Average non fiction book length in word count

The 1 thing you need to do to write a new york times best. The post lists a dizzying number of genres and a recommended word count range for each. Now the decisions can be made based on your writing and whether your book is a fit for that publishing house. Recently i got asked this question, what is the ideal length word count wise for my first book. Now, they dont offer word count or running time for books, but they do have a search api. Counting chickens a few words about word counts at hope vestergaards site.

The harry potter books are young adult titles, and ya publishers generally look for manuscripts in the 50,000 to 80,000 word range. Determine the approximate length of your finished book. Urban fiction publishing requirements urban fiction news. Generally a 50,000 word novel would be the minimum word count. Average nonfiction word counts biographies and memoirs. But for mainstream ya it is always best to stick to under 80k.

I know fiction works on average come in at 60,000 but i really had no idea about non fiction. A novelist of my acquaintance insists that the only way to estimate the number of words in a book is to multiply the number of pages by 250. The list was revised in september 2010 in consultation with a number of us fiction editors, but. There is an important question that needs to be answered in your book proposal in the manuscript status section. With digital as well as print books available, the length of books varies. Romance novels often run between 50,000 and 90,000 words on average. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing.

The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000. The best thing that you can do is look over comparable books and try to judge word count by their size, average words page, and illustration content. In outlining your book in 3 easy steps, editor shawn coyne says, the average novel today is about 90,000 words. I was quickly flooded with emails from many an angry author for daring to put a word count on a level of book. The length of your book should be determined by the content, whether it is a work of fiction or non fiction. So lets begin our calculations by focusing on word count first. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. That was the formula in the good old days when courier was the only typeface and typewriters were king. The average chapter word count of these novels falls within the 2,0005,000 range. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing stack. By most peoples standards, 40,000 words would be pretty short for a novel. If your book falls within the standard preferred wordcount range, its one less reason for it to be rejected. Most print publishers prefer a minimum word count of around 70,000 words for a first novel, and some even hesitate for any work shorter than 80,000.

That means your manuscript must be at least 3540,000 words long. 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. As persuasion progresses, jane austen seems to elongate hers, building them up on a crescendo. Surely when writing the important thing is to get words on the page even if theyre in pink comic sans. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. According to chuck sambuchino see below for word count. And this ebook page length differs significantly depending on the book genre. A recommended wordcount might be 15002000 words but, more. But chapter word count is something that you want to keep in. Jul 24, 2009 my upperlevel ya novel is 211 pages, 61,078 words, tnr 12 pt. Of course, when youre writing the first draft of your story, you want to just get your words out on paper. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing.

Less than 100 pages and it becomes difficult for a printer to print the title of the book on the spine. Generally speaking, traditional publishers expect completed nonfiction book manuscripts to be between 50,000 to 75,000 words. Id guesstimate that non fiction books generally yes, this is very rough run perhaps 150450 pages, and at about 350 wdpage that works out to something like 50150k words. While theres no reliable statistic, heres an interesting post on word count from the blog of former agent colleen lindsay. It should be enough to communicate your message effectively. Big, epic stories get anywhere from 120,000 to 200,000 words. Aug 05, 2019 additionally, knowing your word count before you start writing can help you better plan your narrative arc as well as your writing schedule. On the upper end, a novel over 110,000 words is considered an epic. Oct 18, 2017 therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. You can do anything you want with subsequent books, if you sell a gazillion copies of the first book or two. If you know how long the book is, you can divide it into eighths. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 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.

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. What is the ideal word count for a nonfiction book in the. When writing a longer book that is aimed at 12yearolds and could maybe be considered tween, using the term upper middle grade is advisable. Generally, 50,000 would be considered the minimum word count, and ideally a novel should be over 70,000 words. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. It makes quite a difference whether you want to publish a childrens picture book, a 50recipe smoothie book, a science fiction novel or a technical encyclopedia. At 250 words per page using times roman 12 and oneinch margins, that means theyre usually six to eight pages long. Virtually every book i try to shop by a debut author thats any longer than thatregardless of categoryreceives the same response from editors. And man, people love to point out exceptionsand they always will. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. I heard 10,000 words can be accepted as an e book at a short length at least for non fiction.

