Word count for a nonfiction book

My word count for a memoir and prescriptive nonfiction manuscript comes in at 39,000 i truly do not feel my story should be longer because. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. The standard picture book fits neatly into 32 pages. Given a standard font size of 11 and an average word count per page of 475 for a 6. If youre working on a novellength book, aim for 50,000 words at the very least but its better to aim for 90,000. A guide to writing that worksfor fiction and nonfiction provost, gary on. Word count matters more than it should in my opinion. With digital as well as print books available, the length of books varies. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. In 2011, the average length of a bestselling nonfiction book was 467 pages, but that dropped to 273 pages in 2017.

How many words in a novel and word counts for other types. May 07, 2020 in fact, word counts for these books run between 40,000 to 50,000 words. Butindie authors are not bound by these rules even when they create print books and they are especially not restricted by word count when it comes to ebooks, where cost is not a limiting factor, and shelf space is irrelevant. If yes, then most publishers still work on specific word count lengths for books so youll probably be aiming for around 60,00080,000 words for nonfiction. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. Books in this genre are also often gag gifts or are meant to be facetious. You would be wise to come close to these suggested. Aug 15, 2019 average word count for this book genre. When i started writing three years ago, the mg word count i kept hearing was no more than 30,000 words. Picture book writers understand the logic behind such advice. First of all, find your word count in word by opening your document and looking at the bottom left of your screen.

How to format a nonfiction manuscript book editing services. Check that the book actually starts on page 1 sometimes the stuff before it starts is counted. A study done last spring showed that the average length of a nonfiction bestseller has dropped 42% in the last seven years. At a writers conference i recently attended, publishing veteran jane friedman said 80,000 words is good for most fiction, below 60,000 isnt novel length territory, and above 120,000 is likely too much.

Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing stack. The hunger games has a word count of 99,750 and my utility calculates it at 98,916. Microfiction and flash fiction are the tweets of the fiction world. How long should my book be word count goals and average book lengths duration.

Build your book format a paperback manuscript word for. Average nonfiction word counts biographies and memoirs. My wife just picked up that gift book called grandmas dead. Why word count matters when you submit your book the. How many words in a novel and word counts for other types of. Walewski the back cover of your book is prime real estate for promoting your book. There are a few book word count guidelines for each genre, but these arent hard and fast rules.

As a reader i love the huge word count novels steven king has written and the very short gems tom robbins has penned. Oct 18, 2017 therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. Therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. Its easy to extrapolate from this what your total expected editing cost could be.

Of course, rules are made to be broken, especially in literature. And remember, keeping to word counts is important, but what makes or breaks your chances with a publisher is the quality of your manuscript. Jun 07, 2017 when talking about book length, its common to talk about word count rather than page count. The importance of word count has been beaten into me by conference speakers, submission guidelines, critiques, and myriad books on craft. Coyne uses the nanowrimo wordcount length of 50,000 words for his examples, calling 50,000 words a good foundation to build upon. Word counts for chapter books and middle grade can range from 1,50030,000 or more.

Oct 17, 2018 meanwhile, a longer word count may be needed to accommodate the worldbuilding or layered details found in many scifi, fantasy, thriller, and historical fiction novels. Average fiction word counts flash fiction word count. The only reason to adhere to a certain word count for your book is your assessment of reader expectations. Once you know your word count, follow one of our two methods below to estimate your page count. I advise authors to ignore word counts when writing. If yours is too short, restructure it and add more tightly written stuff. Centre the chapter title, even if its only chapter one or chapter 1, about onethird of the way down the page. Yes, having a book that is overly short or overly long for its genre will incrementally decrease your odds of finding traditional publication. For a 120,000word book, your editing costs could be.

The word count range for each genre can vary quite siginificantly. Some markets dont recognize the novelette as a separate. For childrens fiction, the general rule is the younger the audience the shorter the book, and for ya novels the average is 50,00070,000 words. Generally speaking, traditional publishers expect completed nonfiction book manuscripts to be between 50,000 to 75,000 words. Count up the total number of words on 10 random full lines from different.

Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. There are a lot of agents that will reject on atypical word count alone. However, many self published authors treat it like the hellstrip in front of their house between the sidewalk and a busy street. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. According to chuck sambuchino see below for word count. This isnt to say that long books are no longer succeeding. Most traditional publishers will place restrictions on an author and require that the manuscript not exceed a specified word count, unless special concessions are made. The number of characters, the number of subplots, the pacing are all affected by word count. To emphasize this, look at how many words are in the bible how many words are in the bible.

How to write a nonfiction book that doesnt suck 3 keys to writing a non fiction book duration. Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. The di vinci code 2003 by dan brown is 8,380 words christian book word count. May 14, 2018 literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. If youve ever read a joke book or a book revolving around a humorous endeavor of some sort, it falls under this book category. Why word count matters when you submit your book the artful. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. The actual word count for harry potter and the sorcerers stone is 78,792 and my utility calculates 77,876. Skip a couple of lines before beginning the text of the chapter. In my opinion, if your nonfiction book is fewer than about 30,000 words 120 pages, it does not feel substantial enough to be real book. Search for word count totals in books word counters. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words.

Count the number of lines on each page to get the linesperpage. The word count for your book in microsoft word will be located in the bottom left corner next to the page number. In fact, word counts for these books run between 40,000 to 50,000 words. I recommend staying within or close to the recommended word count for your age categorygenre unless youve received a lot of feedback verifying it needs every word or doesnt need more if youre low. Youll use the word count in your word document to calculate book page count. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 words. Generally speaking, traditional publishers expect completed nonfiction book manuscripts to be between. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. 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. A non fiction book attractive to publishers of bestsellers starts at around 75,000 words. While average word length is 50,000 to 80,000 words, this genre has so much variety that word count depends on the book and its intended audience. A word count that is much higher than the average range tells the agent or editor your work probably needs to be tightened.

