Its up to you within reason before you decide your average chapter length, its a good idea to think about the purpose behind dividing a book into chapters. The series has 147 unique povs and 1,379 total povs, including the prequel, new spring. I find it alarming, honestly, that the stats seem to be so low. Ive got 50k words word processor word count and im on my fifteenth chapter with six. This is a 100% safe range for literary, mainstream, womens, romance, mystery, suspense, thriller and horror. In some cases, these books will have no words at all, such as for the very small child who likes to feel the fluffy cotton tail. This averages to about 22 to 23 chapters per novel, with the average chapter length around 4,280 words. Armed with these word counts, i now have a range of lengths that have been proven popular. 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 use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. The title with the shortest chapters, on average, was whirlwind in the thorn tree, averaging just 2,900 words each. Can be publisher specific, ranging from 3,000 to absolute max 5,000.
Anything in this word count wont scare off any agent anywhere. It is feasible to count the number of words in a published chapter. Calculate book page count using the word count from your word document. T he indie author chris fox coined the term potato chip chapters for easilydigestible book chapters of a certain size. For writing i would conclude, that some readers like my mother use chapters to plan the time for reading. The hunger games has 27 untitled chapters, and about 3700 words per chapter. Crossroads of twilight had an average viewpoint length that was six times greater than that of a memory of light. To find pretty much any kids ya word count, you can use the ar bookfinder. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. Try it on some books with chapter lengths you like, and dont be surprised if it. A recommended wordcount might be 15002000 words but, more. Discover what size your book should be and if thats comparable to the standard book sizes in publishing.
Search for word count totals in books word counters. So as youre writing a book, a common question if often asked. The average across a sample of 50 books in august 2015 showed 172 words per kindle edition normalized page. With that in mind, ive tried to put together the definitive post on word count for fiction novels, young adult, middle grade, childrens books and even memoir. Therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a nonfiction book. Would you consider a post on memoir guidelines, since memoir falls somewhere between fiction and nonfiction in many ways. What is the average number of words you would generally put in a chapter.
For my travel memoir, should i query when i have a proposal and several sample chapters, like nonfiction, or wait until the manuscript is complete, like fiction. The chapter by chapter breakdown sections lists the povs in order by. There are plenty of books that purposefully play with the word counts of their chapters. We recommend memoirs be between 45,000 to 80,000 words in order to maintain intrigue and reduce intimidation. Chapters in books for younger readers often err on the shorter side, while fantasy. The first book in each series below was the authors first. On average, when writing a memoir should not exceed 90,000 words and that is a stretch when it comes to memoir word count. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. How to write and publish early readers and chapter books. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. Analyzing chapter lengths in fantasy fiction creativity. I use a book mark to remember where i was, but stop reading also in the middle of a chapter. Some 6090k ya books get classified as hilo, but i dont think they were specifically written for the category.
In this article, were going to look at how many words are in the harry potter series. Before diving into the specifics of genrebased word counts, lets look at the broader picture of average book length. If you want to make it comfortable for them, count the length of a chapter in novels you like. Now this doesnt mean there arent any guidelines in place. Most publishers like to see chapters that are in the 2,000 to 3,000word range. Chapters for his first and bestknown novel the notebook average about 3,200 wordsthe perfect length for casual readers. Or do you just not care about how many words are in a chapter and just go with it like r. Its also worth noting that the average word count figure can vary by genre. 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. You wont get exact, but youre wondering whether 35k is reasonable, so you dont need exact. 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.
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. Many sites say the same thing and it makes me wonder a bit if im writing my own novel wrong. 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. Also, make sure your chapters are under 3,000 words. As with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. The wheel of time main series consists of fourteen books and a prequel. Though the average word count of a chapter is around 2,000 5,000 words, it all depends on your story. The eight harry potter books have an impressive combined word count of over 1 million words. How to write early readers, easy chapter books, and. Remember that a light novel is under 20,000 words but more than 15,000 words, so if ever wanting to publish it, be sure to convince the publisher that this is not a kids book. We are also going to look at how harry potter is comparable to other young adult novels in regards to word count.
