Word count for books

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.

Many authors are gearing up to weave worlds, characters, and stories into novels with their words. But… how many words does a novel make? And when it comes to creating art, just how important is it to stick to the rules — such as standard word counts?

Well, if your goal is to publish and sell your novel, those rules are pretty darn important. As with many publishing standards, word count guidelines exist for a number of reasons — including marketing and sales — but also to help create stories that are free from plot or pacing issues that can exhaust readers. You wouldn’t be reading this article right now if a quick scroll down showed an apparent 10,000 words, would you?

Why does word count matter?

“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.

If you’re hoping to land a book deal with a traditional publisher, you don’t want to give an editor a reason to turn your book away. That’s why Freelance Editor Jessica Hatch urges you to follow their rules. “In the New York agencies I worked for, it was rare to see a 120,000-word manuscript avoid the slush pile. This is because we were groomed to understand that, even if a long manuscript is strong from start to finish, it would take considerable work to convince an editor to buy it at auction.”

Similarly, if your book is published and lands in a bookstore, you don’t want to turn away prospective readers with a bizarrely small or large book spine. Word count signals to people what kind of book they’re dealing with. Readers looking for a good beach-read in the ‘Mystery’ section will not likely gravitate towards a 1,000-page book.

Regarding the value of adhering to standard word counts, Jackie Bates, a former Managing Editor at AA Publishing, adds: “Like everything in writing, you may write a work of genius that smashes all the rules. But for print publishing, the physical cost of producing the book is an issue, and the market does generally know what it likes. I do find if someone has written a very short or overly long novel, they often don’t quite have a grip on their story. Word counts give writers something to aim for and an idea of what a reader’s expectations might be.”

How many words should my novel be?

The average word count of a novel ranges between 70,000 to 100,000 words. Lengths, of course, may differ based on a book’s genre. Fantasy stories can exceed 120,000 words, while novellas fall under 40,000 words. Generally, authors should adhere to genre norms to satisfy readers as well as meet the industry expectations of agents and publishers. 

Keep in mind, however, that this isn’t a hard and fast range. It differs from book to book and organization to organization. According to NaNoWriMo, manuscripts must be over 50k words to qualify. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, on the other hand, classifies submissions for its famous Nebula Awards series into four categories:

• Short story: under 7,500
• Novelette: between 7,500 and 17,500
• Novella: between 17,500 and 40,000
• Novel: over 40,000

Is 40,000 words enough for a novel?

A story that is over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel. However, it will be on the short side, as the average length of a novel hovers around 50,000-70,000 words.

That said, if your book is around 40,000 words, you’re in good company. C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and George Orwell’s Animal Farm all came in under the 40,000 mark (38,421 words, 30,644 words, and 29,966 words, respectively).

But before you celebrate and race to send your manuscript off to the presses as a novel, there’s something else that you should consider. Whether a word count is «enough» for a novel depends on one thing and one thing only: its genre.

PRO-TIP: If you’re curious about how long a chapter should be, check out this post that’s all about chapter length. Or if you’re more a fan of short fiction, click here to find out how long is a short story?

What are the standard word counts by genre?

You should be aware that word count standards differ vastly by genre. Could you, as a first-time novelist, get an agent or publisher to bite at your 200k-word YA epic? Maybe — but it would be tough.

To find out whether your novel falls above, below, or in the ideal word count for its genre, take a gander at the recommended word counts from Reedsy’s editors below.

(And if you’d just like the quick and dirty answer, take this 15-second quiz to check how long your novel should be, given your specific genre.)

How many words should a fiction novel be?

Commercial and literary novels are generally 80,000 to 110,000 words. Some examples for this category include: The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (85,199 words), The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (91,419 words), Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (97,364 words), Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (119,394 words), and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (119,394 words).

How many words should a fantasy novel be?

Fantasy and science fiction novels are known to be lengthier than other books. Fantasy, in particular, takes the cake: some books in a fantasy series end up exceeding 140,000 words. That said, the average word count for science fiction and fantasy novels generally lies between 100,000 and 115,000. Examples include: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (112,815 words), Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling (106,821 words), and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (100,609 words).

How many words should a romance novel be?

