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. Most publishers consider novel length as between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Most of what ive read here and elsewhere is that nonfiction books are. 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. 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. Again, higher word counts usually mean that the writer does not know how to edit themselves. Apr 05, 2021 during the introductory month of the new system, the conversion of kenpc into the actual number of words in the book actual word count showed significant differences from one book to the other. 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.
May 14, 2018 literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. How to finally write your nonfiction book the new york times. For example, if youre planning to write a book with 200 pages, then at a word count of 250. Jul 12, 2020 on a related note, a historical fiction book word count may be 80,000 to 115,000 words. A single novel can be longer, but once the length is above 110,000 words publishers may. So if you write a 35,000 word manuscript, your formatted book will likely be around 140 pages. Nowadays, the average non fiction book clocks in at around 50,000 to 75,000 words. Its good to have a word count in mind when you start. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count.
If you are a firsttime writer, aiming for around 90,000 words is a safe goal. Indeed, most traditional publishers limit nonfiction authors to 80,000 words for standard 6 x 9 books, between 240 and 280 pages. Sep 29, 2014 determine the approximate length of your finished book. An average nonfiction book has a word count of 250 words per page. I am not sure about the top and bottom margins but of course i want them to look good and go with the side margins. For the larger, 6 x 9 trim size, would be about 300 words per page. Oct 31, 2020 for most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. If you have written a non fiction book and want to know if you are hitting the word count sweet spot, i suggest reading widely in your area to see what others are doing this will give you a. May 25, 2020 most publishers consider novel length as between 50,000 and 110,000 words. How to set the retail price for your nonfiction book.
Like novels, these books fall into the 70,000 to 120,000word range. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures of readability and to measure typing and reading speeds usually in words per minute. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. There is no definitive word count guide for non fiction books due to the many subgenres. And conversely, a longer book of over 60k words or 200 pages can command a higher price. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to be. 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 actual word count for the hunger games is 99,750 and my utility calculates 94,743 words. I am working on a book about my experience with losing a 9 year old cat to lymphoma. If you have written a non fiction book and want to know if you are hitting the word count sweet spot, i suggest reading widely in your area to see what others are doing this will give you a better sense of what. On the upper end, a novel over 110,000 words is considered an epic.
Generally speaking, traditional publishers expect completed nonfiction book manuscripts to be between 50,000 to 75,000 words. The average across a sample of 50 books in august 2015 showed 172 words per kindle edition normalized page. As persuasion progresses, jane austen seems to elongate hers, building them up on a crescendo. May 07, 2018 a typical nonfiction book ranges between 55,000 and 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. A non fiction book attractive to publishers of bestsellers starts at around 75,000 words. Since the new york times non fiction bestseller list began in 2000, books of all sizes have claimed the top spot. Unfortunately, they dont offer word count so ive created an algorithm based on the number of pages, genre, and the dimensions of the book. Perhaps more than any other, ya is the one category where word count is very flexible. How many words should be in an adult nonfiction book. As always, be sure to keep it interesting so you can justify the word length. 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. Feb 05, 2021 learn the differences between middle grade and young adult fiction. A word count that is much higher than the average range tells the agent or editor your work probably needs to be tightened.
Thats the level where publishers may suggest dividing a story into multiple volumes. If youre writing a non fiction book, be sure to look up that category to find the. Fleshing out an imagined historical world lends itself to a higher word count, so historical fiction tends to be closer to 100,000 words. The average adult novel runs approximately 100,000 words while those in other categories run 80120,000 words. And man, people love to point out exceptionsand they always will. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. Add screenshots or other graphics and youve got a nicesized ebook. A reasonable word count for a non fiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words.
I know fiction works on average come in at 60,000 but i really had no idea about non fiction. Im going to write about my experience and not worry too much about the word count. Oct 27, 2018 i use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. Its okay to have a book be less than the average word count, it is an average after all. You dont want to overwrite and end up with a 100,000 word book when all you wanted was a 20,000 word book.
