Word count for book

I use the value of the associated audiobook to come up with the calculation. Is it accurate? Let’s take a look at a few examples…

The actual word count for The Hunger Games is 99,750 and my utility calculates 99,216 words. The Girl on the Train has a word count of 101,704 and my calculation is 102,648. Pretty impressive! Are they all that accurate? Many, yes, but there are exceptions due to the pace and style of the narrator.

And if you’re only looking for a few examples from a particular genre, the word counts for other books listed on this site have been verified. Word Count Ranges by Genre is a good place to start.

Depending on the genre, readers have different expectations about how long a book should be. Creating a book that deviates from genre criteria reduces your chances of reaching your target audience. Publishing house editors are aware of the book-length criteria and will reject your book outright if it does not meet them.

Knowing the average length for your genre might help you arrange your book’s sequence and plot arc. But how can you figure out about average book word count? And how do you figure out how much book word count should be? The length of genre books is regulated by the publishing business. We’ll go over each one in-depth.

Because books come in all sizes are they are printed with a variety of typefaces and leading, the average number of pages does not provide a clear sign of length. The number of words is the most accurate approach to determine the length.

The tool of word count is available in most writing software like MS Word, Google Docs, Grammarly, Scrivener, Ulysses, etc. You can choose a target word count, and the software will be tracking your progress and tell you when you’ve achieved it.

Since every book has a basic contract with the reader, word count is important. The genre dictates a word count for your book.

Being a writer, I realized the importance of the word count of a book. Each genre demands different word counts. Further, I am going to tell you about How many words per page in a book are suitable. Keep reading this blog to find out!

Another common question, and for most writers, the answer should be as simple as using the word count tool.

If you’re using Microsoft Word, you can use the “word count” option under “Tools.” Do you want to try something new? In Google Docs, here’s the way to discover the word count. In Scrivener, you can also keep track of how many words you’ve written.

The average single-spaced manuscript typed in the 12-point font has roughly 500 words per page, however, this varies a lot depending on how you arrange it.

Thus, in the event that you simply have an hour to compose and need to get 300 words down, you may be thinking about the number of pages 300 words rises to – the appropriate response is fewer than one! Isn’t it possible?

If you’re looking for an answer to a question like how many pages are in 50,000 words, simply divide your goal word count (50,000) by 500 (the average number of words per page). Your response is 100 pages long.

Don’t let the commas scare you. A year’s worth of fifty thousand words isn’t that much when divided into five days a week. That works out to only 193 words per day of writing!

With these word count calculators, you can easily track how much you’ve got covered.

I hope now you understand the importance of an average number of words per page and can write according to that so that your readers may want to stick to your book.

Top 3 Reasons Why Word Count Is Important In Writing a Book in 2023

While there are no hard and fast laws on how many words a book should have, there are some criteria that are highly recommended in the traditional publishing industry, particularly for first-time authors. Let’s be honest: we can’t be professional famous writers like Nicholas Sparks and J.K. Rowling and write a bestseller as our first book.

You’ll need to keep track of how many words you utilize in your first draught unless you’re self-publishing. There are three reasons why word count is important.

• Shorter Books are more marketable.

When it comes to large books/novels, a literary agency and a traditional publisher are less likely to take a chance on a new writer. The ideal word count for an adult fiction book is the most marketable.

• The cost of printing longer novels is higher.

Longer books necessitate a greater number of pages to be printed and the book size is increased too. Subsequently, they are costlier to print and address bigger speculation.

• Audiences anticipate a certain number of words.

Audiences have come to expect a specific story length and page count, so an unknown author can draw in more readers by sticking inside that range.

How Long Should a Book Be in 2023?

If you’re writing your first book, the conventional rule of thumb is to keep it between 80,000 and 100,000 words. While an average words limit of 40,000 can be deemed as a book, 50,000 words are considered the minimum length. For a fiction novel, anything over 110,000 words is considered excessively long.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien has a massive word count, with the longest clocking in at almost 175,000 words. Those epic sagas are the uncommon exception to typical word count constraints, notwithstanding their continued success. In most cases, you’ll want to keep your book as brief as possible.

Inside the universe of scholarly fiction, various kinds have diverse word counts:

Thriller Book

To keep the reader involved, a good suspense thriller must keep the storyline moving. A mystery novel book structure consists of 70,000 to 90,000 words long.

Science fiction and fantasy Book

World-building is an art form in science fiction and fantasy books. This genre takes longer than others due to the requirement to create a whole new environment. The average length of a fantasy book is 90,000 to 120,000 words.

Romance Book

Not every love tale is as epic as Wuthering Heights in romance novels. Romantic stories are now more often than not entertaining and quick reads. Some are as short as 50,000 words, making them ideal beach reads. The word count for a high-end romantic novel is 100,000.

Historical fiction Book

Because fleshing out an imagined historical environment necessitates a higher word count; historical fiction is usually around 100,000 words.

