Jun 29, 2020 writers of all genres have to consider the word count of their books. On the longer word count side, the frog and toad books are a good example. I would limit the book at 100,000 words to be safe. Nov 08, 2020 here are three reasons why word count is important. Readers looking for a good beachread in the mystery section will not likely gravitate towards a 1,000page book. Book title author edition publisher page count volumes page size word count language notes venmurasu. For you dear authors, the only time you should take note about the word count is probably when you are hiring someone for editing and formatting because the more word count you have, the more the service is going to cost you. Unfortunately, they dont offer word count so ive created an algorithm based on the number of pages, genre, and the dimensions of the book.
Writers of all genres have to consider the word count of their books. Aug 23, 20 ive drafted book 2, which is 150k words, so i dont think i can plausibly combine the first two books and try to convince a publisher to take a risk on a 200k word first novel. How many words in a novel and word counts for other types of. If the content is stepbystep and high quality, 15 pages is enough for a 99 cent kindle book or a freebie used for lead generation. Using your current word count and the appropriate formula below, calculate the number of pages you can expect in your finished book. This method is necessary if you need to achieve an exact word count and is doable if the book for which you need a word count is well known. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan. Therefore, a 280,000 word manuscript becomes a 900 page doorstop. If the industry standard is 250 words per page and the book you read contains 200 pages then you could reasonably expect that the number of words read is 50,000. Keep the word count in mind, but more importantlytell your story in the best way possible. May 11, 2019 before we dive into the list, lets explore the word count of a few popular fantasy series and one favorite, bestselling author who racks up high word counts. Minimum word count for self published books create then. Here are some word counts of famous novels, sorted from long to short.
Excluding endnotes and index, the book has about 200 pages of text, which means its total word count is about 74,000 words. For fantasy novels, you are allowed to go slightly above this limit, but unless you are an established author, i dont recommend going too far above. May 15, 2020 the length a novel should be varies depending on who you ask. Everything you need to know about novel word counts. The greater the word count the larger the book more sections and pages that are required to be printed upping the price of your book once it hits the shelves. Add screenshots or other graphics and youve got a nicesized ebook. Feb 05, 2021 word count for middle grade fiction middle grade is from 20,00055,000, depending on the subject matter and age range, and the word count of these books has been trending up in recent years. Where can i find a database of all published books word counts and. Ignoring the greats for a moment, the obvious answer to the first question is. To get a better idea of what this range looks like in real life, consider the catcher in. Word count signals to people what kind of book theyre dealing with. The universally agreed minimum word count for a novel. Given a standard font size of 11 and an average word count per page of 475 for a 6.
Jan 18, 2010 because it allows me to check out length for published books in my genre. However, that isnt to say that a shorter or longer book cant be a bestseller too. Regardless of a story being amazing, a publisher needs to be able to sell the story. First time authors should aim to write about 75,000 to 120,000 words, but again these are just guidelines. In some cases, word counts are published and in those cases, weve used those published.
Infinite jest by david foster wallace 543,709 words. Most novels should fall between 70,000 and 110,000 words. You can use this handy calculation to visualize the size of standard books in particular genres based on the word count ranges. There are multiple online resources that publish directories of wellknown books with their corresponding word counts. Most of the books you see published fall within the word counts i discussed in an earlier post for a couple of. Sep 30, 2015 the best word counts for each genre are the same for both traditional publishing and self publishing. Generally, 50,000 would be considered the minimum word count, and ideally a novel should be over 70,000 words. Publishers and agents are typically inundated with manuscript submissions from authors seeking publication. Word count, with a little help from amazon alexis grant. A 90,000 word count signals to professionals that you know what you are doing. If youre happy just estimating, most traditionally published adult books are 250300 words per page, depending on the font. When writing a longer book that is aimed at 12yearolds and could maybe be considered tween, using the term upper middle grade is advisable. It is, i think, the easiest to use to quickly find the word count of a book.
A novel is usually between 50,000 and 120,000 words. Average novel word counts are generally around 85,000 but they can range from 50,000 to 120,000. Estimate your page count book designer linda parke. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. Have you ever checked your book s word count, written a few paragraphs, then checked again.
Feb 12, 2019 in very, very general terms, heres what publishing expects word count wise, for different types of books genres. May 14, 2018 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. Apr 09, 2014 the books have simple plots and some pictures, but the story needs to carry the book, rather than the pictures. It depends on the font you are using, of course, but in general, 250300 words per page. Where can i find a database of all published books word. By most peoples standards, 40,000 words would be pretty short for a novel. However, longer than that is too long for most publishers, especially if youre a first time author. For example, atonement has a word count of 123,378 and my utility comes up with 110,765 words. Why word count matters when you submit your book the. Feb 10, 2008 there are some easy ways to find the word count for a published book online bookstores. The answer will be the approximate page count of a printed book.