A question many authors have is how many words are on the average page when it comes to books and ebooks on amazon. Rick warrens first big publishing success, the purpose driven church 1995 was composed of 103,208 words. A good way to gauge appropriate length is to check out similar books for comparison. According to chuck sambuchino see below for word count. When talking about book length, its common to talk about word count rather. The most important thing here is to realize that there are always exceptions to these rules. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. If yes, then most publishers still work on specific word count lengths for books so youll probably. This includes parenting and relationship books and health and fitness books. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. The length of a typical trade nonfiction book can really vary. Oct 18, 2017 the average chapter word count of these novels falls within the 2,0005,000 range.
A reasonable word count for a nonfiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words. Jun 27, 2019 fantasy and science fiction novels are known to be lengthier than other books. Jan 08, 2018 my manuscript word count is 54,000 and i want the book size to be 6. Average novel word counts are generally around 85,000 but they can range from 50,000 to 120,000. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words.
The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. Many books in the non fiction category are also acquired on concept alone, rather than a completed manuscript. Jul 23, 2012 so 50,000 words is the minimum for a non fiction book. What you need to know about nonfiction book word count ranges biography memoir business and money history and local history.
Word counts may also be used to calculate measures. Average word count ranges from 70,000 to 100,000 words, although biographies of major celebrities or public figures can support a higher number. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. However, the drop in the overall average length of bestsellers over the last 7 years points to a marked trend in the overall preferences of the average reader. I heard 10,000 words can be accepted as an e book at a short length at least for non fiction. For childrens fiction, the general rule is the younger the audience the shorter the. Generally speaking, a shorter book of 150 finished pages or 40k words or less typically commands a lower price. Download a pdf ezinepublisher report this article cite this article stay informed. These books are generally heftier in general, so for a 150page book you can target 45,000 words and 60,000 words for a 200page book. Generally, 50,000 would be considered the minimum word count, and ideally a novel should be over 70,000 words. When converting character counts to words, a measure of 5 or 6 characters to a word is generally used for english. Many aspiring authors assume that getting started means cranking out tens of thousands of words before you approach an agent or publisher, but.
Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing stack. Search for word count totals in books word counters. Apr 17, 2020 similarly, anything considered literary fiction written more for style and less for profit compared with commercial fiction is often 70,000 words or more. Standard non fiction business, political science, psychology, history, etc. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. When you look at competitors book pricing, note the page count.
Mar 20, 2020 the average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 to 75,000 words, but this can vary depending upon category. Book length varies according to genre, but a print non fiction book length averages 50,000 words and commercial fiction averages 80,000 110,000 words. On average there are 233 words per page for a nonfiction book and 280 words per page for a fiction book on amazon. That said, the average word count for science fiction and fantasy novels generally lies between 100,000 and 115,000. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words.
This is about the length readers want for general nonfiction, and it keeps publishers happy given the high cost of paper. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. This information helps you calculate how long your novel or nonfiction work has to be to hit a certain page count on amazon, which is important if youre applying for promotions that require you to be above a certain number of pages to qualify. As a nonfiction writer myself, i know this is tough. On a related note, a historical fiction book word count may be 80,000 to 115,000 words. What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a nonfiction book.
Nonfiction standard nonfiction business, political science, psychology, history, etc. Martin and harper lee keep things more evenly paced in a game of thrones and to kill a mockingbird, respectively. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. Book length by the numbers when talking about book length, its common to talk about word count rather than page count. I use amazons data feeds to come up with the calculation. Apr 07, 2014 if youre concerned about the final page count for your book, you should know that the average 6. If im writing a novel, this gives me 40 chapters and 70,000 words when im done. Standard nonfiction business, political science, psychology, history, etc. In 2011, the average length of a bestselling non fiction book was 467 pages, but that dropped to 273 pages in 2017. What is the ideal word count for a nonfiction book in the. 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.
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