We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. Hi out there, ive just about finished a non fiction book about little known young and other heroes of the american revolution. Im going to write about my experience and not worry too much about the word count. Personally, i recommend at least 10,000 words for nonfiction, unless you can do it justice in. Right now, when it comes to novellength word count, its all about 90,000 words. At a writers conference i recently attended, publishing veteran jane friedman said 80,000 words is good for most fiction, below 60,000 isnt novel length territory, and above 120,000 is likely too much. The figure was found through looking at a number of books text stats, until brave new worlds 64,531 word count landed in the exact center of all books 50% of books have fewer words and 50% of books have more words. These word counts are my personal references they are not official, and do not include back matter, which is bonus material for the reader or information geared for parents, teachers, or older readers. Now that weve covered how many words are in a novel, its time to break it down even further by finding out the ideal number of chapters in a novel and how many words are used in a typical chapter depending on the writing genre, word count in book chapters can vary considerably. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 words. One of my biggest problems as a publisher is having authors deliver more than was agreed to. I know fiction works on average come in at 60,000 but i really had no idea about non fiction. I dont want to talk about the big, bad book the cold publishing equations. Mar 05, 2016 the average sales per title are utterly without meaning.
How many words in a novel vary depending on genre, audience, and the story itself but in general, the average words in a novel is between 60,000 and 90,000 words for most genres. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. It contains 38 lines per page, with an average of 12 words per line, thus 456 words per book page. To fill a page in word, you would need around 500 words, 1.
The figure was found through looking at a number of books text stats, until brave new worlds 64,531 word count landed in the exact center of all books50% of books have fewer words and 50% of books have more words. But like all the numbers when discussing book length, you should consider them as yardsticks rather than firm numbers. Classification word count novel over 40,000 words novella 17,500 to 40,000 words novelette 7,500 to 17,500 words short story under 7,500 words. In all cases, you can find an author who has successfully pushed the envelope one way or another. A single novel can be longer, but once the length is above 110,000 words publishers may look at cutting it back, unless it is a particular kind of book books over the 110k word count are usually considered epics. I think you should use the number of words the story needs to be told.
Still unsure of how long to make your nonfiction book. Amazons most read charts rank titles by the average. Harry potter and the chamber of secrets 85,000 words. Generally speaking, traditional publishers expect completed nonfiction book manuscripts to be between 50,000 to 75,000 words. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count.
This number was significantly different from the average we had seen for the estimated print length that had been given in the product details of each book s amazon sales page. Jul 23, 2012 that said, the average adult novel is 100,000, and most publishers for most categories want novels ranging from 80120,000 but some categories run shorter. Richard castle, played by actor nate fillion, is decripting a code and mentions that the average number of words per page in his nikki heat books is just bel. How to make a living with your writing is my shortest non fiction book at 27,000 words and looks fine in print. If im writing a novel, this gives me 40 chapters and 70,000 words when im done. A fulllength nonfiction book usually contains 9 to 15 chapters of average length.
Go out and find similar books to the one you want to write and figure out how many words. However sometimes, like today, the reverse happens. Now that we have the length of a page even an arbitrary one we can go on to estimate the size of books and articles. Dont feel like you have to omit any important details to avoid your memoir being too long, and dont feel like you have to pad it out with unnecessary information to avoid it being too short. However, be prepared to be flexible when it comes to length and formatthe publisher will have the final say. Once you have a vision for your book small, standard, or wide formatyou can move on to the second step in deciding how many words you should write. Know your content, know your mainline pitch and some. Rowlings recordbreaking series began with two titles on the high end of that spectrum and finished with five that left the guidelines in the dust. Frequently asked questions getting published meg cabot. There is no reliable data from 2012 to make a viable yeartoyear comparison. I have before, but its time to do it again, because ive been watching a great crop of hungry and talented debut novelists throwing themselves out of the nest recently, and its on my mind. The science fiction and fantasy writers of america specifies word lengths for each category of its nebula award categories. If you stick to these when youre writing your nonfiction book, youll be fine. Jun 18, 2008 if your book will contain a number of charts, photographs, or illustrations, say so.
I use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. And dont forget to calculate what your word count will be. It depends on the font you are using, of course, but in general, 250300 words per page. A non fiction book attractive to publishers of bestsellers starts at around 75,000 words. Paperback books typically contain how many words per page. Aug 10, 2011 number of words should be visible in amazon for books details. At the other end of the spectrum a book of 80,000 to 100,000 words has. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to. Over that size is the territory of the academic or technical business book. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals. This article how to write a bestselling business book has a good, concise, logical answer on the ideal length today for a business book less than 100 pages. The total page count excluding appendices and index is 204 pages, thus about 93,000 words. When it gets closer to 1,000, editors and agents may shy away.
