Book lengths by words

Apr 11, 2015 stephen king word count 112263 274,672 bag of bones 203,3 black house 252,270 blockade billy 15,917 carrie 60,718 cell 121,931 christine 193,602 cujo 121,150 cycle of the werewolf 15,955 desperation 195,011 doctor sleep. A typical popular business book runs 25,000 to 75,000 words. Deconstructing five spooky picture books with spoilers and word counts. When it gets closer to 1,000, editors and agents may shy away. I have never, nor will i ever, force a book to be longer just for the sake of word count. Lewis the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe, roald dahls charlie and the chocolate factory. Oct 10, 2016 genre has more influence on book length than you might think.

This latter tends to be priced at the 100 page mark so preferred lengths tend to come in multiples of 100. Obviously, my point is not that you should submit a first book of anywhere near 200,000 words. In fact, the majority of printed books are turned into ebooks. As a general guideline, chapters should be between 3,000 to 5,000 words. However, many authors, frustrated with the low price of ebooks, have taken to writing ebooks that are between 40,000 and 50,000. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. Book dimensions an oversized paperback or softcover can get more words on a page, given the same font size, than a pocket book or standard paperbackfont size. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. Here is an approximate guideline for story lengths. 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. Weighing in at over 4 million words, the wheel of time is assuredly among the longest fantasy series out there, although reliable data on the matter is elusive. Word count is a direct way to measure the length of a novel in a manner unaffected by variations of format and page size.

Nov, 2009 nonfiction picture book 3,000 words max, but closer to 1,000 to 2,000 words. To obtain the double spaced length, multiply the values in the last column by 2. Some publishers wont accept anything over that amount. This video explains why word count is important and the. In comparison, the database gives an average length of 89,000 words for adult fiction excluding fantasy, smack in the middle of the commonlycited range of 80,000100,000.

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. That said, each manuscript should be long enough to adequately tell its story or. Find out how long it will take you to read any book by using our book word count search. There are plenty of books that purposefully play with the word counts of their chapters. Nevertheless, you would be wise to come close to these suggested manuscript lengths. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. Then consider writing a manuscript of similar length. Sep 20, 2009 obviously, a prime determinant of book size is the word count. In terms of adult mainstream fiction, that length would be considered a novella. That left me with 66 logos word lists, each giving me every originallanguage word in a given book of the bible.

Novels intended for the adult market will be longer than those targeted at children and young adults. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. Also, heres another list i may swipe and add in here. Oct 18, 2017 as with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. If you are an author of a book or know of a books accurate wordcount, contact me.

Although science fiction and some other genres have been creeping up and can now exceed 400 pages 200,000 words. May 14, 2018 readers of individual genres anticipate certain book lengths, and so do publishers. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. For instance, audible uses an average rate of speed of 155 words a minute, or 9300 words per finished hour.

A statistical analysis of robert jordans the wheel of time. Words to pages determine page length from words count. Jan 08, 2018 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. 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. Long book length at the other end of the spectrum a book of 80,000 to 100,000 words has significant heft, 320400 pages. Chapter book this varies widely, depending on grade and reader level, usually starting at 4,000 words and 15,000 words max. I heard 10,000 words can be accepted as an ebook at a short length at least for nonfiction. T he indie author chris fox coined the term potato chip chapters for easilydigestible book chapters of a certain size. In 2015, the drop resumed as the average fell to 345. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. Using this exercise, you should end up with a good idea of book length expectations for a novel like yours. Anything in this word count wont scare off any agent anywhere.

Why does the length of a typical novel fall in the 80. For a printed book, 37,000 words is definitely on the short side less than 150 pages so publishers may not be interested as pricing will be low and volumes needing to be correspondingly high. Most agree that under 1,000 words would be rather short and that over 5,000 might be rather too long. The golden extent for many publishers is 288 pages about 90100,000 words without tables or figures. Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. No matter how much you adjust the other variables, if the ms is only 50,000 words in length instead of 95,000, then you have a problem if the book was announced as being 288 pages in length but the most it can be stretched to is 160 pages. Between 80,000 and 89,999 words is a good range you should be aiming for. Stephen king word count 112263 274,672 bag of bones 203,3 black house 252,270 blockade billy 15,917 carrie 60,718 cell 121,931 christine 193,602 cujo 121,150 cycle of the werewolf 15,955 desperation 195,011 doctor sleep. The graphic looks at the length of some famous novels, poems, and plays from literary history. Nonfiction picture book 3,000 words max, but closer to 1,000 to 2,000 words.

Pbs go from image only board books all the way up to full stories with significant illustrations. Over that size is the territory of the academic or technical business book. When combined, the total harry potter word count is over a million words. So 50,000 words is the minimum for a nonfiction book. However, paranormal and ya fantasy books appear to remain largely in the 80120,000 range, with books targeted at children or younger teenagers sometimes dipping to 5070,000. 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. But i wanted all the words of the bible in a spreadsheet, so i had. According to amazon s great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. We could print flash cards, see which words occur most, and more.

