Normal book word count

In outlining your book in 3 easy steps, editor shawn coyne says, the average novel today is about 90,000 words. Jun 15, 2017 this is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. When i first opened it on my kindle, it said it would take 110 hours to read. Personally, ive always considered 4,000 words to be a sweet spot for short story word count, but bradbury teaches us that you can create amazing storylines in both fewer and more words. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text.

May 14, 2018 literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. Standard word counts for books publishing with kindle. So if youre writing a series, start small, then increase the word count with each release. Changing bodies, growing up, sex, and sexual health the family library 1994. Line count varies depending on page size, font size, etc. With that in mind, ive tried to put together the definitive post on word count for fiction novels, young adult, middle grade, childrens books and even memoir. And, in case youre wondering, here are the average word counts for other popular genres. 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.

Different kinds of books should be a different length. Right now im obsessed with a novelweb serial called, worm. 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. 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. But for mainstream ya it is always best to stick to under 80k. Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book. But that contract is dependent upon the books genre.

Of course, rules are made to be broken, especially in literature. It seems like ya novels are getting longer and longer nowadays, but maybe my attention span is getting shorter. If youre working on a novellength book, aim for 50,000 words at the very least but its better to aim for 90,000. Id guess that the actual average number of words in a novel was. This book might be an eye opener for many children. But for a debut novelist who is trying to catch the eye of an agent or editor for the first time. First of all, find your word count in word by opening your document and looking at the bottom left of your screen. Blood count definition one of the most commonly ordered clinical laboratory tests, a blood count, also called a complete blood count cbc, is a basic evaluation of the cells red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets suspended in the liquid part of the blood plasma. This graph shows that the most common word count is 76,00080,000, at the very upper end of the range usually cited. At times the readers of books may be interested in discovering how many words they read. On the lower end, anything above 56,000 words is golden. For manuscripts, the answer is about 250300 words per page if it is doublespaced. How to use our book page count calculator select your word print size. 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.

These include using published information about the book to determine an exact word count, estimating the number of words based on industry standards and. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. That includes scenes like the hero at the mercy of the villain, but. As a reader i love the huge word count novels steven king has written and the very short gems tom robbins has penned.

Heres an article which breaks down by genre the typical length. Peter f hamilton has chapters so big i can read a quarter of a book before i hit chapter one but alasastair reynolds tends to do fifteen pages per chapter. 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. Youll use the word count in your word document to calculate book page count. Of course, when youre writing the first draft of your story, you want to just get your words out on paper. In this post, id like to share some thoughts on word count considerations. I use a book mark to remember where i was, but stop reading also in the middle of a chapter.

Dec 08, 2010 if an agent finds a truly outstanding book that runs in the 200k range yes, it happens. Like everything in writing, you may write a work of genius that smashes all the rules. Word count matters more than it should in my opinion. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. I was quickly flooded with emails from many an angry author for daring to put a word count on a level of book. Picture story books for older children between the ages of 6 and 10 include more text with each picture. Everything you need to know about word count and book length for books and. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors.

For the book hatchet, the actual word count is 41,672 and i give you 41,212. A reasonable word count for a nonfiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words. Word count limits sometimes seem as though they are stifling artistic flow, but they are usually there for a reason, says freelance editor lisa howard. I publish my books first on smashwords and then, after they pass vetting for the smashwords premium catalog, i publish them on amazon as well. The actual word count for harry potter and the sorcerers stone is 78,792 and my utility calculates 77,876. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. If yours is too short, restructure it and add more tightly written stuff. I was a middle school english teacher, so know i know mg pretty well, and i am going to say i think casey is pretty spot on. One popular example of a contemporary novel is simon vs. If an agent finds a truly outstanding book that runs in the 200k range yes, it happens. Never pad your manuscript just to meet a word count guideline. There are several methods for determining the word count of a given book. Using your current word count and the appropriate formula below, calculate the number of pages you can expect in your finished book.

Regarding the value of adhering to standard word counts, jackie bates, a former managing editor at aa publishing, adds. 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. Literary agent danielle zigner takes a look at typical novel lengths and what appeals. If the book offers more complicated instructions such as for creating an origami bird or a fashionable paper doll, the word count can extend as high as 1,500 words. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. You can use the preset styles in microsoft word or modify them for a custom look. Basically, having an idea of how long you want your book to be helps you work smarter, not harder. Although it could also mean you did a solid editing job and the book is finely tuned for delivery.

A plan for your book that includes a word count helps you not write too little or too much. These were to do with whether the book would be categorised as a novel or a novella or an epic or something else. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. Using styles also saves you time because you dont have to format the font and spacing for each part of your book. That said, the average word count for science fiction and fantasy novels generally lies between 100,000 and 115,000. But for print publishing, the physical cost of producing the book is an issue, and the market does generally know what it likes. 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. Once you know your word count, follow one of our two methods below to estimate your page count. Coyne uses the nanowrimo wordcount length of 50,000 words for his examples, calling 50,000 words a good foundation to build upon. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals.

That was the formula in the good old days when courier was the only typeface and typewriters were king. On average, there are about 300 words per page in a book. How to use our book page count calculator select your word print size select the book genre. In a typical contemporary book, you will have between 60,000 and 90,000 words. I counted the number of words on page 7 of night whispers, then multiplied by the number of pages, then rounded, and so theres aout 4 words per book. Using the styles function in word can help you ensure your books font and spacing is consistent.

