This is a lot of information at a glance, so ill distill a few salient observations. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. New writers tend to assume that a chapter must be a certain set length in order to maintain the average novel length of around 80,000 95,000 words, but in. I definitely notice when a chapter is a lot shorter or a lot longer than sort of what has been established. Harry potter and the sorcerers stone has 17 chapters with titles, and about 4560 words per chapter. The average across a sample of 50 books in august 2015 showed 172 words per kindle edition normalized page. Do check your comparable titlesrecent debuts onlyto make sure your story falls in that range. In this article, were going to look at how many words are in the harry potter series. A statistical analysis of robert jordans the wheel of time.
Twilight has 24 titled chapters, or 26 if you count the preface and epilogue, and about 4580 words per chapter. Each chapter is a mini story in its own right, so to work properly, just like any story, each chapter must have, as a bare minimum, a beginning, a middle, and an end. 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 average chapter word count of these novels falls within the 2,0005,000 range. If youre writing a young adult fantasy novel, you should keep your word count below 90,000 words or 300 book pages. The overall average for all five books is 5145 wordschapter 1. Search for word count totals in books word counters.
Chapters need to be relatively equal in length for the structure of the book to make sense. If im writing a novel, this gives me 40 chapters and 70,000 words when im done. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or short, perkins says. Nicholas sparks word count popular novel word count. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. Writing middle grade a look at the numbers hannah holt. So itll be off on occasion, but it should get you relatively close for the average book. Nicholas sparks word count the notebook 38,520 message in a bottle 92,760 a walk to remember 49,311 the rescue 100,916 a bend in the road 93,766. Do you want to publish a wide format bookwith inspiring quotes down the side margins. You wont get exact, but youre wondering whether 35k is reasonable, so you dont need exact. If the word count of twilight is disregarded, the average becomes around 88,625. Analyzing chapter lengths in fantasy fiction creativity.
The author selling the most copies was a scholastic author published only in softcover hello, scholastic school. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. It is feasible to count the number of words in a published chapter. All of these are average book word count ranges and should not be taken as the definitive word count you must reach in your book. To give you a general idea of the average chapter length, the range is usually between 3,000 to 5,000 words. Can be publisher specific, ranging from 3,000 to absolute max 5,000. So, whats the sweet spot for an average chapters word count and. 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. Its also worth noting that the average word count figure can vary by genre. The title with the shortest chapters, on average, was whirlwind in the thorn tree, averaging just 2,900 words each. A nonfiction book attractive to publishers of bestsellers starts at around 75,000 words. Never pad your manuscript just to meet a wordcount guideline. Look for your chapters to have those similar elements. For debut books in this field the average word count tends to be 35k and it has therefore become the marker many industry professionals look for in queries from new writers.
Why chapter length matters more than you think medium. But again as a surprise to me, dune was a close second, averaging just 3,800 words per chapter. We explain two easy methods to estimate your book s page count. If yours is too short, restructure it and add more tightly written stuff.
You shouldnt set manuscript guidelines for yourself on chapter length. If you have a 1,000 word chapter, a 4,000 word chapter, then a 2,000 word chapter, then you need to make it clear to the reader that each has a unique value. And remember, keeping to word counts is important, but what makes or breaks your chances with a publisher is. Eye of the world was one of the more normally distributed book in terms of chapter wordcount, which essentially means it had a mostcommon chapter length and a comparable number of chapters that were longer or shorter the dragon reborn was rightskewed, which means there was a heavy distribution of.
Perkins agency in new york says its much easier to market a firsttime novelists book if the word count falls between 80,000 and 100,000 words, or roughly 300 doublespaced, typed pagesthe average novel length. In other words, let your content dictate your chapter length, not the other way around. Fantasy novels with a 300k total word count might run 10,000 or 15,000 words whereas a standard standalone novel might only have 3,000 or 4,000 words a chapter. From a conference, paula sadler had given out a handout that said the word count could be between 5,000 to,000 words. Write as much as it takes to tell the story, and no more. A recommended wordcount might be 15002000 words but, more.
Click librarian or teacher and then search for books like yours click on the. Jan 08, 2018 wondering how many word pages equal a book page. Otherwise, the inconsistency could drive the reader away from the book altogether. Your article was a welcome relief to me since i cannot justify writing for the sake of adding to my word count if the story is already complete. Or to put it another way every chapter needs a three line plot. Martin and harper lee keep things more evenly paced in a game of thrones and to kill a mockingbird, respectively. The important thing is that your length fits your book. The authors had sold between 10 copies and 2 million copies of their chapter books. 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.
Sep 20, 2019 how many words in a novel vary depending on genre, audience, and the story itself but in general, the average words in a novel is between 60,000 and 90,000 words for most genres. The eight harry potter books have an impressive combined word count of over 1 million words. Many, yes, but there are exceptions due to the layout and font size of a particular book. I use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. Word count varied from 5,000 words to 40,000 words, with an average mean of 17,200 and a median word count of 8,500. Your target audience for these is kids ages 4 to 8. Each chapter in your book tells a ministory that forwards your overall plot. What is the average number of words per chapter for each.
This 90,000word guideline for how many words in a novel is just that, a guideline. As far as length, popular memoirs range quite a bit from about 60,000 words to 120,000 or more. Early readers are the earliest chapter stories that a kid can get. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. What do most writers see as a good average chapter length. It should be enough to communicate your message effectively. Each genre and subgenre has its own word count range. Im a little confused about the word count for chapter books. But remember, this is more of a guideline than a rule. Chapters for his first and bestknown novel the notebook average about 3,200 wordsthe perfect length for casual readers. Some will tell you 2,500 words is the average, while others will say that 3,000 to 5,000 word chapters are more likely to be the norm.