Non-fiction Book

Due to the numerous subgenres, there is no fixed word count guide for nonfiction books. If you’re producing a nonfiction book, search up that genre to see how long other books in that genre are. Memoirs, for example, are commonly between 80,000 and 90,00 words long.

All of these are typical book word count ranges and should not be used to determine the exact number of words you must include in your book. We’ve all heard about outliers in each genre who were published far below or far over these word counts.

Use these figures as a starting point for your writing objectives.

Know what readers expect as far as word includes in your classification regardless of whether the reader isn’t aware of their assumptions for how long a book ought to be.

I hope now you understand what’s the ideal book size of different niches and how many words is the average book?

It’s fine whether your book is currently too long or too short.

That is the purpose of revision. Some writers including me write quickly and then have to go back and fill in the blanks. Some folks who make me jealous compose long pieces that must be edited and tightened. This is quite natural. On a first draught, very few people get it properly. What’s more, guess what? You still managed to finish a draught! OMG – rejoice, regardless of your word count!

Then, at that point, will chip away at improving it.

I’m sure you’re still trying to persuade yourself that your work can be published as is, and you’re coming up with excuses. There are always exceptions to the rule. My book club recently finished reading The Nightingale, a 167,000-word novel. Although I did not find this to be excessively long, Kristin Hannah is a bestselling author.

Before The Nightingale, she had been publishing for more than 20 years, and the rest of her books are much shorter, closer to 100,000-120,000 words, which is well within historical fiction’s range.

Novellas are also available for purchase. I recently finished rereading Susan Minot’s Rapture, which is roughly 35,000 words long and fantastic. However, a publisher would be crazy to take on a novella by a rookie author who hadn’t already been writing for publications like The New Yorker.

Yes, now and again, a book by a debut author is produced that is abnormally long or short. However, think about what happens much more oftentimes? The Powerball is won by someone. If you think you’re the happy exception and have the Midas Touch, get over to the convenience store as soon as possible, my buddy. You’ll save a ton of time thusly.

When should you be concerned with word count?

Don’t think about it all when you’re writing. Simply put, write. As I previously stated, the majority of first draughts will be either too long or too short (not to mention too boring or confusing or predictable, with plot holes and caricatures and flat dialogue to boot). For the love of God, they’re draughts! On revision, we clean them up.

Give word count a good hard look when you’re ready to pitch agents, small publishers, or self-publish.

Again, why raise the issue of word count if it is a red flag for agents and editors? You want to do everything you can to improve your chances because the competition is so stiff.

It may not seem fair that someone would criticize your book before reading it in its entirety, but you would do the same. Would you give a sledgehammer to the person who quotes you $999 or the one who asks for $20,000 if you were in the market for a kitchen makeover (roughly the same degree of stress and commitment as an agency taking on an author) and the market rate is $10,000?

Remember that this person is completely new to the position and has no previous experience. No way, no how. You’ll take their business card, close the door as quickly as possible, and examine the contractors who appear to know what they’re doing more closely.

When it comes to self-publishing, does the word count matter?

Both yes and no. When you self-publish, you are the boss, copyrighter and your book may be as long as you want it to be. You can call that 12,000-word piece a book, however, will pursuers feel like they got what they anticipated? Similarly, if you don’t mind paying for printing, you may self-publish a 400,000-word tome. Should you, however, do so?

Let’s think about movies for a moment because they’re a little easier to mass-produce and you’re more likely to have seen the same ones.

There are several fantastic three-hour films available. Almost none of them were written, produced, or acted in by new people. No one wants to take a chance on an unknown team’s extra-long narrative. Even when you consider most three-hour films with well-known directors and performers, many of them might have been cut in half. Did Titanic need every single scenario in which they became submerged again?

If you want to ensure that your book or ghostwriting provides the finest possible reading experience, you should edit it so that it is completely fleshed out while still being a finely written page-turner.

Fixing an excessively long book

This is the point at which authors groan and say, “OK, I’ll split it into multiple books.” This sounds like an easy way out, like padding a too-short book, but it’s not the solution.

If we’re talking about a novel or memoir, you’ll need a detailed, fulfilling story arc in which the protagonist urgently wants something, faces challenges in obtaining it, and emerges a transformed person at the conclusion.

Each following book would have to be able to stand alone and take the reader on a complete journey. You can’t just publish a chapter of a book and expect people to wait for the whole of the novel to be published later. Books can certainly be part of a series as kids books usually are, but each one has its story arc.

Breaking off in the middle of a non-fiction book is just as problematic. When an author effectively produces multiple books on a topic, they do not quit in the middle of each one. Each book has its theme or technique, or they may have taken the same concept but tweaked it for a new readership.

FAQ’s

1) How many words are in a 100-page book?

Totally depends on the font you’re using but 250-300 words per page is a good rule of thumb. As a result, the overall word count should be around 25,000.

2) How many words are in a 200-page book?