Apr 05, 2015 generally a 50,000word novel would be the minimum word count. Oct 27, 2018 chapter length matters more than you think. Let me tell you about how i had to remove my membership from a childrens writer forum because i responded to a newbie about this topic. A good way to gauge appropriate length is to check out similar books for comparison. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 words. A reasonable word count for a nonfiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words. Jul 17, 2017 not necessarily, according to a new study by book in a box of 272 non fiction books that hit the new york times best sellers list between 2011 and 2017.

Sep 20, 2019 as you can see, word count for science fiction books vary widely. Readers of individual genres anticipate certain book lengths, and so do publishers. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to. In contrast, word count is finite and usually i can calculate book length with about 99% accuracy in part because also included in any calculation is a count. Indeed, most traditional publishers limit nonfiction authors to 80,000 words for standard 6 x 9 books, between 240 and 280 pages. As for non fiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. Your best bet is to go to a good childrens bookstore and look at books like your own in terms of target audience.

However, we do not suggest writing a novel of 500,000 words unless you as established as stephen king is. 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 doesnt mean you can submit a manuscript twice the length a publisher recommends. Word count is a direct way to measure the length of a novel in a manner unaffected by variations of format and page size. Authors often ask me about average word lengths for their manuscripts. Im going to write about my experience and not worry too much about the word count. It takes the question of length completely off the table as an issue. Id guesstimate that nonfiction books generally yes, this is very rough run perhaps 150450 pages. In 2011, the average length of a bestselling nonfiction book was 467 pages, but that dropped to 273 pages in 2017. Nonfiction books tend to be shorter, around 45,000 words on average, and novels ten to be longer, around 80,000 words on average.

Excluding endnotes and index, the book has about 200 pages of text, which means its total word count is about 74,000 words. But the word count of a chapter matters if you want your story to flow right. When converting character counts to words, a measure of 5 or 6 characters to a word is generally used for english. As a nonfiction writer myself, i know this is tough. Sep 06, 2016 some of the other answers are idiosyncratic. By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages. Apr 07, 2014 if youre concerned about the final page count for your book, you should know that the average 6. A word count guide for 18 book genres, including fiction and nonfiction. If youre writing a nonfiction book, be sure to look up that category to find the length of similar books. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common.

This is about the length readers want for general nonfiction, and it keeps publishers happy given the high cost of paper. Childrens fiction is so varied in terms of length, type, illustration. What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a nonfiction book. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures of readability and to measure typing and reading speeds usually in words per minute. In fact, the majority of printed books are turned into ebooks. If youre new to selfpublishing on amazon and wondering, just how much should i write for my kindle book. How many words should be in an adult nonfiction book. What occurred to me while reading was how the predetermined word counts make it more difficult to query a novel that crosses categories.

So 50,000 words is the minimum for a non fiction book. Word count for novels and childrens books at the guide to literary agents blog. The most important thing here is to realize that there are always exceptions to these rules. I get a lot of questions about word count for urban fiction novels.

Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. The size of each chapter will depend on the number of sub topics that you need to write about. My own past research on ya word count turned up 5080,000 as an average guideline. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. Do you want to publish a wide format bookwith inspiring quotes down the side margins. This is a lot harder because its not a specific field im receiving back i have to scrape the results and do some crazy parsing of the data.

Yet any piece of fiction climbing over the 110,000 word mark also tends to give editors. Multiply up by the number of pages and get to a rough word count. Your chapter structure needs to be in proportion to the overall length of the book. However, book length varies widely between genres, among authors, and based on the content of the book. Im curious about your advice compose the novel in the standard format from the start rather than changing it later why does this matter.