Romance novels tend to be shorter, lying between 80,000 and 100,000 words. However, since romance has many sub-genres, this figure may vary. (For instance, regency romances and paranormal romances must be above 40,000 words). We recommend researching the niche and checking specific imprints before you start writing your romance book.

How many words should a middle-grade novel be?

Middle-grade novels are generally 20,000 to 55,000 words. Chapter books will come in at the lower end of the spectrum, while middle-grade books meant for older readers may even slightly exceed 55,000 words. For more information on word counts for children’s book, check out this post.

And, in case you’re wondering, here are the average word counts for other popular genres:

• Young adult: 55,000 – 70,000
• Mystery: 75,000 – 100,000
• Thriller: 90,000 – 100,000
• Memoir: 80,000 – 90,000
• Western: 45,000 – 75,000

Of course, there will be books that smash these «rules.» George R.R. Martin’s longest novel in the A Song of Ice and Fire series is A Storm of Swords, at 424,000 words. JK Rowling’s longest novel is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, totaling 257,045 words. And The Fellowship of the Ring sits at 187,790 words. However, they have one similarity: they were all published by authors after they’d already become famous and built a huge fanbase, making the companies that published them lots of money.

This is not to say that epic novels are a form of storytelling reserved only for bestselling writers. Diana Gabaldon’s debut novel, Outlander, totals a cool 305k words. But if you’re still getting your start, proceed into the 100K+ word count with caution.

How do Reedsy books compare?

While writing this article, we became curious about how the length of manuscripts submitted to editors through Reedsy compared to industry standards. This is what we found:

Overall, manuscripts received by Reedsy editors seem to fall squarely within the industry averages, with a few minor outliers.

“Like with anything, an exceptional manuscript can result in exceptions to the rule,” says Jackie Bates. However, working with a professional editor is really a rule of thumb for ensuring your manuscript is in tip-top shape — and that includes your manuscript’s word count.

What’s important to remember is that a word count that exceeds industry standards is not merely an arbitrary reason for publishers and agents to refuse a query or pitch. Most of the time, an overly long word count is a symptom of major plot or pacing problems in a novel — issues that need to be solved during the revision process.

Of course, hiring a professional editor does come with a price tag, and most freelancers calculate their costs based on the number of words. In light of this, several Reedsy editors have been kind enough to offer tips for authors who are in the revision process and looking to cut down on word count.

How to stick to word count guidelines

The rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t worry about word count when you’re writing your first draft — and it should be even less of a concern in the outlining phase. If you’d like to learn more about that topic, we write extensively about how to outline a novel here.

However, if you’re done with your first draft and you’re shocked by the amount of words in it, it might be time to cut down. Let the words of Truman Capote be your revising mantra: “I’m all for the scissors. I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil.” Grab your scissors and take these tips into account.

1) Don’t edit until the first draft is completed
«Put your manuscript aside for a few weeks before going back to it. With a little distance, you’ll be able to see where there are superfluous scenes or unnecessary purple prose.» — Alli Brydon, former Associate Editor at Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

2) Send extraneous movement of characters to the cutting room floor
“Extraneous movement of characters through space is something that beginning writers tend to be loyal to. It’s challenging to figure out how to move characters from one scene to the next. But readers don’t need to see every step a character makes. It’s good to leave some things to the imagination, and the reader in their own mind can fill in the blanks between scene cuts.” — Kelly Lydick, Associate Editor at Immanence Journal

3) Ask yourself, “Does the reader really need to know this?”
“One bad habit that inflates word count in historical fiction especially is the tendency to info-dump historical facts into the narration. This is a tough habit to break. In order to create a world of verisimilitude, the writer has to research all of this information, and so it’s difficult for them to believe the reader doesn’t need to know it, too. I recommend curtailing historical information to those tidbits that further the plot or help to develop a main character. This can be applied to any genre, however: if a detail doesn’t serve a purpose, it’s extraneous and should be cut.” — Jessica Hatch

4) Avoid the “brother and sister explaining family life to each other” exposition
“Be aware of what characters would know about each other/themselves, and try to be creative when imparting this information to the reader. It is possible to explain all sorts of things without being obvious or writing it directly into dialogue. Some things can be inferred.” — Jackie Bates