A 200-page book has a word count of between 50000 and 60000 words. It varies depending on the work’s complexity, the language used, the font and letter sizes used, and so on.

3) How many words are in a 300-page book?

It depends on the font and size of the text, as well as the size of the page. Most books are between 65,000 and 90,000 words long. This varies by genre, target audience, and author.

4) How many words are in a 400-page book?

When it comes to a 400-page book. There are approximately 100,000 words. It depends on font size and writer on how they put it up.

5) How many words are in a 500-page book?

Let me tell you how many words are in the 500-page book. Total words in a 500-page book are 150,000-200,000.

Conclusion

There are valid reasons for standard word counts in most published publications, but don’t get caught up in the numbers. Find out why your book is too lengthy or too short, and then change it.

Don’t make it repetitive!! You must maintain your focus. Rather than defending your book’s numbers, get down to business and edit, edit, edit.

I hope with this article, all your concerns about the average book word count and now you’ll be able to use this valuable information into producing the book that is going to be the top-selling.

If you are looking for a professional book writing service, then get in touch with Mczell Book Writing today.

How many words are in a novel? After all…

Writing too many words in your novel is just as embarrassing as not writing enough.

A book’s word count does matter and if you get it wrong, this can impact your book sales, reviews, and its overall performance.

So if you want to write and publish a book successfully, this is vital information to know (even if it seems trivial).

But that’s why we’re here.

To not only help you understand how many words are in a novel, but how many should be in your specific book depending on what you’re writing and its genre.

Because yes, different types of books require different book lengths.

And you will instantly lose readers if you are too far off the general norm…yikes.

Not only do you need to know how many words are in a novel, but also why and how the genre you’re writing it can change this word count.

Word counts per book genre:

1. Memoir – 45,000 to 80,000
2. Self-Help Book – 30,000 – 70,000
3. Fantasy Novel – 50,000 – 150,000
4. Sci-fi Novel – 50,000 – 150,000
5. Romance Novel – 50,000 – 90,000
6. Mystery Novel – 40,000 – 80,000
7. Horror Novel – 40,000 – 80,000
8. Dystopian Novel – 60,000 -120,000
9. Contemporary Novel – 60,000 – 90,000
10. Young Adult Book – 60,000 – 90,000
11. Middle-Grade Book – 20,000 – 55,000

Get specific word and page count recommendations, based on your book type, genre, and audience age using our Word/Page Count Calculator, below.

How many pages is 1000 words?

1000 words single-spaced is about 1 page in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or equivalent software. 1000 words in a book is about 3 pages.

One thing to keep in mind with how many pages is 1000 words is that it depends on the text, its size, and the spacing you’re using.

For example, if you write 1000 words on a page in Google Docs, but maintain double spacing, that would be about two pages. However, if your text is smaller than 12 and you use a different spacing variation, it may only be one to one and a half pages.

Here’s how you can make 1000 words be more than two pages:

• Increase the font size by .5 or 1 point
• Increase the line spacing
• Change the size of all the punctuation to be larger

[Pssst! Want to see some of our Students’ published books? Check out the SPS Library here!]

How many words per page in a book?

Ultimately, you can expect there to be roughly 300 words per page in a book you write as a whole. Because dialogue requires paragraph breaks, there will be fewer words than if you have a few pages of full paragraphs instead of dialogue.

On average, there are about 300 words per page in a book. This number can vary depending on if you’re writing dialogue or how short each paragraph is.

How many words does a 300 page book have?

A 300-page book word count average is about 90,000 words. However, the word count per page can widely change, depending on the format, amount of dialogue, and even font size.

How to Find How Many Words are in Your Novel So Far

Knowing where to look to locate your word count will help you determine how long your book is actually going to be once it’s finished and you publish it (which you’ll learn to do in the next step).

Finding your book’s word count depends on which writing software you’re using to write it.

Here’s how to find your book’s word count for a number of writing software:

• Microsoft Word: The word count for your book in Microsoft Word will be located in the bottom left corner next to the page number.
• Google Docs: To find the word count in Google Docs using a mac, you can hit Command > Shift > C (Control > Shift > C on Windows) and a box will pop up. You can also go to Tools > Word Count
• Scrivener: If you’re using this writing tool, just go to Scrivener > Preferences > Editing and then select live counts to show the word count box and character on the bottom bar.
• Pages: To view word count in Pages on a mac, go to the toolbar and click View > Show Word Count.
• Open Office: If you’re using open office, the word count is visible in the bottom left corner.

Book Length Calculator

The best way to find out how many pages will be in your book is to use this calculation method:

Take your current word count and divide it by 300. This will give you the approximate number of pages that will be in your book.

Keep in mind that this is not a perfect way to calculate the number of pages your book will be. However, this rough estimation can help you understand the approximate length of your book.

How many words in a novel?