Mar 17, 2010 over time, the word count diminished and volume 8 the mark contained only 85,341 words, and the last volume, number 16 kingdom come, dwindled to 77,776 words. If i remember rightly, the industry rule of thumb for paperbacks is 250 to 300 words per page, so that word count would amount to about 170200 pages. Using amazons number of words as a guide, 5,000 words would equal 26. Sep 29, 2014 he wrote, the number of ebook singles any ebook between 5,000 and 30,000 words in length published in the third quarter increased a whopping 27 percent compared to the second quarter of 20. And for every book that sells 20,000, there is one that is a disaster. Feb 24, 2015 sketch out your outline, make sure your structure works, and then start coming up with more clever titles for the chapters and parts, if you use those. Text book type non fiction books will be shorter, and the length will be tied to the topic. A book can be 25,000 words and still be of incredible value if it is priced appropriately. Since nonfiction readers arent a price sensitive, rounding up may not make much of a difference. The best guideline you can follow is to make your book as long as it needs to be and no longer. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. How many words should be in an adult nonfiction book. You can try to publish fiction or nonfiction on kindle thats less than 2,500 words, but its possible it may not be accepted.
By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages. Estimate your page count book designer fiona raven. This number was significantly different from the average we had seen for the estimated print length that had been given in the product details of each books amazon sales page. So if you write a 35,000 word manuscript, your formatted book will likely be around 140 pages. Generally a 50,000 word novel would be the minimum word count. Books range from several words to several thousand compare goodnight moon to the polar express. Sep 20, 2019 how many words in a novel vary depending on genre, audience, and the story itself but in general, the average words in a novel is between 60,000 and 90,000 words for most genres. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. Roughly how many pages would 50,000 words produce in a. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. May 11, 2009 word count and book length one of my biggest problems as a publisher is having authors deliver more than was agreed to. I want to talk a little bit about book numbers here. Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction.
With longer books, you can get a rough count by adding up the number of words on an average page and multiplying by the total number of pages. You definitely dont need to write the equivalent of the 300,000 word novel. Many authors will, of course, scout out the books they consider their. You may also describe the general format you envision. I just popped into my office and pulled a few books off the shelf. Longer word counts allowed for fantasy, scifi, historical. Miranda is an awardwinning author of more than a dozen fiction and nonfiction books for children. I know of an author with a very large publisher whose novel has sold only 1,087 copies in its lifetime.
Once you have a vision for your booksmall, standard, or wide formatyou can move on to the second step in deciding how many words you should write. Jun 24, 2019 be aware that the word average means that for every book that sells 15,000, there is one that sells 5,000. If you want to get a target for your non fiction book, the best thing may be to look at a dozen or so bestselling books in the genreniche youre aiming at and see what their word counts are. While the stories of other peoples lives are fascinating, readers dont want to slog through anything that drags on and on. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages.
Go out and find similar books to the one you want to write and figure out how many words are in the book. May 14, 2018 with a track record to back them up, established writers have greater flexibility. Obviously, my point is not that you should submit a first book of anywhere near. From these numbers, we can establish some guidelines. For my travel memoir, should i query when i have a proposal and several sample chapters, like nonfiction, or wait until the manuscript is complete, like fiction. Average word count ranges from 70,000 to 100,000 words, although biographies of major celebrities or public figures can support a higher number. As for non fiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. Does this mean that every chapter must end up somewhere in this range. That doesnt mean you can submit a manuscript twice the length a publisher recommends. Oct 27, 2018 chapter length matters more than you think. Harry potter and the deathly hallows 198,000 words. T he indie author chris fox coined the term potato chip chapters for easilydigestible book chapters of a certain size. Nov 07, 2016 and one advantage with ebook publishing is that you can adjust your pricing at any time. For things like memoirs and autobiographies, the length is going to be a bitter longer, on the order of 5,000 words or so.
Be aware that the word average means that for every book that sells 15,000, there is one that sells 5,000. All of these are average book word count ranges and should not be. Learn more about miranda at the end of this post, and learn more about the workshop here. If youre new to selfpublishing on amazon and wondering, just how much should i write for my kindle book. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about. Your chapter structure needs to be in proportion to the overall length of the book. A key issue is the fact that picture books are 32 pages storybooks.
A typical popular business book runs 25,000 to 75,000 words. I actually remember this perhaps incorrectly from an episode of the tv series castle. Most traditional publishers will place restrictions on an author and require that the manuscript not exceed a specified word count, unless special concessions are made. But i also know of others who have sold over 500,000 copies.
Some 6090k ya books get classified as hilo, but i dont think they were specifically written for the category. But, most non fiction publishers want to be sold the concept, and therefore be able to discuss the direction of the project, before you write the book. For childrens fiction, the general rule is the younger the audience the shorter the book, and for ya novels the average is 50,00070,000 words. Technically, in fiction, most publishers and awards consider anything over 40000. I asked agents elizabeth pomada and michael larsen of larsen pomada literary agency to add their thoughts to the subject. Harry potter and the halfblood prince 168,000 words. Bestselling author caleb carr may write novels of 250,000 words, but when you pitch your novel and offer up that number, be prepared for a glacial reception. The popular book the noticer 2009 by andy andrews barely breaks the novel barrier at 40,454 words without the readers guide that was added to pad the book. It is a story poem format with a short introduction before each. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words. You want 50,000 to 85,000 words for a fulllength selfhelp book, half that for a selfpublished ebook. Do keep in mind that 50k words is way too short to qualify as novellength for publishers in most genres.
