Average book length by genre

Book page count calculator how many pages is my novel. Having some reallife examples at your side, you should get a better sense of. If the average length is 300 pages, youre looking at a 75,000 word manuscript approximately one reason its harder for a new author to sell a 140,000 word manuscript is the size of the book. The saga plenty of characters and a complex, epic story told over many generations think roots or war and peace usually run at over 100,000 words. April 23, 2015 march 2019 update there have been a lot of discussions on the topic of short reads and book page lengths, especially in light of the kindle unlimited 2. Longer, more complex stories, which contain a handful of main characters and peripheral characters, tend to run at about 60,000 to 95,000 words. Trim sizes in this post were updated on january 30, 2015 as soon as you get serious about selfpublishing a book, you are confronted with the choice of what size your book ought to be for instance, if you want to get a price on how much a book will. With these genres, i would say 100,000 115,000 is an excellent range. Chapter book this varies widely, depending on grade and reader level, usually starting at 4,000 words and 15,000 words max. But while the length of a novel is to a large extent up to its writer, lengths may also vary by subgenre. I grabbed the 250 top tags, and then grabbed the 50 top tracks for each tag. Jun 27, 2019 a story that is over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel. By most peoples standards, 40,000 words would be pretty short for a novel.

I wrote a quick perl script and figured id get some other genres to compare. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading. Write as much as it takes to tell the story, and no more. The editor also provides four popular trim sizes for formatting 4. What follows is a rough guide to book length expectations in certain genres. The total page count excluding appendices and index is 204 pages, thus about 93,000 words. That said, if your book is around 40,000 words, youre in good company. Oct 10, 2016 in this context, genre labels predict audience expected average age, comfortable reading span, etc. Within the publishing industry we tend to talk about the length of a book in words rather than in pages. A novella is a work of narrative prose fiction, longer than a short story but shorter than a novel.

Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. I dont know what i can say to add to what has already been said. When i got back home i checked and found that her latest book published april 1, 2014, ive got you under my skin, has an average chapter length of 768 words. Right now, when it comes to novellength word count, its all about 90,000 words. Sturdy characters, a sincere sense of humor and an unexpected twist or two are all important to the story, and the references sprinkled in to pop culture are refreshing and not as prone to. The guidelines for the length of a novel are usually based on the traditional publishing model. As far as length, popular memoirs range quite a bit from about 60,000 words to 120,000 or more. The skys the limit for the maximum length, though anything over 250,000 is getting into war and peace territory. But i dont like to do things halfheartedly, so here is the bigger picture of length in fiction a novel is anything over 50,000 words. Genre average song lengths i was working on a different post and had to write a script to get the average song length of a genre from. Romance novels often run between 50,000 and 90,000 words on average.

Thats the level where publishers may suggest dividing a story into multiple volumes. However, many authors, frustrated with the low price of ebooks, have taken to writing ebooks that are between 40,000 and 50,000. If you want to see what size book is selling in your genre, take a look on the shelves. If you want to experiment with book sizes and the way they might impact your typesetting choices, the reedsy book editor allows you to do so for free. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site post navigation. For adult fiction especially crime, thrillers, womens fiction, saga and romance, 100,000 words is a good benchmark to aim for. It contains 38 lines per page, with an average of 12 words per line, thus 456 words per book page. Heres a guide to the recommended lengths for genre books. May 14, 2018 readers of individual genres anticipate certain book lengths, and so do publishers. She will find a way to become extraordinary, and everyone will know about it. However, it will be on the short side, as the average length of a novel hovers around 50,00070,000 words. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. The important thing is that your length fits your book.

The graph shows the average length of the top 100 bestsellers in each of the 30 main amazon kindle categories, measured in terms of the number of pages. Typically, a book that is published in paperback format at a length of 300400 pages will come in between 80,000 and 100,000 words. On the upper end, a novel over 110,000 words is considered an epic. Nonfiction picture book 3,000 words max, but closer to 1,000 to 2,000 words. Last year i went through a 5 book ya series average 400450 pages each in about a week but it takes me a lot longer to get through one of the books im currently read with fewer total pages because of the amount of words per page and how dense it is. Novels intended for the adult market will be longer than those targeted at children and young adults. 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.

May 11, 2009 32 responses to word count and book length. If youre a new author, id recommend staying on the shorter side, perhaps around the 75,000 word mark. In many ways, it is about fulfilling a market expectation by readers and book buyers who browse for a new book in a brick and mortar bookstore. By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages. To get started, decide how big of a book you want to create20 to 30 pages for a typical chapbook, 50 or more for a fulllength collection more on exact page amounts later. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. For debut books in this field the average word count tends to be 35k and it has therefore. Such books will have a minimum length of 75,000 words but seldom exceed 110,000. Compact and inexpensivelyproduced, these books also called pocket books are around 4. Most editors wouldnt recommend going over 80,000, as.