The average word count for a novel is between 60,000 and 110,000 words depending on the genre. First-time writers should research their genre in this post and choose the word count that’s the industry standard. Example: 90,000 words for a romance novel.

The amount of words in your novel does matter. Depending on your genre, having too many or too little can not only hurt your book sales, but also cause fewer 5-star reviews (which also hurts your sales).

This is how many words to have in a novel for each genre.

#1 – How many words in a memoir?

On average, when writing a memoir should not exceed 90,000 words and that is a stretch when it comes to memoir word count.

We recommend memoirs be between 45,000 to 80,000 words in order to maintain intrigue and reduce intimidation. This means your memoir will average between 150 and 265 pages.

When readers see that a memoir exceeds 300 pages, it sets up a red flag in their mind. Even if they’re interested in the memoir, a very lengthy memoir is often indicative of something reminiscent of an autobiography (which is basically a timeline of life events) versus a personal life telling with a theme or message.

Exceptions for memoir word count:

• You’re famous or well-known. Anyone who already has an audience can get away with a longer memoir simply because people have already shown interest in your life. They’re more likely to want more rather than less.
• Your memoir contains multiple lessons or messages. If your memoir is in several parts or you have a few messages to get across, you can write a longer memoir. Keep in mind, however, that it may be more beneficial to write two memoirs instead of one massive one.
• It’s your first draft word count only. It’s okay if your first draft is over 90,000 words. Oftentimes, professional editing will cut down the unnecessary information so your memoir is the appropriate word count.

Word count for memoirs: 45,000 – 80,000

#2 – How many words in a self-help book?

Any self-help or motivational nonfiction book should be between 30,000 and 70,000 words

This means your book will be between 100 and 230 pages in total.

Those looking for help through a book in this genre don’t want a massive novel to go through just to read what they need. For that reason, if you have a motivational or self-help book idea, keep it at a lower word count will actually help you more.

For example, our own Student Success Strategist, Lisa Zelenak, wrote this book called Find Your Thing. It’s a self-help book detailing how to escape monotony in your early 20s and do work that actually matters.

Find Your Thing is about 30,000 words and, with formatting, 178 pages long.

The reason this book does well is because it is not a super lengthly novel. With a self-help book, your audience wants to learn something and they want to learn it sooner rather than later.

Word count for self-help books: 30,000 – 70,000 words

#3 – How many words in a fantasy novel?

The average fantasy novel should have between 50,000 and 150,000 words. However, the true word count depends on the category in which you’re writing.

If you’re writing a young adult fantasy novel, you should keep your word count below 90,000 words or 300 book pages.

This is due to the audience you’re reaching preferring that length.

If you’re writing an adult fantasy novel or an epic fantasy novel (like Game of Thrones), your word count can skew higher at 90,000 – 200,000 words.

Not all fantasy novels are epic fantasy novels. Epic fantasy is a sub-genre beneath fantasy and encompasses very long journey-specific plots. Authors who write in this style are George R.R. Martin, Brandon Sanderson, and the late J.R.R. Tolkien.

Word count for fantasy novels: 50,000 – 150,000 words

#4 – How many words in a science fiction book?

Science fiction books typically have between 50,000 and 150,000 words, like fantasy novels. This puts them at between 170 – 500 pages.

This specific genre has a lot of flexibility with word and page count due to the variety of plot types and story arcs.

Here are some popular sci-fi novels and their word counts:

• Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – 50,895 words
• Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card – 100,609 words
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury – 46,118 words
• I, Robot by Isaac Asimov – 69,000 words
• The Stand by Stephen King – 500,000 words
• The Martian by Andy Weir – 104,588 words

As you can see, word count for science fiction books vary widely. However, we do not suggest writing a novel of 500,000 words unless you as established as Stephen King is.

Word count for science fiction novels: 50,000 – 150,000 words

#5 – How many words in a romance novel?

Romance novels often run between 50,000 and 90,000 words on average.

Romance is a unique genre because the plot is all about two characters and their adventure with one another. For that reason, writing a long, lengthy book just about their romance can become a problem for the readers.

This is why romance books tend to be below 90,000 words.

The more you write, the more you run the risk of losing your reader’s attention and motivation to keep reading.

A popular romance novel that’s a great example of keeping your story shorter rather than longer is The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.

This book only has 52,000 words and has become one of the most recognizable romances of our time.

Word count for romance novels: 50,000 – 90,000 words

#6 – How many words in a mystery novel?

Mystery novels do best if they’re written between 40,000 and 80,000 words.

Writing more than 80,000 words can become difficult, as you have to ensure your readers don’t know the answer behind the mystery.

As with anything, the more you say, the easier it is to decipher the clues underneath, which is what you don’t want when it comes to a mystery novel.

For example, Agatha Christie, one of the bestselling mystery writers of all time, write between 40,000 and 60,000 words per book.

Word count for mystery novels: 40,000 – 80,000 words

#7 – How many words in a horror novel?

