However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. On average, there are about 300 words per page in a book. With books like twilight at 118,975 words and divergent at 105,143 words, this. If you want to write a memoir, for example, look at four or five similar memoirs and determine their word count. This article suggests that essentially, it should be as long as it needs to be, meaning dont look at the word count, just get the story out then edit. Know the recommended book length for the genre youre writing in. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. Word counts of popular ya books as i started drafting my new wip a ya scifi thriller i began wondering what word count i should aim for. A closer look at word counts for young adult novels. How many chapters will you need before you reach your target word count. If the text is already as tight and economical as you can make it, and every sentence counts, then the agent will notice that rather than the word count. Jan 08, 2018 this article on writers digest also suggests a length of around 100115,000, and takes a good look at desirable word count ranges for different genres.
As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. Of course, there are always exceptions, and if you think your longer novel is worth it with each word being important, than, well go for it. Apr 23, 2018 this post covers why word count matters for novels, the standard word count ranges for various genres, and the word counts of some famous novels. 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. Publishers want to know the overall length of your book. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. That gives us a rough range of 61,00089,000 words, with about 3 out of 4 queried ya books falling into that range. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. Recently, though, the harry potter series and christopher paolinis inheritance trilogy have offered page counts exceeding what. Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. This is due to the audience youre reaching preferring that length.
Apr 05, 2015 generally a 50,000word novel would be the minimum word count. The harry potter books are young adult titles, and ya publishers generally look for manuscripts in the 50,000 to 80,000 word range. To find out how long should a chapter be, we examined books from a wide variety of genres and eras. So 60,000 is fair, although it falls back to what you already know.
Oct 18, 2017 therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. Does the average scene word count lessen for a yachildrens novel and increase for, say, an adult thriller. However if youre curious to see what the average word count is for standard genres, check out the breakdown in the article. I agree that it seems like for a debut author, the agent really looks at that word count. Novels for adult readers fall between 80,000 and 120,000 words. The society of childrens book writers and illustrators scbwi does offer length guidelines in terms of the appropriate number of manuscript pages for various genres meaning the number of pages a writer would submit to a publisher. Editor dana isaacson discusses desirable word counts for different genres. Jan 18, 2012 list of popular ya novels word counts if youre like me, you obsess over the word count of your novel.
The golden compass by philip pullman 112,815 words, prisoner of azkaban by jk rowling 106,821 words, and enders game by orson scott card 100,609 words. This is due in large part to the variety of subgenres within it and the trend for a book series with an ever greater word count. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. My upperlevel ya novel is 211 pages, 61,078 words, tnr 12 pt. Thats the level where publishers may suggest dividing a story into multiple volumes. Most middle grade novels are not pitched as a series. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. Although the median word count of those novels was 73,000 right around where conventional wisdom would suggest the existence of. As you write more and more your word count will probably go up for each chapter because you become a stronger writer and are able to go more in depth in each chapter. My own past research on ya word count turned up 5080,000 as an average guideline. Harry potter and the sorcerers stone has 17 chapters with titles, and about 4560 words per chapter. It seems like ya novels are getting longer and longer nowadays, but maybe my attention span is getting shorter.
Literary agent danielle zigner takes a look at typical novel lengths per genre and what appeals to publishers within the current marketplace. This just goes to show how there are no rules set in stone when it comes to length. Book page count calculator how many pages is my novel. On the upper end, a novel over 110,000 words is considered an epic. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. May 19, 2008 and ya novels, which have grown in popularity, can often be the same length as a standard novel 80,000 words. Sometimes it feels like they are just stretched for no good reason. I would say, however, that there isnt a standard for chapter count or word count within a chapter. Well, while the accelerated reader program is lame in a lot of ways, this is a very handy tool. From these numbers, we can establish some guidelines. Oct 23, 2017 more on agents later, for now lets look at how many novels a typical young adult author writes before selling something. What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a nonfiction book. For debut books in this field the average word count tends to be 35k and it has therefore. Nov 21, 2016 a novel is usually defined as anything over 40,000 words.