It costs money to proofread a book twice the length of another. This entry was posted on monday, may 11th, 2009 at 11. 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. The average length of novels varies between 75,000 and 120,000 words. Standard book sizes can vary depending on your genre. In todays post, were going to explore the average word counts for each genre, why genre matters, and how having a target word count can be helpful to you and. Ya fiction tends to top out around 70,000 words, with the upper limits populated by fantasy and scifi, since people who like those genres tend to also prefer a longer haul. By the end of the year, she will discover her great talent. Ultimately, the ideal book length for a fantasy could vary from reader to reader, sub genre to sub genre, agent to agent, and publisher to publisher but looking at it from all angles, i personally think a fantasy book in roughly the 90120,000 word range would be well placed on all fronts perhaps with allowance for up to 150,000 for.

Word count dictates the number of pages in a print book, and this defines the spine thickness. I was curious to the public reaction to shorter novels as they are not physically picking up a printed book in a bookstore and can. Because yes, different types of books require different book lengths. For that reason, writing a long, lengthy book just about their. A story that is over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel. T he indie author chris fox coined the term potato chip chapters for easilydigestible book chapters of a certain size. And for every book that sells 20,000, there is one that is a disaster. You may well change your mind about this when you are actually selecting and ordering the poems, but this will give you a starting point.

For adult fiction especially crime, thrillers, womens fiction, saga and romance, 100,000 words is a good. If you search the internet for novel length, youll mostly receive the standard advice that a novel should fall somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000 words. Ill walk along published may 12, 2011 has an average chapter length of 1,021. I dont know if the question is meant as a mentalstatistical exorcise.

This is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. I was curious to the public reaction to shorter novels as they are not physically picking up a printed book in a bookstore and can assess the length of it before they part with cash. Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words. Within the publishing industry we tend to talk about the length of a book in. At a writers conference i recently attended, publishing veteran jane friedman said 80,000 words is good for most fiction, below. But i also know of others who have sold over 500,000 copies. Before diving into the specifics of genrebased word counts, lets look at the broader picture of average. A young adult novel will run between 20,000 and 40,000 words. 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. Before diving into the specifics of genrebased word counts, lets look at the broader picture of average book length.

Since the average audio book narrator averages 150 words per minute this therefore equates to the average audiobook being between 8 and hours. Genre has more influence on book length than you might think. 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. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. The subjectivity of the parameters of the novella genre is indicative of its shifting and diverse nature as an art form. Literary agent danielle zigner takes a look at typical novel lengths per genre and. Generally, 50,000 would be considered the minimum word count, and ideally a novel should be over 70,000 words. As i just touched on above, books in these genres are allowed and expected to run longer than others. Jan 08, 2018 ultimately, the ideal book length for a fantasy could vary from reader to reader, sub genre to sub genre, agent to agent, and publisher to publisher but looking at it from all angles, i personally think a fantasy book in roughly the 90120,000 word range would be well placed on all fronts perhaps with allowance for up to 150,000 for. For debut books in this field the average word count tends to be 35k and it has therefore become the marker many industry professionals look for in queries from new writers.

May 12, 2012 longer, more complex stories, which contain a handful of main characters and peripheral characters, tend to run at about 60,000 to 95,000 words. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. Learn the average wordcount for every type of novel, novella, genre, etc. Heres an article which breaks down by genre the typical length.

Aug 05, 2019 before diving into the specifics of genrebased word counts, lets look at the broader picture of average book length. The greater the word count the larger the book more sections and pages. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. Lets first define some familiar industry terms to give you some context for the numbers coming next. Sturdy characters, a sincere sense of humor and an unexpected twist or two are all important to the story, and the references sprinkled in to pop culture are refreshing and not as prone to dating the book as in some novels. Publishers and literary award societies typically consider a novellas word count to be between 15,000 and 40,000 words, although definitions vary the english word novella derives from the italian novella, feminine of novello, which means new. Romance is a unique genre because the plot is all about two characters and their adventure with one another. 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. The truth about kindle short reads, short stories, short. And, in case youre wondering, here are the average word counts for other popular genres.

A good way to gauge appropriate length is to check out similar books for comparison. 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. On average, there are about 300 words per page in a book.

What is the average length for books you read, or more specifically, those of you who read a set amount of books within a set amount of time a book a week, a book a month are your books a similar length that you are able to reach your goal. In terms of adult mainstream fiction, that length would be considered a novella. By the end of the year, she will no longer be average. Virtually every book i try to shop by a debut author thats any longer than thatregardless of categoryreceives the same response from editors. We teach you how many words to write in your specific genre and topic. Readers of individual genres anticipate certain book lengths, and so do publishers. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. Everything you need to know about word count and book length for. Here are the average novel word counts in the top five genres in the book publishing industry in no particular order. Aug 08, 20 i was working on a different post and had to write a script to get the average song length of a genre from. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about 246 to 307 ebook pages. Oct 27, 2018 chapter length matters more than you think.