Horror is much like mystery in the sense that you don’t want to drag these novels on too long. Therefore, we advise writers to stick between 40,000 to 80,000 words for horror novels.

As an example, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is 42,211 words long.

Word count for horror novels: 40,000 – 80,000 words

#8 – How many words in a dystopian novel?

Typical dystopian novels run between 60,000 and 120,000 words, though this genre has the flexibility to be longer.

Because dystopian is often a sub-genre, meaning it usually has a broader genre within it like fantasy or sci-fi, there’s room to expand and grow these types of novels.

Here are some popular dystopian novel word counts:

• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – 90,240
• Red Rising by Pierce Brown – 124,749 words
• The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau – 59,937

As you can see, this genre’s word count bounces all over the place. Just keep your intended audience in mind (young adult, middle-grade), in order to know how many words to write.

Word count for dystopian novels: 60,000 – 120,000 words

#9 – How many words in a contemporary book?

In a typical contemporary book, you will have between 60,000 and 90,000 words.

One popular example of a contemporary novel is Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, which stands at 60,965 words in total.

Contemporary novels typically don’t exceed 90,000 words particularly because they’re focused on modern problems versus anything other wordly. This means if you write too long of a book, you run the risk of losing your reader’s attention.

Word count for contemporary novels: 60,000 – 90,000 words

#10 – How many words in a young adult novel?

Young adult books range between 60,000 and 90,000 words. Unless you’re writing a young adult epic fantasy, which can go up to 150,000 words.

Young adult is a category more than a genre, but it’s important to keep this in mind when writing a book in any genre.

Your audience matters because different age ranges prefer different lengths of books. An older audience, like new adult or adult, is far more likely to consumer a book that’s over 100,000 words, whereas a younger audience like young adult only has the attention span for less than 90,000 words.

Word count for young adult novels: 90,000 words

#11 – How many words in a middle-grade book?

Middle-grade books are best if kept between 20,000 and 55,000 words in order to maintain the attention of readers this age.

Anything longer can be difficult for a younger audience to consume and retain all of the information. Therefore, cap your first draft off at 65,000 words with the intent to cut out what you don’t need when you ship it off to your editor.

Keep in mind that these word counts are guidelines. One thing we teach here at Self-Publishing School is that you must first know the rules before you can confidently break them.

Word count for middle grade novels: 40,000 words

Still not sure where to start? Check recommended word and page counts for multiple ages of varied audiences using the calculator at the top of this post. Once you have that, you can break your total words needed for your novel down into monthly, weekly, and daily writing goals.

Enjoy!

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Readers want books that hit a perfect sweet spot in terms of length. Short books can leave readers feeling like they didn’t get their money’s worth, while long books can feel like a slog.

Knowing the ideal length for your genre will help you plan the order of events and story arc of your book.

So, how do you know the best length for your book?

This article will explain what an average book length is and how you can calculate the right word count to aim for in your own manuscript.

How Long Is a Novel?

Let’s start by looking at the average length of a novel. The answer varies a lot depending on what type of novel you’re writing, so here are some ranges you can use as a benchmark.

What Is the Average Novel Word Count?

Most publishers consider novel length to be anywhere between 50,000 and 110,000 words. The average length of an adult novel is about 90,000 words.

Novels for younger readers run shorter than novels for adults. Young adult novels have an average length of 50,000–80,000 words, while middle-grade novels have an average length of 25,000–40,000 words.

Genre can also make a difference to how long your novel should be.

Science fiction and fantasy novels tend to have higher word counts than most other genres, averaging around 90,000–120,000 words, since they often need a lot of words for world building and introducing magic systems. Big, epic stories, such as George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, can even be 120,000+ words.

Romance novels, on the other hand, often have shorter word counts, averaging 50,000–100,000 words. Some even go as low as 40,000 words, depending on the specific subgenre.

Mystery, thriller, and horror novels also tend to run on the shorter side since they’re fast-paced and often focus more on action than on exposition. They average around 70,000–90,000 words.

Historical fiction is fairly average in terms of length, usually falling between 80,000 and 100,000 words.

If you’re a first-time writer and don’t know your exact genre, aiming for around 90,000 words for an adult novel is a safe goal.

What Is the Average Novel Length in Pages?

Books come in various sizes and are printed with different fonts and spacing, so page count isn’t always consistent. The best way to calculate length is by the number of words.

If you really want to estimate the number of pages for your book, you can divide the total word count by the number of words on a page.

A double-spaced document with standard manuscript formatting in 12-point font contains about 250 words per page. If you format your manuscript as a single-space document, it will be about 500 words per page.

So, if the average novel is around 90,000 words, that breaks down to about 360 double-spaced pages.

Here are a few more quick conversions to save you from having to do the math:

• A 50,000-word book is about 200 pages

• A 60,000-word book is about 240 pages

• A 70,000-word book is about 280 pages

• An 80,000-word book is about 320 pages

• A 90,000-word book is about 360 pages

• A 100,000-word book is about 400 pages

• A 110,000-word book is about 440 pages

Even if you write only one page per day, you’ll have a completed manuscript in less than a year.

