By BookBaby author Lee Purcell

Getting ready to write a book and wondering how many words you need to pen? Here are some rule-of-thumb insights into how long your book should be.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

How long should a book be? At first glance, this question might appear to be a koan. You might as well ask: If a page turns in the forest and no one is there to read it, does it make a sound?

However, looking at the question more deeply reveals some different considerations. In terms of the length of a book, the indie writer can confidently answer, “as long as it takes to tell the story.” This is true in cases where the literary value of a work is foremost and the artist’s vision is the primary driving motivation. But even this answer can be deceptive.

For example, if you plan to publish both an eBook and a print-on-demand version, there are a bunch of factors that will inevitably affect the cost of the final product in physical form, including the number of pages, hardcover or softcover, and so on. If sales of the print version are important to you, all these cost factors need to be considered.

Perhaps you plan to offer print copies of your book following a book reading or public appearance. In some cases, there may be value in having a smaller, more compact (and lighter) book. Or, maybe you want to pursue bulk sales, so shipping costs are a critical factor.

Market expectations

On the other hand, there are typical market and genre expectations to think of when you consider the potential commercial success of a title. If you deviate too far from these expectations, your book is unlikely to find a publisher, or your self-published work may be doomed to failure.

Publishers, in particular, fixate on market expectations, and it takes a lot of leverage to shift their viewpoint. At over 1,100 pages, Stephen King’s The Stand was initially considered too long by his publisher (Doubleday) and they oversaw trimming it to 823 pages (much to King’s chagrin).

Got massive book sales? Different rules apply.

Republished in 1990 as The Complete and Uncut Edition of The Stand (after sales of 470,000 were tallied for prior versions), the book reached 1,152 pages, making it King’s longest work. At last count, the book has sold 4.5 million copies. Get famous, sell a ton of books, and you can dictate the length of your work.

Similarly, J.K. Rowling has achieved a degree of success that makes the normal rules of book length irrelevant. Rowling started out initially targeting a younger audience with shorter books and intentionally planned for her audience to increase in age and for the books to grow along with them. Later titles run 700 or 800 pages. Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) and Scholastic (US) aren’t complaining as the sales of the popular series have continued to grow along with the audience.

Think word count, not page count

As a rule of thumb, think in terms of word count rather than page count. Publishers and editors typically deal in word counts, and this measure is a more reliable guide. Page count, of course, will vary depending on the print format and trim size of your book, and is completely irrelevant for ebooks as they don’t have pages.

If you want a ballpark assessment of how word count translates to page count, a typical range is 225–300 words per printed page. By that measure, a 75,000-word manuscript at 250 words per page works out to 300 pages.

But that also depends on the trim size and font size you choose. Here’s a chart to use as a rough guide for converting word count to page count.

How many words are in an average book?

Juliet Mushens, a literary agent for Mushens Entertainment, suggests 80,000–100,000 words as a workable standard to follow for novels geared to adults. Mushens is quoted on the Penguin publisher UK website as saying:

I do think one of the reasons we get hung up on this word count is because there is a sweet spot, in terms of giving us enough world building, but also making sure that the pace doesn’t slow at any point. So in a crime novel, you can kind of pull all the twists and turns, the suspense, the kind of red herrings, together in around 90,000 words. In 150,000 words, on the other hand, it could read like, “Okay, well, we’ve got so many subplots or you know, I’ve kind of forgotten about this red herring, because 50,000 words happened without them being featured.”

Guidelines to help determine the ideal length of a book

Depending on the genre, you can find typical lengths of books based on reader expectations and the market. Consider everything spelled out here as a guideline, rather than a rule, but having a target number of words in mind when you’re writing any kind of work helps shape the narrative flow. This is a very wide parameter, but it encompasses a wide span of types of novels, each with its own place in the market.

Fiction

• Horror and mystery novels: 60,000–80,000 words
• Crime and thriller novels: 70,000–90,000 words
• Romance novels: 40,000–80,000 words
• Fantasy and science fiction novels: 80,000–200,000 words
• Literary novels: 60,000–180,000 words
• Children’s books: 500–2,500 words*
• Young adult fiction: 50,000–75,000 words**

* In Children’s books for early readers, the pictures carry the story and text is usually minimal. It’s unusual to find a book with more than 2,500 words through the early grade school years.

** Several highly popular series have been released in this genre, such as Stephanie Meyers Twilight Saga series, and these types of books often win over readers older than the targeted teens and tweens. The Harry Potter series is another example of books that found a wide audience beyond the one intended. Middle-grade fiction is a smaller category but occupies a similar range for word counts: 40,000–70,000 words.

Nonfiction

• Biographies and memoirs: 70,000–100,000 words
• Popular nonfiction: 80,000–120,000 words
• Self-help books: 35,000–55,000 words

Don’t obsess over word count

When considering how long your book should be, these target lengths are just rough guidelines. As a writer, you shouldn’t dwell obsessively on word count.

In an article for Writer’s Digest, Chuck Sambuchino says, “You have agents like Nathan Bransford (now formerly an agent) and Kristin Nelson who say that you shouldn’t think about word count, but rather you should think about pacing and telling the best story possible — and don’t worry about the length. Yes, they’re right, but the fact is: Not every agent feels that way and is willing to give a 139,000-word debut novel a shot.”

Writing is one of the freest forms of self-expression we’ve got, so be aware of the ideal book length and then write the best book possible you can. Your book might be a genre-blurring masterpiece, so don’t let conventions stymie your creativity. In addition, the world of self-publishing opens up the market to works that don’t always fit into traditional expectations. Write your best book and enjoy the freedom to launch it into the world on your terms.

Related Posts
Choosing Your Book’s Trim Size
What is a Fixed Layout eBook?
Paperback vs. Hardcover Books: Which Is Right For You?
Reaching THE END Of Your Story
Simple Self-Publishing Tips

This BookBaby blog article How Long Should A Novel Be? appeared first on and was stolen from BookBaby Blog .