Average number of pages in a fiction book

Typical novels are about 260 pages, 65,000 words, and 18 chapters, about 14 pages a chapter. Each page should contain 250 words double spaced, font size 12, courier new or arial, 1 inc. This article how to write a bestselling business book has a good, concise, logical answer on the ideal length today for a business book less than 100 pages. A single novel can be longer, but once the length is above 110,000. Ideally, you want to give your reader something she knows.

Add screenshots or other graphics and youve got a nicesized ebook. Today, however, while the physical size of a book may still matter in a bookstore, ebooks have no dimensions. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. The length can vary greatly between genres, though. I am formatting a very long book using the legend template. But for suspense novels youll be going up into 50s and even to 90 chapters with only 34 pages a chapter. When talking about the page layout for a picture book story, there are two options. With longer books, you can get a rough count by adding up the number of words on an average page and multiplying by the total number of pages. Less than 100 pages and it becomes difficult for a printer to print the title of the book on the spine.

That question just arrived in my email, and its a good one. As with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. For more information on plot points, take a look at my book plot perfect. This book has 144 pages, so it contains about 28,800 words. Just remember, with so much diversity in nonfiction, you have even less of. In this article im going to attempt to answer that question. Jan 08, 2018 wondering how many word pages equal a book page. They can vary in length between just a couple of pages and 50 or 60. As soon as you get serious about selfpublishing a book, you are confronted with the choice of what size your book ought to be.

How much does the average author earn publishing their book. Though the average word count of a chapter is around 2,000 5,000 words, it all depends on your story. It may be cheaper to print a 224page book instead of a 216page book. I thought the average for a midsized novel would be around 100200 pages. Of course, a printed book probably needs to be at least 100125 pages in length. But the gold standard for picture books is 32 pages. Nonfiction books tend to be shorter, around 45,000 words on average, and novels ten to be longer, around 80,000 words on average. The average picture book is 32 pages long, but the front matter title page, page, etc. Be aware that the word average means that for every book that sells 15,000, there is one that sells 5,000. That means your manuscript must be at least 3540,000 words long. Basic book designnumber of pages wikibooks, open books for. May 14, 2018 literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words.

They want to find the average number of pages of a library book. Sep 06, 2011 in contrast to traditionally published books where the number of book pages is usually high, in the ebook world,ebooks can be anywhere from 10 pages to 250 pages or more. Write out your basic storyline in major plot points only. Calculate the number of pages using your current word count and the appropriate formula below, calculate the number of pages you can expect in your finished book. Some novels contain 50 or more and some extremely rarely contain none.

How to use our book page count calculator select your word print size select the book genre enter your books word count press calculate number of pages just 4 easy steps and youre done. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. It would be unreasonable to calculate the number of pages in every book to find the average. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. If you get a deal with a small press especially one where. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or. This type of book should not go more than 200 pages, so 40,000 words is probably your max. A word count guide for 18 book genres, including fiction.

It was really interesting to read your publisher tips as well and the expectations of the authorities. This reduction will be very small, like maybe 12 lines less per page, and 510 pages less for the book. If the content is stepbystep and high quality, 15 pages is enough for a 99 cent kindle book or a freebie used for lead generation. However, many authors, frustrated with the low price of ebooks, have taken to writing ebooks that are between 40,000 and 50,000. What is the average number of pages in a book of fiction. Estimate your page count book designer linda parke. It makes quite a difference whether you want to publish a childrens picture book, a 50recipe smoothie book, a science fiction novel or a technical encyclopedia. Nga, kai, and jason volunteer in the school library. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. About 200 to 400 pages is where most novels fall, but they can be shorter or longer to tell a decently complicated tale.

However, it will be on the short side, as the average length of a novel hovers. The figure was found through looking at a number of books text stats, until brave new worlds 64,531 word count landed in the exact center of all books50% of books have fewer words and 50% of books have more words. My thoughts on this are not very popular, but i believe the answer is what my advanced writing teacher told me about paper length and i think that extends to books and novels as well. The graph shows the average length of the top 100 bestsellers in each of the 30 main amazon kindle categories, measured in terms of the number of pages. Once you have a vision for your book small, standard, or wide formatyou can move on to the second step in deciding how many words you should write. Just remember, with so much diversity in non fiction, you have even less of a reason to get hung up on length. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about 246 to 307 ebook pages. I know of an author with a very large publisher whose novel has sold only 1,087 copies in its lifetime. And for every book that sells 20,000, there is one that is a disaster. Oct 10, 2016 most of the data ill be using throughout this article was sourced from writers digest and the manuscript appraisal agency, with any differences split to find the average.