What’s the Average Word Count of a Book?

There are many types of books other than novels, such as textbooks, memoirs, and self-help books. Let’s look at what those average word counts are.  

How Long Is a Self-Help Book?

The average self-help book is shorter than the average novel, coming in at around 40,000–50,000 words. Readers want a quick, concise read that can teach them something new in a short span of time.

How Long Is a Memoir?

Memoirs have similar word counts to novels. Most memoirs are 80,000–100,000 words long.

How Long Is a Biography?

Biographies tend to run longer than memoirs, often going as high as 200,000 words. A good target range is 80,000–200,000 words.

How Long Is a Textbook?

Textbooks vary widely in length depending on the subject you’re writing about and the audience you’re writing for.

A biology textbook designed for college students might be 200,000 words, while an arithmetic textbook designed for elementary schoolers might only be 30,000 words.

One useful way to figure out the target word count for a textbook is to look at the word counts of other textbooks with similar topics and target audiences. That can give you a more specific sense of what word count to shoot for.

How ProWritingAid Can Help You Hit Your Word Count

It’s important to hit the right word count for the type of book you’re writing.

If you’re hoping to traditionally publish your book, editors at publishing houses know the right book lengths for their genres, and they’ll be less inclined to take a chance on your story if it doesn’t meet their expectations. And if you want to self-publish, you’ll have a better chance of selling your book to your target audience if you give them the length they’re expecting.

You can run your manuscript through ProWritingAid to look for ways to hit your target word count.

If you need to cut words, you can use the Pacing Check to look for sections that are particularly slow-paced, such as long sections of introspection, and tighten them up. If you need to add words, you can look for fast-paced dialogue and action and add more description.

You can also consider adding an extra subplot to a novel that’s too short or splitting a novel into a series if it’s far too long. Don’t be afraid to get creative.

Good luck, and happy writing!

It’s one of the first questions new authors ask us: “How long should my book be? How many words should I write in my manuscript?” Here is some useful guidance, from children’s books to fantasy novels.

Go straight to the Infographic

First-time authors come to us for help to take their book idea to the next level. One of the first issues to address is the desired word count of the book. That determines everything from the ghostwriting fee to the outline they’ll need for their manuscript. We get questions like:

• How many words make a novel?
• How many words should your first novel be?
• What should be a picture book word count?
• What should be a fantasy novel word count?
• What’s the minimum word count for a novel?
• What should be the average chapter word count?

There are no “rules” as to book length, nor as to chapter length, although there are some publishing industry guidelines. What follows is best practice to meet those industry expectations. First-time authors are advised to follow them pretty closely if you want to get published. Pay attention to the average amount of words in a book of your genre. Once you have a name for yourself, it’s easier to break the rules.

If you plan to self-publish, you obviously don’t have to follow the guidelines. But you still might want to understand them. They might make you change your approach. For instance, you might want to transform one book into a trilogy. Or you might ask yourself whether you have enough in your story to engage the audience.

If you self-publish, you are in control.

If you have made a name for yourself, you might even be in control with a traditional publisher.

Place the Harry Potter series side by side and see how much thicker The Half Blood Prince is than all the others – almost three times as long as the first two books, in fact. After the first two books, the following volumes got progressively longer, as J.K. Rowling had made a name for herself by then.

But if you are just starting out, the publisher is in control. How many words you should write is how many the publisher wants you to write. Here are the best practices for word counts in the publishing industry today.

In this word count guide

• Word count for children’s books
• Board book word count
• Picture book word count
• Picture books for older children
• Early reader book word count
• Early chapter book word count
• Middle grade book word count
• Young adult novel word count
• Hi-lo books
• General fiction and novels
• Romance novel word count
• Fantasy novel word count
• Self-help and how-to book word count
• Memoir and business book word count
• Infographic: average book word count by genre and age
• Should your book follow the average book word count?

Word counts for children’s books

The biggest challenge in determining manuscript length is for young audiences. There are so many factors.

First, at a very young age, parents read to their children.

Then, children start reading on their own, but parents still read to them. Books they read and books read to them might be of different lengths.

As children learn to read, some leap forward, while others lag behind. Complicating matters is that children in the 8-12 age range might read both picture books and chapter books at the same time, often depending on the type of story or topic.

Let’s start at the beginning.

Board books (0-4)

If you are wondering what a board book is, it’s small book of just a couple dozen ‘pages’, often fewer. Those pages are made from card stock a few millimeters thick. Toddlers can’t rip those pages (on purpose, or by accident). Neither can adults, by the way – get out your chain saw!

Some board books have no words at all. Some have up to 250 or 300 words. In most cases, board books have fewer than 100 words. That is so that parents can read just a few words for each picture a young toddler views.