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. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. How many words are in an average chapter in a novel. If im writing a novel, this gives me 40 chapters and 70,000 words when im done. The average chapter length in my book is roughly nine pages. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. My question is about novel structure and word counts. Eye of the world was one of the more normally distributed book in terms of chapter wordcount.
The best thing that you can do is look over comparable books and try to judge word count by their size, average wordspage, and illustration content. Fyi, my book is a ya historical based in 1099 rome. Their agents send stories to an average of 59 editors at a time. As a nonfiction writer myself, i know this is tough. So itll be off on occasion, but it should get you relatively close for the average book. Each page contains about 34 lines, with an average word count of 11 words per line, thus 375 words per page. I am writing the last chapter of my childrens chapter book manuscript and am currently just shy of 23k. Or to put it another way every chapter needs a three line plot. This means your memoir will average between 150 and 265 pages. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. Information on writing and publishing in the early reader and chapter book market. From a conference, paula sadler had given out a handout that said the word count could be between 5,000 to,000 words. To give you a general idea of the average chapter length, the range is usually between 3,000 to 5,000 words.
Never write a chapter longer than 4,000 words bookfox. But remember, this is more of a guideline than a rule. Many, yes, but there are exceptions due to the layout and font size of a particular book. 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. As you can see, established authors get much more flexibility when it comes to the length of their book.
Most middle grade novels are between 40,000 and 69,000 words long. We explain two easy methods to estimate your books page count. A statistical analysis of robert jordans the wheel of time. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. The books are written from different points of view povs. Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. Writing chapter books a look at the numbers hannah holt. James patterson word count popular novel word count. Childrens book manuscript chapter length consistency is what sort of keeps the engine of your pacing going. Do you have a set number that it must have or a max.
The word count at big five publishers had a slightly narrower range. 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. On average i prefer a chapter of between and 3000 words, about 2000 the ideal but what matters more is how it is written. But again as a surprise to me, dune was a close second, averaging just 3,800 words per chapter. I believe the word count has increased as she wrote more books. Each book section below details the breakdown of these points of view as a word count and as a percentage. On a scale of one bad to ten excellent, chapter books rate their agents overall as an 8. But the word count of a chapter matters if you want your story to flow right. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. Why chapter length matters more than you think medium. 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.
Since 2011, the average length of a bestseller has dropped steadily from year to year. Between 80,000 and 89,999 words is a good range you should be aiming for. If this thread still going can someone tell me how many words is reasonable for a chapter im writing my first fantasy novel and worried if i have too short or to long of a chapter right now my first chapter word count is at 1,436 and in counting. It should be enough to communicate your message effectively. Excluding endnotes and index, the book has about 200 pages of text, which means its total word count is about 74,000 words. A statistical analysis of robert jordans the wheel of. The word count to aim for with this type of book is usually between 500 and 600 words. I counted the number of words on page 7 of night whispers, then multiplied by the number of pages, then rounded, and so theres aout 4 words per book. I definitely notice when a chapter is a lot shorter or a lot longer than sort of what has been established.
For example, atonement has a word count of 123,378 and my utility comes up with 110,765 words. And make sure you view a sample chapter to find out what your content will look like. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. Click librarian or teacher and then search for books like yours click on the.
Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. Im a little confused about the word count for chapter books. Think youre writing your first novel, and you know you must shoot for around 80 to 95 thousand words. 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. A reasonable word count for a nonfiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words. 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. When i started writing three years ago, the mg word count i kept hearing was no more than 30,000 words. 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. And when im reading, i definitely notice, you know, with my editorial clients, i have manuscripts in front of me all the time. Writing middle grade a look at the numbers hannah holt.
427 39 34 1430 852 687 286 555 1 129 1271 1568 129 1330 1649 1272 1263 1273 912 1685 1590 230 147 545 92 595 1342 1431 1211 1126 510 1135