Jun 27, 2019 a story that is over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel. Since this was the first book, rowling had more time to edit the book and make the writing more concise. At an average reading rate of 125 words per minute, thats about 145 hours of reading. If you are an author of a book or know of a book s accurate wordcount, contact me. It has fewer words than the other six books, making it the shortest book in the series. A step up from picture books, these are for kids who have just started reading by themselves. Self publishing, the craft of writing, traditional publishing a common worry when nearing the finale of your debut novel is whether you have a enough words to qualify as a publishable, fulllength novel or b too many words packed into those pages which will put off both publishers and readers, for. Chapter books will come in at the lower end of the spectrum, while middlegrade. But i wanted all the words of the bible in a spreadsheet, so i had to take it a step further. Obviously, a prime determinant of book size is the word count. Famous book series and novel word counts number of words. Im just saying that some things are more important than word counts. As with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. Different kinds of books should be a different length.

For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. Bullet lists and tables use fewer words than continuous paragraphs of text. The first book, harry potter and the sorcerers stone, has 76,944 words. Reading length is a participant in the amazon services llc associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to. I remember reading some westerns in high school and, if i. Aug 05, 2019 for most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. An ebook could be 3,000 words or as long as a fulllength book. As basic info, you need to know the word count, not the page count, of the book you would narrate. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. Some 6090k ya books get classified as hilo, but i dont think they were specifically written for the category.

Oct 27, 2018 chapter length matters more than you think. Heres a guide to the recommended lengths for genre books. Word count estimates are not guaranteed to be accurate. Middlegrade novels are generally 20,000 to 55,000 words. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about 246 to 307 ebook pages. Overall, the average picture book length is words or less. Reading length is a participant in the amazon services llc associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to and affiliated sites. I have 15 books selling in the amazon kindle store of varying lengths. That said, if your book is around 40,000 words, youre in good company. How many words in each book of the bible the holy word. If you analyse the contents of a typical bookshelf in an academic library, you will notice that many of the books are between 272 and 320 pages in length. According to our table of data above, there are 609,269 words in the old testament and 179,011 words in the new testament, making a total of 788,280 words. The ultimate measure of a storys size is its wordcount, however, so the literary geeks here at foster grant have put together a list of many of the. I think the fewest words i have in a book is about 15,000.

Since the paperback is going away, lets look at more realistic lengths for books. This is a 100% safe range for literary, mainstream, womens, romance, mystery, suspense, thriller and horror. A young adult novel will run between 20,000 and 40,000 words. 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. Mar 20, 2020 an ebook could be 3,000 words or as long as a fulllength book. Word counts of famous book series harry potter by jk rowling. However, it will be on the short side, as the average length of a novel hovers around 50,00070,000 words.

Mind you that great classic, the little prince, was such a work. Word counts of the most popular books in the world foster grant uk. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. Each of my books is the length i needed to tell that characters story. In fiction, a short book is between 50,000 to 80,000 words roughly 200 300 pages in paperback. May 29, 2014 that left me with 66 logos word lists, each giving me every originallanguage word in a given book of the bible. At a writers conference i recently attended, publishing. 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. Length of a book is typically associated with its sizespecifically page countleading many to assume the largest and thickest book equates to its length. While 50,000 words is a fairly firm minimum, plenty of ya books reach up to 100,000 words, with a sweet spot at 75,00080,000.

May 11, 2009 for a printed book, 37,000 words is definitely on the short side less than 150 pages so publishers may not be interested as pricing will be low and volumes needing to be correspondingly high. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book. Because yes, different types of books require different book lengths. However, there are certain word lengths that most editors prefer to see when submitting work. Some of these essays can be done in one day and others in one night. But while the length of a novel is to a large extent up to its writer, lengths may also vary by subgenre. Add screenshots or other graphics and youve got a nicesized ebook. Just check the specific word count for each publisher. If youre drawn to writing much shorter tales, the ideal is to make them part of a series or to link them in some other way so that you can publish several of them in something vaguely novelsized. Print a histogram based on word lengths c stack overflow. One thing to keep in mind with how many pages is words is that it depends on the text, its size, and the spacing youre using. A story that is over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel.

How does your book measure compare to whats succeeding in todays marketplace. You can figure out the finished runtime based on the word count. Readers of individual genres anticipate certain book lengths, and so do publishers. Search for a book, tell us how fast you read, and start reading. The length can vary greatly between genres, though. This very abbreviated story is often difficult to write, and even harder to write well, but the markets for micro fiction are becoming increasingly popular in recent.