Moo, Baa, La La La! by Sandra Boynton is one of my favorites. It runs 14 pages, and if my memory serves me well, about 60 words.

Picture books (3-8)

Picture books are often read to children by their parents. But older toddlers and kindergarteners have a bigger attention span and are more interested in hearing the story, not just looking at the pictures. As they start to learn to read, these are the books they practice on.

Some picture books target toddlers, whereas others target early readers. Many children learn to read on the very books their parents read to them earlier, so picture books often double up for both purposes.

Perhaps the most famous book to fall into this category is The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper. It’s 40-48 pages (depending on which edition) contains 1,200 or more words.

Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are runs just 338 words.

Let’s say that a typical picture book for younger children would be about 500 words. That’s roughly the length of Simone B and the Magical Mirror by Dr. Denita Bottoms.

Picture books for older children (6-10)

Older children who can read a bit, but are still very much learning, might like a few more words.
Perhaps I should have included The Little Engine that Could in this category.

There is so much overlap, especially since different children learn to read at different paces. This is particularly noticeable as they move from picture books to chapter books.

I saw this discrepancy in my own children. One had read the entire Harry Potter series in both English and French before entering grade four – before they began teaching English at the school. Meanwhile, my other child was sticking mostly to picture books at that age, and sometimes struggling with them.

Where there was no discrepancy was in their love for Robert Munsch’s books. They range from 500 to 1,000 words, and it was many years before either kid grew tired of them.

The same goes for The Berenstain Bears, which range from 1,000 to 1,200 words. Let’s call this category 1,000 words, give or take a few hundred.

Early reader books (5-9)

These are the books kids reads once they know how to read, but still have a very limited vocabulary. Through these books, they learn to read faster and build a bigger vocabulary.

These books often have pictures to support the story. That’s the evolving difference between picture books and early reader books. They move from words supporting pictures, to pictures supporting words.

Still, early reader books aren’t very long, typically 2,000 words, although they might range up to 3,000.

Early chapter books (6-10)

By age 6, some children are reading a significant amount. By age 10, most children are. Early chapter book word counts of 4,000 to 12,000 give them something to keep reading, without being so long as to discourage them.

Early chapter books are designed to keep a young mind’s attention. For instance, Captain Underpants books come in at about 5,000-6,000 words. Flying Cowboys and Confetti Rain: Dreams of a PBR Bull by Debbie Felkins Tamez comes in over 10,000 words.

All in all, 8,000 words would be a good average for this category.

Middle grade (MG) chapter books (8-12)

This is where young minds start getting serious. Middle grade chapter book word counts range from 20,000 to 60,000. And that is a length that many adults find comfortable, too.

I grew up on Homer Price books by Robert McCloskey, which were typically just over 20,000 words. The Goosebumps series is often associated with this reading level, and author R.L. Stine says they run about 23,000 words.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, a classic by by C.S. Lewis has 38,000 words. The full series of seven books has almost 350,000 words, or an average word count of 50,000 per book.

And the The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, another classic I grew up on, runs 42,000 words.

So 40,000 words is a good guideline for middle grade chapter books.

Young adult (YA) novels (12 and up)

Frankly, young adult starts becoming indistinguishable from adult as far as word count is concerned. When kids under 12 were reading the first couple Harry Potter volumes, both around 80,000 words, it almost makes you throw your hands up in the air.

Paper Towns, by John Green, is also 80,000 words long. His The Fault in Our Stars is 65,000 words long.

And The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas runs over 110,000 words.

So when I say that the average YA novel word count is 40,000-75,000 words long and even more, the “even more” part is perfectly normal.

However, not every young adult book can be that long. It takes an exceptional manuscript to get accepted outside industry norms. A 60,000-word manuscript is much more likely to get accepted by a publisher than one that is much longer or much shorter.

Asmaa Jamil’s Magical Mountain fits this perfectly, with a word count of 50,000. It’s a fairy tale, so it could also have been considered middle grade, even at this length.

The exception to the rule, as with adult books, is YA fantasy word count. Fantasy books can always be longer. That is likely because the reader has the world-building to absorb in addition to the characters and the plot.

Hi-lo books

This is an interesting category, and one that most people have never heard of. These books offer adult or teen stories and topics at a grade school reading level. They serve three primary niches:

• struggling or reluctant readers in high school
• adults who might not read well because of a learning disability
• adults who are learning a second or third language

What these niches have in common is that they represent people whose interests are way above their reading levels. Most books at their reading levels are written about subjects that interest little kids.

Have you ever tried to learn another language, and found that the only books you could read in that language were children’s books about children’s topics. Not very interesting to an adult.

The “Hi” in Hi-lo refers to highly engaging, age-appropriate content. The “lo” stands for low reading level.

The length of these books depends on a person’s reading level. They can be anywhere from 500 to 20,000 words. I won’t even try to identify a typical word count for the infographic below.

General fiction novel (mystery, thriller, crime, historical, etc.)