This is due to the audience youre reaching preferring that length. Well, youll put the book down when you get to the end of this chapter. A long block of text that is not broken up into paragraphs, with no dialogue is hard to read even if its words or less. Oct 18, 2017 the average chapter word count of these novels falls within the 2,0005,000 range. When i started writing three years ago, the mg word count i kept hearing was no more than 30,000 words.
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. While the idea of chapters in the 3,000 to 5,000word range is a good guideline when roughing out your books structure, it isnt a rule, and the story itself should be the primary deciding factor. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals. There are no hardandfast rules on how long or short a chapter needs to be. The one im targeting would be the younger audience around ages 6 to 9. On average i prefer a chapter of between and 3000 words, about 2000 the ideal but what matters more is how it is written. We are also going to look at how harry potter is comparable to other young adult novels in regards to word count. A reasonable word count for a nonfiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words. As persuasion progresses, jane austen seems to elongate hers, building them up on a crescendo. Feb 09, 2015 word counts of popular ya books as i started drafting my new wip a ya scifi thriller i began wondering what word count i should aim for.
Youll use the word count in your word document to calculate book page count. If youd like some guidelines, you can assume that the average nonfiction book is 50k words, and that they have 12 chapters, so around 4k words would be an average chapter length. Excluding endnotes and index, the book has about 200 pages of text, which means its total word count is about 74,000 words. Depending on your genre, having too many or too little can not only hurt your book sales, but also cause fewer 5star. 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. Each page contains about 34 lines, with an average word count of 11 words per line, thus 375 words per page. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or. Jun 05, 2017 childrens book manuscript chapter length consistency is what sort of keeps the engine of your pacing going. New writers tend to assume that a chapter must be a certain set length in order to maintain the average novel length of around 80,000 95,000 words, but in truth, chapters can be as long or as short as you need them to be. Most middle grade novels are between 40,000 and 69,000 words long. Once you know your word count, follow one of our two methods below to estimate your page count. This article on writers digest also suggests a length of around 100115,000, and takes a good look at desirable word count ranges for different genres.
I once entered a competition that set a maximum word limit of 80,000 for young adult novels and 100,000 for adult novels. Oct 22, 2010 early readers are the earliest chapter stories that a kid can get. Childrens book manuscript chapter length consistency is what sort of keeps the engine of your pacing going. That number actually lines up pretty well with the data we have on this, but again, that number should neither be a goal, nor a constraint. Try it on some books with chapter lengths you like, and dont be surprised if it. To find pretty much any kids ya word count, you can use the ar bookfinder.
How many words are in an average chapter in a novel. What is the average number of words per chapter for each of. Never write a chapter longer than 4,000 words bookfox. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. When you find those commercial breaks, end your chapter and start a new one. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. Chapters in books for younger readers often err on the shorter side, while fantasy. How to write early readers, easy chapter books, and.
You dont have to pick a number like 80,000 and then divide it by 30 chapters to give you 2500. Calculate book page count using the word count from your word document. Your best bet is to figure out what books yours is comparable to, then sit down and count the words on 23 typical pages. I am writing the last chapter of my childrens chapter book manuscript and am currently just shy of 23k. Apr 11, 2015 nicholas sparks word count the notebook 38,520 message in a bottle 92,760 a walk to remember 49,311 the rescue 100,916 a bend in the road 93,766. First of all, find your word count in word by opening your document and looking at the bottom left of your screen. And when im reading, i definitely notice, you know, with my editorial clients, i have manuscripts in front of me all the time. For example, atonement has a word count of 123,378 and my utility comes up with 110,765 words. Word counts of popular ya books as i started drafting my new wip a ya scifi thriller i began wondering what word count i should aim for. I just popped into my office and pulled a few books off the shelf. That number actually lines up pretty well with the data we have on this, but again, that number should neither be. The average mean word count was about 53,000 words. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages.
Compressing a very exciting scene so you can meet your chapter word count target is also not going to do you any favors. Writing chapter books a look at the numbers hannah holt. If youre writing an adult fantasy novel or an epic fantasy novel like game of thrones, your word count can skew higher at 90,000 200,000 words. Theyre very short in terms of manuscript length 1,500 words max but are broken up into either chapters or vignettes that will give the reader the feeling of reading a book with real chapters in it. Before you decide your average chapter length, its a good idea to think about the purpose behind dividing a book into chapters. Writing towards a word count might not work for everybody, but having a rough goal in mind certainly helps me when im sketching out chapters and undertaking my first draft. Oct 27, 2018 i use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. Count up the total number of words on 10 random full lines from different places and divide by 10 to get the average wordsperline count the number of lines on each page to get the linesperpage check that the book actually starts on page 1 sometimes the stuff before it starts is counted then. Aug 25, 2014 the overall average for all five books is 5145 words chapter 1. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. If youre a new author, id recommend staying on the shorter side, perhaps around the 75,000 word mark. May 12, 2012 new writers tend to assume that a chapter must be a certain set length in order to maintain the average novel length of around 80,000 95,000 words, but in truth, chapters can be as long or as short as you need them to be. The word count at big five publishers had a slightly narrower range.
Know your content, know your mainline pitch and some. Aug 05, 2019 all of these are average book word count ranges and should not be taken as the definitive word count you must reach in your book. Ideally, you want to give your reader something she knows. Sharp objects has a word count of 80,565 and my utility calculates it at 80,7. The longest average chapter lengths were lord of the rings 7,500, prince of nothing 8,700, and the beefiest chapters were found in the black company, with. If you have a 1,000word chapter, a 4,000word chapter, then a 2,000word chapter, then you need to make it clear to the reader that each has a unique value.