May 07, 2018 your book may be complete and you are just telling the agent or editor its length. Your book may be complete and you are just telling the agent or editor its length. Of course, when youre writing the first draft of your story, you want to just get your words out on paper. Word count guidelines for nonfiction nonfiction books have shrunk drastically in the last decade. Rather than sticking too rigidly to word count, its best to strive for a manuscript in which the function and the format work together. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. A 95,000 word bookeven by page countis a different story than a 70,000 word book. Feb 09, 2015 how long should my book be word count goals and average book lengths duration. And man, people love to point out exceptionsand they always will. Whilst boundaries are practically nonexistent in the world of fiction, nonfiction writers are required to back up their statements with proof such as references. Apr 08, 2019 when it comes to word counts and target ages for picture books especially nonfiction, i caution writers not to subscribe to hard and fast limitations. The answer will be the approximate page count of a printed book. This is due in large part to the variety of subgenres within it and the trend for a book series with an ever greater word count.

Fantasy, scifi, and epic novel writers should be forewarned. On the layout tab, in the page setup group, click size, and then select more paper sizes. Meanwhile, a longer word count may be needed to accommodate the worldbuilding or layered details found in many scifi, fantasy, thriller, and historical fiction novels. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for non fiction books. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan. Apr 23, 2018 standard word count ranges for various genres. As a nonfiction writer myself, i know this is tough. In 2017, the downward trend has continued, with an average book length of 273 pages. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to be. But the word count of a chapter matters if you want your story to flow right. Nonfiction narrates events that are actually true either they happened in real life, or are based on scientific research etc. For the book hatchet, the actual word count is 41,672.

Know your content, know your mainline pitch and some. When talking about book length, its common to talk about word count. The popular book the noticer 2009 by andy andrews barely breaks the novel barrier at 40,454 words without the readers guide that was added to pad the book. The actual word count for the hunger games is 99,750 and my utility calculates 94,743 words. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to.

We all know there are exceptions, but i wouldnt count on being one. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. 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. I do not think my target audience will want to read much more. The most important thing here is to realize that there are always exceptions to these rules. But chapter word count is something that you want to keep in. A word count that is much lower than the acceptable range alerts the agent or editor that your novel or nonfiction book probably hasnt been adequately developed. I just popped into my office and pulled a few books off the shelf. Sharp objects has a word count of 80,565 and my utility. A recommended wordcount might be 15002000 words but, more.

Mar 17, 2010 over time, the word count diminished and volume 8 the mark contained only 85,341 words, and the last volume, number 16 kingdom come, dwindled to 77,776 words. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. I asked agents elizabeth pomada and michael larsen of larsen pomada literary agency to add their thoughts to the subject. Picture books should never exceed words, they all agree. Your approximate word count, the estimated completion date, and the number of chapters usually 9 to 15if you have fewer than 9 chapters, make sure you have enough material to be submitting a finished product. But your word count might be a reason it is being rejected. As for non fiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. Can be publisher specific, ranging from 3,000 to absolute max 5,000. Therefore, a 280,000 word manuscript becomes a 900 page doorstop. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. But, most non fiction publishers want to be sold the concept, and therefore be able to discuss the direction of the project, before you write the book. The grandfather of modern christian fiction, in his steps by charles m. Breaking bad news with baby animals, which is filled with pictures of cute animals and only one line of terrible news every two pages. Even with the wiggle room allowed by ebooks, authors follow commonlyaccepted book word count norms.

If you stick to these when youre writing your nonfiction book, youll be fine. A good way to gauge appropriate length is to check out similar books for comparison. In 2016s list, ron chernows 816page alexander hamilton managed to crack the top spot. Enter width and height fields for your trim size with bleed added. What is the ideal word count for a nonfiction book in the.

But for mainstream ya it is always best to stick to under 80k. For nonfiction books, word count guidelines are more flexible, sometimes even double the word counts listed here. Never pad your manuscript just to meet a word count guideline. Never pad your manuscript just to meet a wordcount guideline. How many words should be in an adult nonfiction book.

The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. The word counts of some famous novels for comparison. Also note here if your book is going to have any illustrations, charts, or graphs, and give an idea of the general format. Jul 24, 2009 a 95,000 word book even by page count is a different story than a 70,000 word book.

At the other end of the spectrum a book of 80,000 to 100,000 words has significant heft, 320400 pages. A guide to writing that works for fiction and nonfiction provost, gary on. Aug 05, 2019 for most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. That means your manuscript must be at least 3540,000 words long. Unfortunately, they dont offer word count so ive created an algorithm based on the number of pages, genre, and the dimensions of the book. Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words. Short stories are often defined as any story under 7,500 words.

Apr 07, 2014 generally speaking, traditional publishers expect completed nonfiction book manuscripts to be between 50,000 to 75,000 words. A guide to writing that works for fiction and nonfiction. The left behind series original books, not including the prequel, 19952007 by tim lahaye and jerry b. A guide to writing that worksfor fiction and nonfiction. Jul 23, 2012 my word count for a memoir and prescriptive nonfiction manuscript comes in at 39,000 i truly do not feel my story should be longer because. However, the drop in the overall average length of bestsellers over the last 7 years points to a marked. If your picture book is stemsteamrelated if youre working on a nonfiction picture book or an informational or educational picture book that deals with science, technology. There are numerous genres of nonfiction, including biographies, folklore, creative nonfiction, journals, history, essays, and religious text. I use amazons data feeds to come up with the calculation.