As you can probably guess by now, books come in such a wide variety of lengths, that it is hard to generalize on words in a novel. The minimum word count for a novel is 40,000 words, although some people in the industry will scoff at a book that short.

I won’t.

The average word count for a novel is… Again, I won’t.

How long should your first novel be? Each November, NaNoWriMo hosts a novel-writing challenge. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and the goal is for up-and-coming writers to create novels of 50,000 words. That’s not a bad length for your first novel, regardless of genre.

The most important thing about your story is that you include every single word you need to make it the very best story possible. The second most important thing about your story is that you don’t add in a single word that doesn’t make it better.

What if the ideal length of your story is 30,000 words? Then it’s a novella. Anything 15,000-40,000 words is a novella. Novellas can be harder to sell to publishing houses, but if your story is perfect that way, don’t add in another 10,000 or 20,000 words that only make the story weaker.

And chapter length can be just as tricky. Nora Roberts typically writes chapters of 3,000 to 6,000 words. Michael Crichton writes chapters just as long, but he also famously throws in short, snappy chapters of 500 or 600 words. It’s hard to define the “ideal” or even the “average” chapter word count.

So, how long should a novel manuscript be? The average novel word count by genre is almost impossible to define. As with Hi-lo novels, I won’t try to identify the average word length of a novel for the infographic below. Romance novel word count and fantasy novel word count are exceptions that I address below.

Your novel length should be exactly the number of words needed to tell your story. And your chapter word count should be just as many as it takes to tell that segment of the story.

Romance novel word count

Romance novels are often short and sweet (and steamy). A typical paperback romance novel runs 50,000 words. Harlequin, the most famous purveyor of romance novels, even specifies that they look for 50,000-word long manuscripts.

That is not to say that romance novels can’t be longer, even epic, especially historical romance or other sub-niches. But if you plan to get published by a mainstream publisher, best follow the guidelines and meet the expectations.

Fantasy novel word count

The longest books are fantasy novels. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien is famous for being almost 600,000 words long. That’s spread over four volumes, including The Hobbit. Still, that’s an average of 150,000 words per book. You’ll have to draw a lot of baths to get through those volumes.

Similarly, His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman runs 400,000 words across three volumes.

The minimum I would write for a fantasy novel is 75,000 words, but I would say that 100,000 words is a good length. Obviously, the sky is almost the limit, so don’t be shy with your fantasy novel word count. But keep to good story telling. Remember what I wrote above:

The second most important thing about your story is that you don’t add in a single word that doesn’t make it better.

Amateur writers tend to add a lot of unnecessary words. And fantasy writers tend to add in a lot of additional words on top of the unnecessary ones.

Self-help and how-to books

Looking at non-fiction, my Climb Your Stairway to Heaven: the 9 habits of maximum happiness has a word count of just over 60,000.

On the other hand, Mary Banda’s From Chaos to Contentment has just over 30,000 words.

So how many words should you write in a self-help or how-to book?

Both self-help books and how-to books are practical texts. People buy them expecting to learn something, so they have to be short to avoid intimidating the reader. Let’s face it, nobody wants to get lost in a how-to book.

Self-help books typically range from 30,000 words to 70,000 words. I would say that 50,000 words is a good typical self-help book length.

Memoirs and business books

Unlike self-help and how-to, people buy business books and memoirs to be inspired and to read stories. They still want to learn something, but they want to learn through stories rather than through lessons.

Business books and memoirs can be longer than self-help and how-to, but a lot depends on the topic.

Your autobiography might not have a high word count. Readers are not be ready to invest weeks reading through the life story of somebody they don’t know.

Marina Kaye’s memoir The Black Veil of Deceit has about 40,000 words. While on the short side, that is not unusual for a person who’s story is interesting, but whose name is unknown.

On the other hand, biographies of famous people can be quite long. I’ll never forget seeing Margaret Thatcher’s autobiography many years ago. I just stared at this huge, think book. I have no idea what the word count was, but I would estimate a gazillion, give or take a few pages. And it sold well.

Your autobiography would typically range from 40,000 to 80,000 words, unless you have a very special story to tell. Let’s split the difference at 60,000 words.

Business books would be a similar length, unless they are how-to topics. For instance, Victor Chiu’s how-to finance book Wall Street Kitchen has just over 50,000 words.

This is an ideal length for any how-to book: long enough to be of substance, but short enough to not intimidate potential readers.

On the other hand, a business book promising the inside story on a business development or how a famous entrepreneur disrupted an industry would warrant a much longer manuscript.

Average book word count by genre and age – infographic

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Should your book follow the average book word count?

So how many words should your books be? As many as you like.

Frankly, this guide is just for information. Use it to improve your story if it helps. Use it to make your book more saleable. Use it to make creative decisions and business decisions, if you wish. Or use it simply to laugh at how silly the guidelines are and at how many well-known books break them every day – because there is no “average” word count for a book.