And a typical howto nonfiction book might need between 7 and 12. This information is important whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction. Mar 20, 2020 every category will have an average length, including childrens books, young adult, business books, etc. Only if youre a major celebrity can you blow right through that word count and just keep going. Before diving into the specifics of genrebased word counts, lets look at the broader picture of average book length. 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. An ebook could be 3,000 words or as long as a fulllength book. But, he also mentions that the wizard of oz was 40,000 words. Sep 06, 2014 according to chuck sambuchino see below for word count. If youre concerned about the final page count for your book, you should know that the average 6. Long book length at the other end of the spectrum a book of 80,000 to 100,000 words has significant heft, 320400 pages. From picture books to ya information to get you started at. What follows is a rough guide to book length expectations in certain genres.

Ya novels are rarely over 75k, historical novels go up to 120k, ditto speculative fiction. Middle grade is from 20,000 55,000, depending on the subject matter and age range, and the word count of these books has been trending up in recent years. Length of a book is typically associated with its sizespecifically page countleading many to assume the largest and thickest book equates to its length. Jul 23, 2012 so 50,000 words is the minimum for a non fiction book. 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. 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. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. The old man and the sea was about 25 to 30,000 words. Its good to have a word count in mind when you start.

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. The harry potter books are young adult titles, and ya publishers generally look for manuscripts in the 50,000 to 80,000word range. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. Each page contains about 34 lines, with an average word count of 11 words per line, thus 375 words per page. Right now, when it comes to novel length word count, its all about 90,000 words. Novel 50,000 110,000 most print publishers prefer a minimum word count of around 70,000 words for a first novel, and some even hesitate for any work shorter than 80,000. Martin and harper lee keep things more evenly paced in a game of thrones and to kill a mockingbird, respectively. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals. Alternatively, this is an acceptable length for a short work of non fiction. The length can vary greatly between genres, though. Most memoirs need to be in the 70,000 to 100,000word range. I am working on a book about my experience with losing a 9 year old cat to lymphoma. Since 2011, the average length of a bestseller has dropped steadily from year to year.

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. Book size is often based on how thick the spine will be and how it will stand out in a bookstore although things are changing. But rules are made to be broken, and the most successful publishing phenomenon in history did just that. Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words.

A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. You dont want to overwrite and end up with a 100,000 word book when all you wanted was a 20,000 word book. May 11, 2009 32 responses to word count and book length. Think carefully before you declare a word count in your. For nonfiction books, word count guidelines are more flexible, sometimes even double the word counts listed here. For example, memoirs are generally 80,000 to 90,00 words. Oct 26, 2018 discover what size your book should be and if thats comparable to the standard book sizes in publishing. 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. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for non fiction books. So if you write a 35,000 word manuscript, your formatted book will likely be around 140 pages. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about 246 to 307 ebook pages.

Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. 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. 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. What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a non fiction book. Easygoing, fairly light, userfriendly, nonfiction book for the masses. If yes, then most publishers still work on specific word count lengths for books so youll probably be aiming for around 60,00080,000 words for nonfiction. 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. I guess 50,000 is a short novel and some early novels before goes as low as 40,000 which can be considered to be a novella. Search for word count totals in books word counters.

A word count guide for 18 book genres, including fiction and. You can use comparable, successful books as models to determine the length you book should be. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 to 75,000 words, but this can vary depending upon category. Count up the total number of words on 10 random full lines from different places and divide by 10 to get the average wordsperline. Jun 15, 2017 this is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. T he indie author chris fox coined the term potato chip chapters for easilydigestible book chapters of a certain size. Your chapter length has to work well with the overall word count of the book short chapters create an even distribution of both content and action. Technically, in fiction, most publishers and awards consider anything over 40,000 words to be a novel, but many publishers wont look at anything under 60,000. There is no definitive word count guide for nonfiction books due to the many subgenres. Ford, glen book length average length of a non fiction book.