Word count for writing a book

So if you want to write and publish a book successfully, this is vital information to know even if. 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. Whats a normal word count for a childrens novel or collection. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. Write the argument of your book in a sentence, then stretch that out to. Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book. Word counter is an easy to use online tool for counting words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and pages in real time, along with spelling and grammar checking. For childrens fiction, the general rule is the younger the audience the shorter the. You can use the preset styles in microsoft word or modify them for a custom look.

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. Word count is a very important metric of a writing. We explain two easy methods to estimate your books page count. Search for word count totals in books word counters. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or. 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. As you can see, established authors get much more flexibility when it comes to the length of their book. In this article we will explore how to write middle grade fiction and why this childrens book format is flourishing today. I do find if someone has written a very short or overly long novel, they often dont quite have a grip on their story.

As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. Surely when writing the important thing is to get words on the page even if theyre in pink comic sans. Many, yes, but there are exceptions due to the layout and font size of a particular book. Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. Generally, there are 300 words per typed doublespaced page, using a 12 point font. The book fold layout sets you up for printing your masterpiece automatically in the correct order, ready for folding and binding. 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. Middle grade is from 20,000 55,000, depending on the subject matter and age range, and the word count of these books has been trending up in recent years. Writing too many words in your novel is just as embarrassing as not writing enough. Calculate book page count using the word count from your word document. 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. Once you know your word count, follow one of our two methods below to estimate your page count. For example, atonement has a word count of 123,378 and my utility comes up with 110,765 words.

We will learn which age groups to target, what narrative styles work best and why, and what kind of word count you need in order to craft a strong middle grade book. Whether you want to create a booklet for an event or print out an ambitious book project, consider using the prebuilt page settings for booklets that comes with word. In 2016s list, ron chernows 816page alexander hamilton managed to crack the top spot. With upper middle grade, you can aim for 40,000 55,000 words. If you dont know how to find your documents word count, this article shows you how. Wordcounter will help to make sure its word count reaches a specific requirement or stays within a certain limit. Jan 08, 2018 calculate book page count using your word count. Word and character counts will display at the top, any writing mistakes will be. Think in terms of 10thousand work increments and break each chapter into roughly equal lengths. Word count is very important to writing books for young children. This program is called book in 100 days, and before you begin writing your first page, you have to get really clear on how much youll need to write each day in order to finish your book in 100 days.

Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. 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. These include using published information about the book to determine an exact word count, estimating the number of words based on industry standards and. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. Although, youll notice with the harry potter books the length of each book increases with each release in the series. Determine your target word count for your book before you start writing. Anything over 110,000 words is considered too long for a fiction novel. 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. Sharp objects has a word count of 80,565 and my utility calculates it at 80,7.

Jun 27, 2019 put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be around 8090k. Regarding the value of adhering to standard word counts, jackie bates, a former managing editor at aa publishing, adds. While anything over 40,000 words can fall into the novel category, 50,000 is considered the minimum novel length. Once you have decided what type of book you are writing, which genre you are writing in and the approximate word count, you can then consider which of two ways you will approach your writing. May 15, 2019 are you ready to write a middle grade novel. Of course, when youre writing the first draft of your story, you want to just get your words out on paper. So i force myself to those big word counts even when i have no clue what im writing because otherwise, id probably just stare at a computer and cry. Tucker has sold over 5 million books as a 4x nyt bestselling author and is the cofounder of scribe.

Publishers are probably more open to this approach, since when you become more established, theres less risk for them with bigger books. Like everything in writing, you may write a work of genius that smashes all the rules. Pacemaker is a playful way of making peace with your writing goals. A suitable boy by vikram seth 591,554 words source atlas shrugged by ayn rand 561,996 words source war and peace by leo tolstoy 561,304 words source infinite jest by david foster wallace 543,709 words source a storm of swords by george r. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words.

Here, we are going to focus on the next three tips to help you get the book done. How to calculate your books length before writing helping. Not saying you need word counts like mine, but find your version of a high word count and see how you like a writing sprint, versus a writing walk. Using the styles function in word can help you ensure your books font and spacing is consistent. Book word count is one of the first questions to ask when youre considering writing an ebook how long should your ebook be. On average, there are about 300 words per page in a book. These are books that resemble young adult in matter and storytelling. Apr 23, 2018 few elements of the bookwriting process inspire such handwringing and teethgnashing as trying to constrain your novel within certain seemingly arbitrary bounds. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. This is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. The daily word counts of 19 famous writers word counter blog. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. Im not finished writing the story yet, but ive already come up with ideas to insure i reach my goal.

