finished telling your story. Do check your comparable titlesrecent debuts onlyto make sure your story falls in that range. For example, atonement has a word count of 123,378 and my utility comes up with 110,765 words. It turns out a better book in the end as well, which means your readers enjoy it moreand youll sell more copies. The actual word count for harry potter and the sorcerers stone is 78,792 and my utility calculates 77,876. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. If you have any questions about how long your book should be, feel free to contact me and we can figure out your book vision and word count together. Learn the average wordcount for every type of novel, novella, genre, etc. Sep 20, 2019 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. By most peoples standards, 40,000 words would be pretty short for a novel. Oct 10, 2016 again, when considering the authority of agents and publishers, carstairs recommends that, adhering to the expected word count demonstrates that you understand your market. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. Writing middle grade a look at the numbers hannah holt.
What follows is a rough guide to book length expectations in certain genres. To be picked up by a traditional publisher, my manuscript needs to fall in a similar wordcount window. A memoir of the craft, king speaks on his writing speed. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. When writing a longer book that is aimed at 12yearolds and could maybe be considered tween, using the term upper middle grade is advisable. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. Line count varies depending on page size, font size, etc. Coyne uses the nanowrimo wordcount length of 50,000 words for his examples, calling 50,000 words a good foundation to build upon. I hope this information has helped you gain clarity about your book. During the introductory month of the new system, the conversion of kenpc into the actual number of words in the book actual word count showed significant differences from one book to the other. Other factors that will affect the number of words per page in a published book include. With fun, lighthearted, simple middle grade youll want to stay around the 20k30k word count range.
May 14, 2018 literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals. Typically, a book that is published in paperback format at a length of 300400 pages. On average, when writing a memoir should not exceed 90,000 words and that is a stretch when it comes to memoir word count. The harry potter books are young adult titles, and ya publishers generally look for manuscripts in the 50,000 to 80,000word range. The best word count for your selfpublished novel self. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. Hence, a manuscript not a published book of 200 pages is figured at 250 wpp x 200 pages 50,000 words. It seems like ya novels are getting longer and longer nowadays, but maybe my attention span is getting shorter. Mar 20, 2020 a plan for your book that includes a word count helps you not write too little or too much. For the book hatchet, the actual word count is 41,672 and i give you 41,212. The daily word counts of 19 famous writers word counter blog. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. When converting character counts to words, a measure of 5 or 6 characters to a word is generally used for english.
Jan 18, 2010 this is awesome enough for me to get excited over. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. So if you want to write and publish a book successfully, this is vital information to. Young adult fiction allows for a lot of flexibility in word count. Youll use the word count in your word document to calculate book page count.
Calculate book page count using word count for book design. How to use our book page count calculator select your word print size select the book genre enter your books word count. 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. As you can see, a smaller trim size will produce more pages for the same word count, and a larger trim size will produce less. Depending on your genre, having too many or too little can not only hurt your book sales, but also cause fewer 5star. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words.
If perhaps it had even more pictures it would be even a lot better. The word counts you gave is helpful, but this is a nonfiction book, and i wonder if there might be a similar list for. Word count for novels and books is something i dont think about too often until i travel to a writers conference, and then someone asks a simple, innocent question. What is a good length for a selfpublished book on amazon. May 10, 2016 heres the general rule for any book published traditionally or self pubbed.
However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. Are you wondering what the word count for your book should be. Basically, having an idea of how long you want your book to be helps you work smarter, not harder. The binding, font and paper size establish how many pages a published book will be.
The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. Sep 09, 2012 a quick word from the wise, well me dont do it publishers are turned off or more politely annoyed with a synopsis that doesnt give it away so to speak. 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. Of course, rules are made to be broken, especially in literature. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. The editor also provides four popular trim sizes for formatting 4. Frequently asked questions getting published meg cabot. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. But at the end of the day, you have to write the novel you want to write. A books word count does matter and if you get it wrong, this can impact your. One of the most important urban fiction publishing requirements is formatting. On average, there are about 300 words per page in a book. But rules are made to be broken, and the most successful publishing phenomenon in history did just that.
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. Shorter novels such as fahrenheit 451, the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, the great gatsby, and slaughterhousefive are between 4050,000 words. We recommend memoirs be between 45,000 to 80,000 words in order to maintain intrigue and reduce intimidation. Nonfiction books tend to be shorter, around 45,000 words on average, and. The hunger games has a word count of 99,750 and my utility calculates it at 98,916. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading.
So itll be off on occasion, but it should get you relatively close for the average book. If youre working on a novellength book, aim for 50,000 words at the very least but its better to aim for 90,000. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures of readability and to measure typing and reading speeds usually in words per minute. Page count is determined by the publisher, not the writer. Generally, 50,000 would be considered the minimum word count, and ideally a novel should be over 70,000 words. The average mean word count was about 53,000 words. Whether the book has pictures, charts, graphs, etc. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. I am trying to approach this rather pragmatically, with a view to getting published, so id prefer to modify the project to fit the needs of publishersin that regard at least, i feel the length probably does matter.
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. For traditional publishing or self publishing, youll have the best odds of success. Aug 05, 2019 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. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. Often a novellettelength work is difficult to sell to a publisher. Once you know your word count, follow one of our two methods below to estimate your page count. Everything you need to know about word count and book length for. Most published books average closer to 300 words per page than 200. Many, yes, but there are exceptions due to the layout and font size of a particular book. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. Estimate your page count book designer fiona raven. Since 2011, the average length of a bestseller has dropped steadily from year to year. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan.
Similarly, if your book is published and lands in a bookstore, you dont want. Also, heres another list i may swipe and add in here. Oct 26, 2018 if you want to experiment with book sizes and the way they might impact your typesetting choices, the reedsy book editor allows you to do so for free. Go to that books page and scroll down to inside this book. Word count and book length getting published was indeed a good blog post. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. In itself, no measure is perfect but personally i find word count the most useful. Urban fiction publishing requirements urban fiction news. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. The word count at big five publishers had a slightly narrower range. And remember, keeping to word counts is important, but what makes or breaks your chances with a publisher is the quality of your manuscript. Put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be around 8090k.