An adult fiction book is most marketable in the suggested word count. Memoirs seem to fall within the same range as novels for their age group. Find the word count for published ya and childrens books. Of course, a printed book will be single spaced and contain roughly one and a half to two times the words per page of your manuscript. Feb 27, 2014 a word count that is much lower than the acceptable range alerts the agent or editor that your novel or nonfiction book probably hasnt been adequately developed. A word count that is much higher than the average range tells the agent or editor your work probably needs to be tightened. If youre happy just estimating, most traditionally published adult books are 250 300 words per page, depending on the font.
How many words in a novel and word counts for other types. For novels in general, the accepted word count is 7080,000 words. Scott fitzgerald, and old yeller by fred gipson all range between 35,000 and 50,000. So itll be off on occasion, but it should get you relatively close for the average book. On the other end, reference and academic books can have huge word counts. They are often 500ish words, but its more important to consider the page turn and readaloud quality of picture books. I created this website to help you better gauge your book s word count, because the. When it gets closer to 1,000, editors and agents may shy away. Well, if your goal is to publish and sell your novel, those rules are pretty darn important.
Search for word count totals in books word counters. The best word count for your selfpublished novel self. Jun 27, 2019 similarly, if your book is published and lands in a bookstore, you dont want to turn away prospective readers with a bizarrely small or large book spine. If so, these books need to be the 7 x 9 trim size, and the slightly larger pages can hold 400 to 450 words per page. Word counts of the most popular books in the world foster. Up to 6070k is probably safe though there are even longer exceptions. Most published books average closer to 300 words per page than 200. Nov 04, 2020 in fact, word counts for these books run between 40,000 to 50,000 words. As you can see, a smaller trim size will produce more pages for the same word count, and a larger trim size will produce less.
As a nonfiction writer myself, i know this is tough. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Change the size of all the punctuation to be larger. These are the word counts you should aim for if youre writing a standard fiction story, with some exceptions. Rowlings seven book harry potter series is 1,084,625. Ar bookfinder us welcome and are both pretty good databases for finding out word counts especially for childrensya literature and the. Having a word count range that doesnt meet expectations can make or break a manuscript, and potentially render your submission invalid when we receive it. A good way to gauge appropriate length is to check out similar books for comparison. And why would a publisher want to spend more on producing a book and then taking the risk of selling it at a higher price point than they have to. Agents often receive queries or proposals for adult books that list a word count as example 23,591 words. On the upper end, a novel over 110,000 words is considered an epic. Multiply the industry standard by the number of pages contained in your book.
Sharp objects has a word count of 80,565 and my utility calculates it at 80,7. A suitable boy by vikram seth 591,554 words source atlas shrugged by ayn rand 561,996 words source war and peace by leo tolstoy 561,304 words source. In my first book, i think that i have properly conveyed my theme, plot, characters, etc. The best thing that you can do is look over comparable books and try to judge word count by their size, average wordspage, and illustration content. While average word length is 50,000 to 80,000 words, this genre has so much variety that word count depends on the book and its intended audience. Childrens book types and suggested word counts go teen. May 30, 2008 i reject a lot based on word count, not strictly because i think the range should be 90,000100,000 words and a 200,000 word contemporary romance is too long, but because a 200,000 word contemporary romance is probably overwritten. 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 average mean word count was about 73,000 words. Thats why the traditional submission formats exist. In these cases, the overall design of the book determines the publishing costs more than word count.
Frequently asked questions getting published meg cabot. The length a novel should be varies depending on who you ask. Many, yes, but there are exceptions due to the layout and font size of a particular book. How to find out the number of words in a book pen and the pad. A literary agent and traditional publisher are less likely to take a chance on long novels when they come from a new writer. Nov, 2009 so many people today rely on the word count given by their software program, but when you go to print a physical book, the pages matter. Longer word counts allowed for fantasy, scifi, paranormal, historical. Go to that book s page and scroll down to inside this book. Writing for young adults a look at the numbers hannah holt. Childrens book types and suggested word counts go teen writers. Word count for picture books the standard is text for 32 pages. Longer word counts allowed for fantasy, scifi, historical. For most adult fiction, adult nonfiction, and ya novels, simply divide the total number of words by 250 to get a page count estimate. To be picked up by a traditional publisher, my manuscript needs to fall in a similar word count window.
Average nonfiction word counts biographies and memoirs. Minimum word count for self published books create then publish. Thats the level where publishers may suggest dividing a story into multiple volumes. Coffee table books and other illustrated books may have very little text, but be very expensive to print because the extensive illustrations require better quality paper. How to find out the number of words in a book pen and.
If i tell you that my book is 70,000 words, and send you an 800 page correctly formated ms the 1. For example, a 75,000word book is about 300 pages long. There are a number of factors deciding the word count, topmost being what sort of book it is. Its okay, its a disease and well get through it together. Dec 28, 2017 word counts are exacting in devotionals and magazine articles and inexact in almost everything else. The average book length also varies by genre, as detailed. Ensure all pages were included in the count and adjust the count if necessary. Why word count matters when you submit your book the artful. Oct 19, 2017 dont count on royalties to support you. The word count of 175 favorite novels broke by books. Do you want to publish a wide format book with inspiring quotes down the side margins.
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