In the opposite direction, it can give a more accurate estimate of how many pages you have created if you only know the word count. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading. This video explains why word count is important and the. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. Estimate your page count book designer fiona raven. Despite a difference in their average word counts, both bradbury and carver share a wide variation in story lengths. By most peoples standards, 40,000 words would be pretty short for a novel. If you want to make it comfortable for them, count the length of a chapter in novels you like.

Whats a normal word count for a childrens novel or collection. 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. Word count, with a little help from amazon alexis grant. It should be enough to communicate your message effectively. How to find out the number of words in a book pen and. The greater the word count the larger the book more sections and pages. Percy jackson is a good kid, but he cant seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. To get an idea of what your book will look like you need to match the number of words per page on your word processing page to the finished printed page. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. Using the styles function in word can help you ensure your book s font and spacing is consistent. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words.

Higher word counts are a bit less common, but values up to 100,000 are still well represented. For my travel memoir, should i query when i have a proposal and several sample chapters, like nonfiction, or wait until the manuscript is complete, like fiction. Im leaving this in the list to show that word count isnt offered for every book. Blood count definition of blood count by medical dictionary. 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. How many pages should a book be book word count blurb. For writing i would conclude, that some readers like my mother use chapters to plan the time for reading. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. For young adult fiction, the word count is once again lower, with the ideal.

Author eve tells me her book came in at 95,000 words. For instance, when a reader picks up a thriller, they have certain expectations of what theyre about to read. Are you wondering what the word count for your book should be. How many words per page are there in a typical novel. Although, youll notice with the harry potter books the length of each book increases with each release in the series. Generally, 50,000 would be considered the minimum word count, and ideally a novel should be over 70,000 words. In itself, no measure is perfect but personally i find word count the most useful. 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. Most adult books are about 90,000 words, and no longer than 100,000 words unless. Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. But the word count of a chapter matters if you want your story to flow right. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. Surely when writing the important thing is to get words on the page even if theyre in pink comic sans. Frequently asked questions getting published meg cabot.

For full titles, authors and descriptions of these books, see whats on my travel memoir bookshelf. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. Oct 18, 2017 therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. Now, they dont offer word count or running time for books, but they do have a search api.

Book page count calculator how many pages is my novel. If youre hoping to land a book deal with a traditional publisher, you dont want to give an editor a reason to turn your book away. Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. This book talks about puberty but goes into much more mature subjects.

Jan 25, 2018 the length of a chapter in a novel should be less about words and pages and more about plot points. Shorter novels such as fahrenheit 451, the hitchhikers. So, the average wordcount for a typical novel is anywhere from 70,000 to 120,000 words. Would you consider a post on memoir guidelines, since memoir falls somewhere between fiction and nonfiction in many ways. And remember, keeping to word counts is important, but what makes or breaks your chances with a publisher is the quality of your manuscript.

The main thing i notice with beginning writers trying to create short stories is that they can only come up with booklength and movielength plots, and so every short story they write feels like it should be longer like a novel. Jul, 2017 i dont think there is a way and this is odd. Sep 18, 2017 this graph shows that the most common word count is 76,00080,000, at the very upper end of the range usually cited. It turns out a better book in the end as well, which means your readers enjoy it moreand youll sell more copies. Novelist jane smiley suggests that length is an important quality of the novel. Does the amount of the words normally include the stop words for the language or not. Build your book format a paperback manuscript word for. Therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. 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. Word count matters because every book, regardless of genre, has an inherent contract with the reader. Calculate book page count using the word count from your word document.

Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. For example, childrens books are going to have fewer words per page than a book meant for adult readers. Heres how the wordcount of your book will decide what category your masterpiece falls in. 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. For manuscripts, the answer is about 250300 words per page if. What is a good way to get the word count of a kindle book. We explain two easy methods to estimate your books page count. This video explains why word count is important and the word count ranges for various kinds of. Some people might think that the graphics are obscene for middle school kids. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. I agree that it seems like for a debut author, the agent really looks at that word count. At least you dont need to run down to your nearest big store, since this guide will tell you quickly the ideal word counts for every category of novel.

Publishers are probably more open to this approach, since when you become more established, theres less risk for them with bigger books. By using these three options to more accurately define your writing, the words per page calculator should provide a better estimate on how many words you need to write to fill a page. When writing a longer book that is aimed at 12yearolds and could maybe be considered tween, using the term upper middle grade is advisable. May 11, 2012 these were to do with whether the book would be categorised as a novel or a novella or an epic or something else. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worsepercy could have sworn his prealgebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. Tucker max tucker has sold over 5 million books as a 4x nyt bestselling author and is the cofounder of scribe. Jan 08, 2018 calculate book page count using your word count. I received a request awhile ago to do a post on word counts for different age categories in childrens lit. Smashwords gives a precise word count for each and every b.

Search for word count totals in books word counters. Generally a 50,000word novel would be the minimum word count. Word count for the book the lightning thief word counters. 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. If your book comes in with a higher than normal word count, something in the range of 90,000 to 100,000 words, it could be viewed as either too long and poorly edited. However if youre curious to see what the average word count is for standard genres, check out the breakdown in the article. It involves determining the numbers, concentrations, and conditions of the.

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 books 50% of books have fewer words and 50% of books have more words. On the upper end, a novel over 110,000 words is considered an epic. This is a lot harder because its not a specific field im receiving back i have to scrape the results and do some crazy parsing of the data. The hunger games has a word count of 99,750 and my utility calculates it at 98,916. I believe the word count has increased as she wrote more books. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. What is the ideal wordcount per chapter for a novel. Im curious about your advice compose the novel in the standard format from the start rather than changing it later why does this matter. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts.