Good amount of words for a book

For example, a 75,000 word book is about 300 pages long. For fiction or creative nonfiction picture books not informational, the current word count goal is 500 words. Whats the best way to know the total number of words in a book. Jan 08, 2018 we created the formulas by setting 10,000 words in minion a commonly used serif typeface that comes with indesign, and using the page margins recommended in book design made simple 0.

If you are planning to traditionally publish, it is significantly more likely you will be successful if you stick to this word count. We need to count words if we are writing for a publication that asks us to stay within a set number of words. Unfortunately, they dont offer word count so ive created an algorithm based on the number of pages, genre, and the dimensions of the book. May 14, 2018 what follows is a rough guide to book length expectations in certain genres. How many words does it take to write a young adult book. Search for word count totals in books word counters. Jun 27, 2019 put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be around 8090k. Id guess that the actual average number of words in a novel was somewhere. The best way to find out how many pages will be in your book is to use this. Historically, books 40,000 words or less have been considered novellas, not novels.

This trim size is good for only 200 to 250 words per printed book page. But, most nonfiction publishers want to be sold the concept, and therefore be able to discuss the direction of the project, before you write the book. The popular book the noticer 2009 by andy andrews barely breaks the novel barrier at 40,454 words without the readers guide that was added to pad the book. In just three weeks id have enough content for a nearly 20,000word ebook. The greater the word count the larger the book more sections and pages. That said, if your book is around 40,000 words, youre in good company. Sometimes theyre shorter the lion, the witch and the wardrobe by c. Right now, when it comes to novellength word count, its all about 90,000 words. Your best bet is to figure out what books yours is comparable to, then sit down and count the words on 23 typical pages.

Everything you need to know about novel word counts. Oct 16, 2018 for most adult fiction, adult nonfiction, and ya novels, simply divide the total number of words by 250 to get a page count estimate. Satisfying is a great word to use because it promises readers that they will have. Children often read these books completely on their own. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. How to measure your productivity in words per minute. Why word count matters when you submit your book the artful. If youre going to go over that, youd better have a really good reason for it. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. Put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be around 8090k. Mar 06, 2010 at age 14, are you writing a young adult book.

Jan 08, 2015 if i use 800 words per hour as my average, that equals about 6,500 words per week. Bibliophiles pay close attention to the whole package, from a book s spine to the quality of paper the words are printed on. Is there a way to find out the number of words in a book. And no agents or publishers would even look past that number. This video explains why word count is important and the. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. Estimate a small reduction for the linesperpage and the number ofpages values. Shorter novels such as fahrenheit 451, the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, the great gatsby, and slaughterhousefive are between 4050,000 words. Nov 08, 2020 if youre writing your first novel, the general rule of thumb for novel writing is a word count in the 80,000 to 100,000 range. Dec 02, 2020 using amazons number of words as a guide, 5,000 words would equal 26. 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.

Oct 31, 2020 for most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Scott fitzgerald, and old yeller by fred gipson all range between 35,000 and 50,000. Average novel word counts are generally around 85,000 but they can range from 50,000 to 120,000. As part of the university of michigans yearly health and.

Heres a list of similar words from our thesaurus that you can use instead. My first book, three times a lady was roughly 100,000 words. This is a 100% safe range for literary, mainstream, womens, romance, mystery, suspense, thriller and horror. A good suspense story has to keep the plot moving to keep the. The daily word counts of 39 famous authors writers write. Generally, there are 300 words per typed doublespaced page, using a 12 point font.

Good amount synonyms 814 words and phrases for good amount. Why word count matters when you submit your book the. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. If youre writing your first novel, the general rule of thumb for novel writing is a word count in the 80,000 to 100,000 range. You can use word to count how many words you have written in a document. Well, as publishers matter less and less, in some respects, word counts matter less and less. Synonyms for good amount other words and phrases for good amount. Many of these books are written in rhyme or in a simple singsong meter that is catchy and fun. A set of written, printed, or blank pages fastened along one side and encased between protective covers. Although 110,000 word young adult novels exist theyre the minority, as are 50,000 words or below books. Book of words definition of book of words by the free. Describe any book thanks to my friends on facebook for submitting these adjectives. That said, in general young adult books tend to be around 50,000 90,000 words.

Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. To preserve the free flow of information, authors are given more leeway when using material from factual works scholarly, technical, or scientific works than works of fancy, such as novels, poems, and plays. The harry potter books are young adult titles, and ya publishers generally look for manuscripts in the 50,000 to 80,000 word range. The actual word count for the hunger games is 99,750 and my utility calculates 94,743 words. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan.

Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. Basic trade picture books as seen in most stores will typically have a standard set of 32 pages. Jane friedman said 80,000 words is good for most fiction, below 60,000 isnt novel length territory. Here are some word counts of famous novels, sorted from long to short. There are approximately 300 words per page, so just check the number of pages and multiply by 300. The average adult novel runs approximately 100,000 words while those in other categories run 80120,000 words. Anything in this word count wont scare off any agent anywhere. Anything over 110,000 words is considered too long for a fiction novel. That was the formula in the good old days when courier was the only typeface and typewriters were king. Apr 23, 2018 as you can see, in general, 120,000 words for me is kind of the upper limit for the genres that allow some leeway in length. In five weeks of consistent effort that number would rise to 32,000 words enough for a small paperback.

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. Chapter books are often good for serials as children delight in one story and want more. With longer books, you can get a rough count by adding up the number of words on an average page and multiplying by the total number of pages. Different kinds of books should be a different length. Now we have computers and word processing software.

Regarding the value of adhering to standard word counts, jackie. Then decide for yourself where the chapter divisions will be. A guide to book length by word count for standard book genres broken down by. Heres how to find your books word count for a number of writing. Virtually every book i try to shop by a debut author thats any longer than thatregardless of categoryreceives the same response from editors. Build your plot through a series of events or scenes. If 50,000 words was my goal, that should be easily doable in two months or less.

While anything over 40,000 words can fall into the novel category, 50,000 is considered the minimum novel length. I use amazons data feeds to come up with the calculation. Whats the best way to know the total number of words in a. Perhaps because of the amount of world building required in a good fantasy novel.

Even if you are selfpublishing, you may want to follow the triedandtrue guidelines for storytelling. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. Frequently asked questions getting published meg cabot. In two minutes, i found ebooks ranging from 10 to 950 pages.

These are basic learning books that creatively teach colors, numbers or simple, fun stories for bedtime. Number of words needed to be able to read a simple novel. This reduction will be very small, like maybe 12 lines less per page, and 510 pages less for the book. I sold that book for a good sixfigure sum, and have never looked back since. Heres how i worked out the word count i literally counted the words in a cathy kelly book, a sheila oflanagan book and a marian keyes book and figured that 90 to 120k was about right. A nonfiction book attractive to publishers of bestsellers starts at around 75,000 words. Yes, you can go to barnes and noble and likely find a longer picture book on the. Multiply up by the number of pages and get to a rough word count. However, copying 2,000 words from a work of 500,000 words might be fair. These books are for readers between the ages of 6 and 10 and can have as many as 3,500 words. I d guess that the actual average number of words in a novel was somewhere.

Heres our word count guide for 18 different book genres. These books are geared for children between the ages of 3 and 8 years old. This translates into just 20,000 to 25,000 words for a 100 page book, 30,000 to 42,500 words for a 150page book, perhaps just 40,000 words for a 200page book. I am writing my first book i am l4 but im very good at writing, indicates you need to work on punctuation, sentence structure, and grammar. Childrens book writers must adhere to strict industry standards for. If you want to get a target for your nonfiction book, the best thing may be to look at a dozen or so bestselling books in the genreniche youre aiming at and see what their word counts are. Number of words needed to be able to read a simple novel comfortably november 2012 firstly i appreciate that this question may have been asked before so apologies if i am going over old ground and i suspect the answer may be when you feel ready. Most adult books are about 90,000 words, and no longer than 100,000 words unless. Feb 15, 2017 while the idea of chapters in the 3,000 to 5,000 word range is a good guideline when roughing out your book s structure, it isnt a rule, and the story itself should be the primary deciding factor. A good example is the wonderful little personalspiritual guide, the four agreements, by don miguel ruiz, which averages about 10 words per line x 20 lines per page 200 words per page. You can use this handy calculation to visualize the size of standard books in particular genres based on the word count ranges. Book synonyms, book antonyms merriamwebster thesaurus.

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. Jane friedman said 80,000 words is good for most fiction, below 60,000 isnt novel len. Apr 01, 2021 in the traditional publishing world, 20,000 words isnt considered a book length story. This book has 144 pages, so it contains about 28,800 words. This type of book should not go more than 200 pages, so 40,000 words is probably your max. Perhaps scififantasy readers are more inclined to bear with a longer story. The best way to calculate length is by the number of words. While there are no hard and fast rules on the amount of words a book. Feb 20, 2019 the answers is as long as a piece of string twice the length from the middle to the end. It is important to decide in which genre you are writing as each genre requires a suggested range on number of words and number of pages. The traditional rule of thumb still pretty much applies to the length of an adult trade novel. 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.