More important is whether or not your book reads like a picture book succinct, musical, pictorial. Recently i got asked this question, what is the ideal length word count wise for my first book. And youll need as many chapters as it takes to tell your story or teach. Calculate the number of pages using your current word count and the appropriate formula below, calculate the number of pages you can expect in your finished book. Count up the total number of words on 10 random full lines from different places and divide by 10 to get the average words perline count the number of lines on each page to get the linesperpage check that the book actually starts on page 1 sometimes the stuff before it starts is counted then. If your book will contain a number of charts, photographs, or illustrations, say so. In my opinion, if your nonfiction book is fewer than about 30,000 words 120 pages, it does not feel substantial enough to be real book. Some use 250 words per page, but 330 is closer to reality and gives a reader a good idea of book.
Apr 08, 2019 special thanks to miranda paul for this guest post. Most adult books are about 90,000 words, and no longer than 100,000 words unless youre jk rowling. Average nonfiction word counts biographies and memoirs. For nonfiction books, word count guidelines are more flexible, sometimes even double the word counts listed here.
The art of the nonfiction book proposal writers relief. Standard nonfiction business, political science, psychology, history, etc. Deconstructing five spooky picture books with spoilers and word counts. Chapter length can vary depending on the purposes of the author. The average across a sample of 50 books in august 2015 showed 172 words per kindle edition normalized page.
You can do anything you want with subsequent books, if you sell a gazillion copies of the first book or two. Books with much shorter sections become bestsellers all the time. The art of the nonfiction book proposal writers relief, inc. Therefore, a 55,000 word book should be about 200 manuscript pages. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to be. Short and punchy books are 40,000 to 60,000 words, but many nonfiction books are lengthy.
As previously discussed, there are different requirements for both fiction and non fiction genres. According to this cool site, the one minute manager, talked about i. But i could assume that it is based on an average font size on a kindle screen. The harry potter books are young adult titles, and ya publishers generally look for manuscripts in the 50,000 to 80,000 word range. Sep 03, 2017 amazons most sold charts rank books according to the number of copies sold and preordered through, amazon books stores, and books read through digital subscription programs once a customer has read a certain percentage roughly the length of a free reading sample. Would you consider a post on memoir guidelines, since memoir falls somewhere between fiction and nonfiction in many ways. I am working on a book about my experience with losing a 9 year old cat to lymphoma. Jun 07, 2017 in my opinion, if your nonfiction book is fewer than about 30,000 words 120 pages, it does not feel substantial enough to be real book. Amazons most sold charts rank books according to the number of copies sold and preordered through, amazon books stores, and books read through digital subscription programs once a customer has read a certain percentage roughly the length of a free reading sample.
Depending on your genre, having too many or too little can not only hurt your book sales, but also cause fewer 5star. I put both the word count on mine and the number of pages, being the word count divided by 330, which is the number of words on a typical paperback page. The page doublespaced on the right fills less than half the page. One of the most sobering factors that impacts book sales is the sheer number of books released each year over 2 million new titles were released worldwide last year verses how many books people actually read each year. What is the average number of words per chapter in a non.
There are a few book word count guidelines for each genre, but these arent hard and. Virtually every book i try to shop by a debut author thats any longer than thatregardless of categoryreceives the same response from editors. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. In 2011, the average length of a bestselling nonfiction book was 467 pages, but that dropped to 273 pages in 2017. Rowling did it with her later harry potter books, but she stayed within the norm on the first several books she wrote. As always, be sure to keep it interesting so you can justify the word length. A 90,000 word count signals to professionals that you know what you are doing. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. Nonfiction authors dont always benefit from pricing lower.
Like novels, these books fall into the 70,000 to 120,000 word range. How to set the retail price for your nonfiction book. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for non fiction books. Aug 05, 2019 for most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. The average adult novel runs approximately 100,000 words while those in other categories run 80120,000 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. In the past, amazon removed all books that were less than 2,500 words from the platform except for childrens books. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid.
The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 to 75,000 words, but this can vary depending upon category. The first alone has sold more than 120 million copies, and the rest have sold at least 65 million each. Specifically, an accessible non fiction book might be anything between about 30,000 words and 50,000 words. There are vastly different numbers for mass market paperback novels, tradepaperback original novels or trade non fiction, hardback original trade books, and for nontrade titles in any of a. And, keeping your chapters short creates a good balance between content and action, and fits with this model of short actionable content.