5) Edit out adverbs in favor of stronger verbs
«Instead of ‘walking quickly,’ why can’t your hero ‘stride’ across the room? This is especially something to keep in mind when you’re writing fight scenes.» — Jessica Hatch

6) Be aware of your over-used words
“I think every writer has ‘pet’ words they use all the time, often without realizing it. Words I tend to notice and always flag include frequently starting dialogue with ‘Well,’ — I often see more than one example of this per page, even in traditionally-published novels. I also always suggest authors do a search of their manuscript for the word ‘that’ and really question the necessity of each one. It’s a useful word but often unnecessary.” — Jackie Bates

7) Too many adjectives are not necessarily a good thing
“Great writing creates a skillful balance between what the writer provides on the page and what the reader brings to the story with their own imagination. One lean but carefully chosen, perfect-for-the-context description is much more valuable than fluffier, or lengthy descriptions of character or scene. Knowing what to keep and what to cut should be driven by voice and tone — they will dictate the cadence of the language used in the story.” — Kelly Lydick

Don’t shy away from contractions
“People frequently avoid contractions, both in narrative and dialogue, and this often (depending on when a book is set and what the characters are like) gives a sense of formality that I find quite intrusive. If appropriate to the text, I always encourage writers to use more contractions for a more direct and natural feel.” — Jackie Bates

CHEATSHEET: What Should My Word Count Be?

To make all of this info easier for you to digest, we created this cheatsheet for you to refer back to whenever you need.

It has everything you might want to know about word counts — even how long a chapter should be. Unlock it below!

To bend or not to bend the rules

We said it already, but it’s worth repeating: authors should not underestimate the value of staying within standard word counts. Editors in traditional publishing houses believe that it’s easier to market books that meet genre expectations, and if you’re hunting for a book deal or for an agent, you want to eliminate any reason for them to eliminate you. Not to mention that the longer your book is, the more time it will take to write it.

These sentiments acknowledged, these days self-publishing has given authors the ability to play around with the rules. A good example of this is is John McCrae’s (aka Wildbow’s) novel, Worm, which was published as a web serial and is 1.75 million words long. And — in the vein of four-letter titles that start with “W” — there’s Hugh Howey’s Wool, which was originally self-published as a series of e-novellas.

While sticking to standard word counts is definitely important from a sales or marketing standpoint, a greater pool of publishing options means that writers do not need to view “the rules” as entirely rigid and unbendable — especially when going against the grain ultimately serves the story. As Kelly Lydick, advises, “Adhering to standard word counts can be important — but even more important than that is the telling of a good story. Even better — a great story.”

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What are your thoughts on publishing standards, such as word counts? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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.

“How many words in a novel?” is a question many writers ask.

“My memoir is 270,000 words long.” I heard these words during a breakout session I led at a local writers’ conference.

An editor friend of mine, Shayla Eaton with Curiouser Editing, was sitting in on the breakout. We gave each other knowing glances, and because I didn’t want to break this poor memoirist’s literary heart, I nodded at Shayla to take the lead. Soon after I heard someone mention the words in a novel, I held my breathe and let the moment pass.

As nicely but as directly as she could, she explained to the memoirist that a 270,000-word memoir was excessive. Even if she self-publishes, the cost per copy would be high, and few readers would slog through such a tome — particularly for someone who’s not famous.

And no agents or publishers would even look past that number.

The prose could be as fleet-footed as Fitzgerald’s. The life story could be as compelling as Lincoln’s. The platform could be as broad as Oprah’s. But no agent would get to know that because they’d see “Memoir: 270,000 words” and hit delete before reading any further.

So, what word count should a memoir be? 

For that matter, how long should any book be? How many words are in a typical novel? What’s the ideal book word count? 

If you’re writing your first novel or any book, you’re probably asking these questions.

The short answer is: long enough to tell the story but short enough to consistently hold the reader’s interest.

The long answer is, well, longer.

Read on to discover:

1. Why do novel word counts matter?
2. How many words in a novel?
3. What should my book word count be?
4. How many words per page can you expect in a book?

Why do novel word counts matter?

Word count matters because every book, regardless of genre, has an inherent contract with the reader. But that contract is dependent upon the book’s genre.