Since 2011, the average length of a bestseller has dropped steadily from year to year. If youve read our related article on how many words are in a novel youll recall that the typical word count for a novel according to is 80,000 to 109,000 words. 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. I really wasnt intending on my books being midgrade word count, and im hoping agents arent going to deem my work too short. I once entered a competition that set a maximum word limit of 80,000 for young adult novels and 100,000 for adult novels. Do check your comparable titlesrecent debuts onlyto make sure your story falls in that range. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading. And ya novels, which have grown in popularity, can often be the same length as a standard novel 80,000 words. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. Twilight has 24 titled chapters, or 26 if you count the preface and epilogue, and about 4580 words per chapter. Within the publishing industry we tend to talk about the length of a book in words. Younger still, middle grade fiction ages 912 should. Nobodys stopping you, of course especially if you think your 100,000word novel justifies the word count. Try not to completely tether yourself to word counts.
Writing for young adults a look at the numbers hannah holt. But rules are made to be broken, and the most successful publishing phenomenon in history did just that. With fun, lighthearted, simple middle grade youll want to stay around the 20k30k word count range. Of course, when youre writing the first draft of your story, you want to just get your words out on paper. Also remember because there are a bunch of new novel imprints opening their doors, a novella is 40k or less. You can see there is a lot of variation in word length, especially in epic high fantasy, where books can stretch beyond 200,000 words or sink as low as 50,000. If youre writing a young adult fantasy novel, you should keep your word count below 90,000 words or 300 book pages. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. Know your content, know your mainline pitch and some possible permutations, create a highlevel outline, write a compelling chapter and sell that. To fit 3000 words on one page, your writing would have to be flippen small. If youre working on a novellength book, aim for 50,000 words at the very least but its better to aim for 90,000. For more information on word counts for childrens book, check out this post. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. Writing towards a word count might not work for everybody, but having a rough goal in mind certainly helps me when im sketching out chapters and undertaking my first draft.
All four books in tolkiens the lord of the rings series if you include the hobbit clocked in at over 455,000 words, with the fellowship of the ring being almost 188,000 of that 68k. Coyne uses the nanowrimo wordcount length of 50,000 words for his examples, calling 50,000 words a good foundation to build upon. With that in mind, ive tried to put together the definitive post on word count for fiction novels, young adult, middle grade, childrens books and even memoir. Click librarian or teacher and then search for books like yours click on the titles to get all kinds of info about them, including wordcount. Id guesstimate that nonfiction books generally yes, this is very rough run perhaps 150450 pages, and at about 350 wdpage that works out to something like 50150k words. But, most nonfiction publishers want to be sold the concept, and therefore be able to discuss the direction of the project, before you write the book. The hunger games is more of a ya dystopia than a ya fantasy but i included it for interests sake. A novel is usually defined as anything over 40000 words. What is the average chapter length in a young adult. And as youve probably guessed it is sitting pretty right in between middle grade and adult. All we have to do is use the wp tool that shows word count. Every other harry potter novel clocked in over the suggested word count too with order of the phoenix a young adult novel being just over 257,000 words. All of these are average book word count ranges and should not be.
Although, if its over 110,000 words, some may call it an epic, not a novel. On average, young adult novels usually fall around 55,000 and 70,000 words. Book 1 of my ya fantasy is 99k trimmed down from 107k. Young adult fiction because these are younger readers, the word count for ya novels is between 50,000 and 70,000 words, although the harry potter series shows that you break that norm with exceptional storytelling. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures of readability and to measure typing and reading speeds usually in words per minute. Upper middle grade can hit in the 50k word count range possibly longer, if its something really special. Only word counts are below, not page counts, as some novels vary between editions. Are you wondering what the word count for your book should be. As with higher word count books, however, good writing is a must. 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. Some young adult novels are longer than most books published strictly for adults, but usually the word count is between 30,00050,000 words. More on agents later, for now lets look at how many novels a typical young adult author writes before selling something.
Most middle grade novels are between 40,000 and 69,000 words long. As long as you tell the story fully, youre fine, and word count is dependent on that, not on standards. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals. To find pretty much any kids ya word count, you can use the ar bookfinder. I keep hearing that houses are looking for books around 200 pages long. A guide to word counts filles vertes publishing, llc. In the first book i tried to write my chapters were about 500 words long. But the word count of a chapter matters if you want your story to flow right. List of popular ya novels word counts if youre like me, you obsess over the word count of your novel. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. For a firsttime novelist, it might be a little hard to pitch your ya manuscript to editors if your word count exceeds that number. And, in case youre wondering, here are the average word counts for other popular genres. However, the true word count depends on the category in which youre writing. Middlegrade novels can range from 10,000 to 30,000 words, and young adult novels can range from 25,000 to 50,000.