You set a word count goal, chip away at it day by day and finish ontime. It also comes with an auto save feature text is saved in the. Youll use the word count in your word document to calculate book page count. Focus on making that book the best it can be this means selfediting, writing several drafts, and employing. And remember, keeping to word counts is important, but what makes or breaks your chances with a publisher is.

Publishers know this and often wont even look at a book submission that is too long. There are a few book word count guidelines for each genre, but these arent hard. This isnt to say that long books are no longer succeeding. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. Using the styles function in word can help you ensure your book s font and spacing is consistent. Using styles also saves you time because you dont have to format the font and spacing for each part of your book. The word counts of some famous novels for comparison. Coyne uses the nanowrimo wordcount length of 50,000 words for his examples, calling 50,000 words a good foundation to build upon. But for print publishing, the physical cost of producing the book is an issue, and the market does generally know what it likes.

As a reader i love the huge word count novels steven king has written and the very short gems tom robbins has penned. When you know how long your book will be, you can set a manageable, daily goal. Once youve started writing, you need a total word count for your book. The eight harry potter books have an impressive combined word count of over 1 million words. For a partial word count, select the words you want to count. What writers fail to see is that for every successful exception to the rule e.

Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. Word also counts pages, paragraphs, lines, and characters. We have compiled a list of the daily word counts of famous authors and what they had to say about writing every day. In this article, were going to look at how many words are in the harry potter series. But while the length of a novel is to a large extent up to its writer, lengths may also vary by subgenre. At times the readers of books may be interested in discovering how many words they read. The main takeaway from this is that your word count needs to bear some resemblance to reader expectation. What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a nonfiction book. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. Im 50,000 words into my second book i wont cry and im aiming for 70,000 words. Im curious about your advice compose the novel in the standard format from the start rather than changing it later why does this matter. There are a lot of elements that go into writing a story, like fleshing out characters, piecing together the plot, and crafting the perfect ending.

This number can vary depending on if youre writing dialogue or how short each. Nov 29, 2016 this video explains how to write a book in microsoft word prior to submitting to an agent, writing coach, editor, or publishing company. Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. If you know how long the book is, you can divide it into eighths to find the perfect timing for all your major turning points. Too many words are a warning sign that the author does not know how to write for the age group and that the book has not been edited seriously enough. Word count for book series the first book in each series below was the authors first.

However, he never seemed to be in a rush to finish his books. At a writers conference i recently attended, publishing. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. You can approach your writing target in various ways to suit your style. When you need to know how many words, pages, characters, paragraphs, or lines are in a document, check the status bar. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. Therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. First of all, find your word count in word by opening your document and looking at the bottom left of your screen. Everything you need to know about novel word counts. That said, this figure differs from book to book and organization to.

This video explains how to write a book in microsoft word prior to submitting to an agent, writing coach, editor, or publishing company. Aug 15, 2019 average word count for this book genre. On the technical side of things, authors need to consider the number of words that will be in their completed manuscript. There is an important question that needs to be answered in your book proposal in the manuscript status section. However, the drop in the overall average length of bestsellers over the last 7 years points to a marked. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. Shorter novels such as fahrenheit 451, the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, the great gatsby, and slaughterhousefive are between 4050,000 words. If yours is too short, restructure it and add more tightly written stuff. So if youre writing a series, start small, then increase the word count with each release. We are also going to look at how harry potter is comparable to other young adult novels in regards to word count. But the word count of a chapter matters if you want your story to flow right.

Besides, this tool also includes many other features like readability, keyword density. Books in this genre are also often gag gifts or are meant to be facetious. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals. Think carefully before you declare a word count in your. Word counts the number of words in a document while you type. When writing a longer book that is aimed at 12yearolds and could maybe be considered tween, using the term upper middle grade is advisable. There are several methods for determining the word count of a given book.

If youre working on a novellength book, aim for 50,000 words at the very least but its better to aim for 90,000. Build your book format a paperback manuscript word for. Nonfiction books tend to be shorter, around 45,000 words on average, and novels ten to be longer, around 80,000 words on average. There is a sweet spot when it comes to word count, and its based on a books genre and target audience. You can use word to count how many words you have written in a document. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading. This information is important whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction. How to write a middle grade novel childrens book editor. The daily word counts of 39 famous authors writers write. For example, if an author has to write a minimum or maximum amount of words for an article, essay, report, story, book, paper, you name it. If you are starting your manuscript follow these formatting. Never pad your manuscript just to meet a wordcount guideline. If youve ever read a joke book or a book revolving around a humorous endeavor of some sort, it falls under this book category.