For instance, when a reader picks up a thriller, they have certain expectations of what they’re about to read. That includes scenes like “the hero at the mercy of the villain,” but it also includes book length. Because thrillers are about pulse-pounding action and maybe some character development (especially if it’s part of a series), the word count isn’t massive. Thrillers tend to be 70,000 to 90,000 words.

If you’re not a thriller author, I won’t keep you in suspense. At the end of this article, you’re going to find a guide to suggested word count length for most every popular genre.

My point is that your genre will likely dictate your word count. There are exceptions, like YA books that exceed 250,000 words, but those tend to be outliers, and first-time authors rarely, if ever, get to be an outlier.

Additionally, knowing your word count before you start writing can help you better plan your narrative arc as well as your writing schedule.

How many words in a novel?

And what’s the average length of other types of books?

Before diving into the specifics of genre-based word counts, let’s look at the broader picture of average book length.

For most publishers, a book is “novel-length” when it’s between 50,000 and 110,000 words.

At a writers conference I recently attended, publishing veteran Jane Friedman said 80,000 words is good for most fiction, below 60,000 isn’t novel length territory, and above 120,000 is likely too much.

Writer’s Digest recommends 80,000 to 89,999 words as a “100% safe range for literary, mainstream, women’s, romance, mystery, suspense, thriller and horror.” That’s approximately 300 pages of double-spaced type.

In “Outlining Your Book in 3 Easy Steps,” editor Shawn Coyne says, “The average novel today is about 90,000 words. Big, epic stories get anywhere from 120,000 to 200,000 words.” But, he also mentions that “The Wizard of Oz was 40,000 words. The Old Man and the Sea was about 25 to 30,000 words, tops.”

Coyne uses the Nanowrimo word-count length of 50,000 words for his examples, calling 50,000 words a good foundation to build upon.

So what does that mean for you, author?

If you’re working on a novel-length book, aim for 50,000 words at the very least — but it’s better to aim for 90,000. Editorial trimming is inevitable.

However, you’ll also want to take your genre into account.

What should my book word count be?

The following are average word-count ranges by genre.

General Fiction Word Counts

• Flash Fiction: 300–1500 words
• Short Story: 1500–30,000 words
• Novellas: 30,000–50,000 words
• Novels: 50,000–110,000 words

Fiction Genres Word Counts

• Mainstream Romance: 70,000–100,000 words
• Subgenre Romance: 40,000–100,000 words
• Science Fiction / Fantasy: 90,000–120,000 (and sometimes 150,000) words
• Historical Fiction: 80,000–100,000
• Thrillers / Horror / Mysteries / Crime: 70,000–90,000 words
• Young Adult: 50,000–80,000

For a great discussion on the fundamentals of fiction, and how to write a great story, check out this podcast interview.

Children’s Books Word Counts

• Picture Books: 300–800 words
• Early Readers: 200–3500 words
• Chapter Books: 4000–10,000 words
• Middle Grade: 25,000–40,000 words

Nonfiction Word Counts

• Standard Nonfiction (Business, Political Science, Psychology, History, etc.): 70,000–80,000 words
• Memoir: 80,000–100,000 words
• Biography: 80,000–200,000 words
• How-to / Self-Help: 40,000–50,000 words

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. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts.

Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals.

Know what readers expect in terms of your genre’s word count (even if the reader isn’t aware of their expectations when it comes to how long a book is).

How many words per page can you expect in a book? 

This is another common question, and for most writers it should be easy to answer by using a “word count” feature in your writing tool.

If you’re writing in Microsoft Word,”word count” is an option under “Tools.” Prefer something different? Here’s how to find word count in Google Docs. You can also track word count in Scrivener.

The average single-spaced document typed in 12-point font contains about 500 words per page, but that can vary pretty drastically depending on your formatting.

So, if you have an hour to write and aim to get down 300 words, you might wonder, how many pages is 300 words — and the answer is less than one! Doable, right?

If you’re thinking bigger and wondering, for example, how many pages is 50,000 words, simply divide your target word count (50,000) by 500 (since that’s the average words per page). Your answer here is 100 pages.

Don’t let those commas instill fear. Fifty thousand words isn’t that much divided into five days a week for a year. That’s only 193 words per writing day!

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This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.