That decisionto design the book for an economical printing modelwas genius and partly responsible for its huge popularity. Aug 14, 20 i am formatting a very long book using the legend template. It contains 38 lines per page, with an average of 12 words per line, thus 456 words per book page. 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. The total page count excluding appendices and index is 204 pages, thus about 93,000 words. Calculate book page count using the word count from your word document. If im writing a novel, this gives me 40 chapters and 70,000 words when im done. Jun 24, 2019 be aware that the word average means that for every book that sells 15,000, there is one that sells 5,000. It only takes a quick scan of a handful of ebooks, say in the kindle store, to notice that the number of pages that constitutes an ebook is almost as wide as the pacific. Sep 20, 2019 average book length for fantasy novels. A story that is over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel. Sep 11, 2010 i was looking online and most of the sources i found said the average number of words per novel page is 250, and the average words per book were 60,000120,000.

One of the questions that new writers always ask is how long should my nonfiction book be. It should me no shorter or longer than it has to be. I use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. Do this for several books in your niche to get a targeted range. 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. This is a fairly short book, but it packs a spiritual punchand the 5 x 8 trim size is perfect to read this book sitting on the beach or on park bench.

Book page count calculator how many pages is my novel. The ebook market is more forgiving in that customers will buy your books as long as it has value. Aug 02, 2008 so, you may see board books at 16 or 24 pages, and picture books at 32, 40 or 48 pages. But, keep in mind, indie authors are earning 70% of the profit, while traditionally published authors are making more like 10%. I remember reading some westerns in high school and, if i. We explain two easy methods to estimate your books page count.

Science fiction books typically have between 50,000 and 150,000 words, like fantasy novels. Page number is a terrible way to estimate word count as it depends on the size of the pages, the font size, the font used spacing, leading etc. When it gets closer to 1,000, editors and agents may shy away. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. Pages by paperback uses an industry standard formula for english language publishing of taking the average number of words per page and multiplying it by the average number of characters per word five including a space, for six total, the product of which is then used to divide against the total character count of the project.

All book publishers and book designers have a standard they go by to estimate page length. The graph shows the average length of the top 100 bestsellers in each of the 30 main amazon kindle categories, measured in terms of the number of pages for a book in the respective. But i also know of others who have sold over 500,000 copies. In contrast to traditionally published books where the number of book pages is usually high, in the ebook world,ebooks can be anywhere from 10 pages to 250 pages or more. Trim sizes in this post were updated on january 30, 2015. There are plenty of books that purposefully play with the word counts of their chapters. I was scared that agents would reject my book simply because i had got the length wrong. Inciting incident, plot point 1, midpoint, plot point 2, denouement. Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words. One rule of thumb is you can get 60 percent of a manuscript page into one typeset page said manuscript being in 12point type, doublespaced, preferably times new roman, with oneinch margins on an 8.

I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading. It only takes a quick scan of a handful of ebooks, say in the kindle store, to notice that the number of pages that constitutes an. 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. Learn how to estimate your page count and how long your book should be. Most adult books are about 90,000 words, and no longer than 100,000 words unless. We want to give authors an easy way to show how long their book or novel is. 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. According to author earnings, less than 45% of those authorearnings are going to traditionally published authors the rest go to indie and small presses. So, you may see board books at 16 or 24 pages, and picture books at 32, 40 or 48 pages. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. Deconstructing five spooky picture books with spoilers and word counts.

In nanowrimo they recommend 180 pgs since that counts as a novel but there are novels shorter than that out there including the time machine by h. Books can be as short as 25,000 words, around 100 pages, or as long as 3 million words, or about 1,000 pages. We explain two easy methods to estimate your book s page count. Oct 18, 2017 as with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. Estimate a small reduction for the linesperpage and the numberofpages values. By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages. Of course, rules are made to be broken, especially in literature. Jul 24, 2006 20 years ago, the maxium number was 200 pages. Somewhere around the 20 page mark is about the average. I have just completed the last pages and i need to change the margins and perhaps the font, font size and spacing to get it down to 800 pages or less. An average fiction book novel has 50k to 80k words. As soon as you get serious about selfpublishing a book, you are confronted with the. I was looking online and most of the sources i found said the average number of words per novel page is 250, and the average words per book were 60,000120,000.

Estimate a small reduction for the linesperpage and the number of pages values. Well, calculating it out, that would mean the average book was 240480 pages. Jan 07, 2015 that decisionto design the book for an economical printing modelwas genius and partly responsible for its huge popularity. But over the last 5 years, the number of pages has regressed to the point where only 200400 pages is now considered the upper limit of the book publishing spectrum. The science fiction and fantasy writers of america offers a less. This is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. But over the last 5 years, the number of pages has regressed to the point where only 200400 pages is now considered the upper limit of the bookpublishing spectrum. Mark up your manuscript where you think the page breaks might go, or place the text on 28 separate pages, staple them together like a book, and read the story as you turn the pages. That model is so popular that today, childrens picture books that are offset printed are still designed for printing the whole book on one sheet of paper.