Ya manuscripts can have a word count anywhere from 55k to 90k. The point of this blog is to show that not necessarily all ya books you see have larger than life word counts. May 14, 2018 literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. When you take a closer look at recent data you can see that young adult novels vary in length anywhere from 25,000 100,000 words in length for many published authors. The word count range for young adult is 55,000 to 90,000. Young adult fiction allows for a lot of flexibility in word count. Upper ya 1418 reader is typically longer and more complex. Oct 10, 2016 i noticed that while the recommended word count for a ya book is 40,00070,000, the recommended word count for a scifi or fantasy book is 90,000 to 120,000.
Here is everything writers need to know about novel word counts. Towards the bottom, i also checked the ongoing epic fantasy series, a song of ice and fire and the original lord of the rings trilogy. Although, if its over 10 words, some may call it an. Word count for young adult books the word count range for young adult is 55,000 to 90,000. Aug 05, 2019 all of these are average book word count ranges and should not be taken as the definitive word count you must reach in your book. That said, the average word count for science fiction and fantasy novels generally lies between 100,000 and 115,000. I so rarely hear anyone blogging or talking about having this problem of short books and, as advised, i dont want to pad my work just to. Feb 09, 2015 below are several different ya series, their word counts per book and total word counts for the entire series.
For novels specifically in the young adult genre, the typical range is between 55,000 79,999 words. Famous novels have been extremely long, like 530,000 words for vic. A books word count does matter and if you get it wrong, this can impact your. What is the average chapter length in a young adult novel.
Again, higher word counts usually mean that the writer does not know how to edit themselves. Writing middle grade a look at the numbers hannah holt. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. Word count for novels and books is something i dont think about too often until i travel to a writers conference, and then someone asks a simple, innocent question. Once you know what your book will be about, its time to start planning the structure of the story. Youre writing your first novel, and you know you must shoot for around 80 to 95 thousand words. Sep 20, 2019 the average fantasy novel should have between 50,000 and 150,000 words. Which is totally understandable, since length can be an important factor that agents and publishers look at when they receive your query letter. Standard word counts for books publishing with kindle. Jun 27, 2019 chapter books will come in at the lower end of the spectrum, while middlegrade books meant for older readers may even slightly exceed 55,000 words. Word count for book series the first book in each series below was the authors first.
This will help determine what kind of length readers expect in popular novels, and also will give me a word count goal for writing the scenes and assignments. An approximate word count round numbers based on what your wp tells you enables them to estimate costs and other factors involved in printing a book. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. With books like twilight at 118,975 words and divergent at 105,143 words, this genre has been trending higher.
Well, as publishers matter less and less, in some respects, word counts matter less and less. Go out and find similar books to the one you want to write and figure out how many words are in the book. I have noticed that many of these seem to be over 90,000, but im still not sure. For young adult fiction, the word count is once again lower, with the ideal being 55,000 80,000 words. I can barely get my word count over 50,000 for my novels, ya or otherwise. Generally, 50,000 would be considered the minimum word count, and ideally a novel should be over 70,000 words. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan. How many words does it take to write a young adult book. There are exceptions, like ya books that exceed 250,000 words, but.
The highest word count was 115,000, the lowest was 47,000, and the average was 75,000. When converting character counts to words, a measure of 5 or 6 characters to a word is generally used for english. A novel is usually defined as anything over 40,000 words. Generally a 50,000 word novel would be the minimum word count. Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 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. Of course, rules are made to be broken, especially in literature. Generally a 50,000word novel would be the minimum word count. As you can see, established authors get much more flexibility when it comes to the length of their book. What will happen in each chapter, and how much has to happen before you move on to the next chapter. This 90,000word guideline for how many words in a novel is just that, a guideline. Each genre and subgenre has its own word count range. The harry potter books are young adult titles, and ya publishers generally look for manuscripts in the 50,000 to 80,000word range.