why the length of your book matters
Readers have expectations about book length based on genre. creating a book outside of genre guidelines minimizes the chance of selling it to your target readers. Publisher editors are aware of book length guidelines and will immediately discard your book if it doesn’t meet those expectations.
You are reading: How long are books
Knowing the ideal length for your genre helps plan the sequence and plot arc of your book. but how do you know what is the best length for your book? and how do you calculate the length of the book?
The publishing industry has guidelines for the length of genre books. we will review them in detail.
Books come in various sizes and are printed with different fonts and line spacing, so the number of pages is not a clear answer for length. the best way to calculate the length is by the number of words.
Most writing programs (ms word, google docs, scrivener, ulysses, etc.) have a word count feature. you can set your word count goal and the software tracks your progress to alert you when you have reached your word count goal.
Word count is important because every book has an inherent contract with the reader. that contract depends on the genre, and your genre demands a word count for your book.
average length of a novel
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Most publishers consider novel length to be between 50,000 and 110,000 words. the average length is about 90,000 words. big, epic stories can be over 120,000 words.
If this is your first time writing, aiming for around 90,000 words is a safe goal.
but the genre affects the standard length that readers expect.
gender length demystified
The following are average word count ranges by genre.
general fiction
- flash fiction: 300-1,500 words
- short story: 1,500-30,000 words
- novels: 30,000-50,000 words
- novels: 50,000 -110,000 words
fiction genres
- mainstream romance: 70,000-100,000 words
- subgenre romance: 40,000-100,000 words
- sci-fi/fantasy: 90,000-120,000 ( and sometimes 150,000) words
- historical fiction: 80,000-100,000
- thrillers/horror/mysteries/crime: 70,000-90,000 words
- adult young: 50,000-80,000
children’s books
- picture books: 300-800 words
- early readers: 200-3,500 words
- chapter books: 4,000-10,000 words
- average grade: 25,000-40,000 words
non-fiction
- Standard nonfiction (business, political science, psychology, history, etc.): 70,000-80,000 words
- Memoir: 80,000-100,000 words
- biography: 80,000-200,000 words
- instructions/self-help: 40,000-50,000 words
These are average guidelines. it is not necessary to take them as definitive. keep in mind that readers have expectations for each genre. when you go out of your way, you are asking your readers to exceed their expectations.
First-time writers will do better if they aim for a word count within the guidelines. Fight your way through the book publishing arena with thousands of competing books giving readers what they expect. use these numbers as a reference for your writing goals.
Readers may not be aware of your expectations for the length of the book. avoid upsetting them by going outside the guidelines.
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how many pages are those?
If you want to estimate the number of pages in your book, you can divide the word count by the number of words on a page. the standard manuscript format for a double-spaced document in 12-point font contains about 250 words. the same text formatted for single space is about 500 words.
When you upload a file to Amazon to create an eBook, Amazon uses your word count to estimate the number of pages. Dave Chesson and Kindlepreneur surveyed their readers and found averages. for fiction, the average is 280 words per page. For nonfiction, the average is 230. Here’s a short video of their results.
Using the example of the 90,000 word novel, that breaks down into about 320 pages. an 80,000-word nonfiction book is about 350 pages long.
Either way, even if you write just one page a day, you’ll have a completed manuscript in less than a year.
your writing goal
Now that you know the word count guidelines for your genre, you can set your goal and keep writing. remember that these are not carved in stone, they are guidelines. if you go a little above or below, your readers will not notice.
If your finished novel is 240,000 words long, you’ll need to trim it down with major edits to reduce it to a reasonable length for your readers. Or if your mystery novel is under 50,000 words, you can bolster it with a subplot.
Knowing your word count before you write can help you better plan your narrative arc and writing schedule. know your writing style best, the trick is to match your gender to reach the right length for your gender.
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