+1 302-298-0035
Depending on the genre, readers have different expectations about how long a book should be. Creating a book that deviates from genre criteria reduces your chances of reaching your target audience. Publishing house editors are aware of the book-length criteria and will reject your book outright if it does not meet them.
Knowing the average length for your genre might help you arrange your book’s sequence and plot arc. But how can you figure out about average book word count? And how do you figure out how much book word count should be? The length of genre books is regulated by the publishing business. We’ll go over each one in-depth.
Because books come in all sizes are they are printed with a variety of typefaces and leading, the average number of pages does not provide a clear sign of length. The number of words is the most accurate approach to determine the length.
The tool of word count is available in most writing software like MS Word, Google Docs, Grammarly, Scrivener, Ulysses, etc. You can choose a target word count, and the software will be tracking your progress and tell you when you’ve achieved it.
Since every book has a basic contract with the reader, word count is important. The genre dictates a word count for your book.
Being a writer, I realized the importance of the word count of a book. Each genre demands different word counts. Further, I am going to tell you about How many words per page in a book are suitable. Keep reading this blog to find out!
Page Contents
How many words per page in a book is suitable?
Another common question, and for most writers, the answer should be as simple as using the word count tool.
If you’re using Microsoft Word, you can use the “word count” option under “Tools.” Do you want to try something new? In Google Docs, here’s the way to discover the word count. In Scrivener, you can also keep track of how many words you’ve written.
The average single-spaced manuscript typed in the 12-point font has roughly 500 words per page, however, this varies a lot depending on how you arrange it.
Thus, in the event that you simply have an hour to compose and need to get 300 words down, you may be thinking about the number of pages 300 words rises to – the appropriate response is fewer than one! Isn’t it possible?
If you’re looking for an answer to a question like how many pages are in 50,000 words, simply divide your goal word count (50,000) by 500 (the average number of words per page). Your response is 100 pages long.
Don’t let the commas scare you. A year’s worth of fifty thousand words isn’t that much when divided into five days a week. That works out to only 193 words per day of writing!
With these word count calculators, you can easily track how much you’ve got covered.
I hope now you understand the importance of an average number of words per page and can write according to that so that your readers may want to stick to your book.
Top 3 Reasons Why Word Count Is Important In Writing a Book in 2023
While there are no hard and fast laws on how many words a book should have, there are some criteria that are highly recommended in the traditional publishing industry, particularly for first-time authors. Let’s be honest: we can’t be professional famous writers like Nicholas Sparks and J.K. Rowling and write a bestseller as our first book.
You’ll need to keep track of how many words you utilize in your first draught unless you’re self-publishing. There are three reasons why word count is important.
- Shorter Books are more marketable.
When it comes to large books/novels, a literary agency and a traditional publisher are less likely to take a chance on a new writer. The ideal word count for an adult fiction book is the most marketable.
- The cost of printing longer novels is higher.
Longer books necessitate a greater number of pages to be printed and the book size is increased too. Subsequently, they are costlier to print and address bigger speculation.
- Audiences anticipate a certain number of words.
Audiences have come to expect a specific story length and page count, so an unknown author can draw in more readers by sticking inside that range.
How Long Should a Book Be in 2023?
If you’re writing your first book, the conventional rule of thumb is to keep it between 80,000 and 100,000 words. While an average words limit of 40,000 can be deemed as a book, 50,000 words are considered the minimum length. For a fiction novel, anything over 110,000 words is considered excessively long.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien has a massive word count, with the longest clocking in at almost 175,000 words. Those epic sagas are the uncommon exception to typical word count constraints, notwithstanding their continued success. In most cases, you’ll want to keep your book as brief as possible.
Inside the universe of scholarly fiction, various kinds have diverse word counts:
Thriller Book
To keep the reader involved, a good suspense thriller must keep the storyline moving. A mystery novel book structure consists of 70,000 to 90,000 words long.
Science fiction and fantasy Book
World-building is an art form in science fiction and fantasy books. This genre takes longer than others due to the requirement to create a whole new environment. The average length of a fantasy book is 90,000 to 120,000 words.
Romance Book
Not every love tale is as epic as Wuthering Heights in romance novels. Romantic stories are now more often than not entertaining and quick reads. Some are as short as 50,000 words, making them ideal beach reads. The word count for a high-end romantic novel is 100,000.
Historical fiction Book
Because fleshing out an imagined historical environment necessitates a higher word count; historical fiction is usually around 100,000 words.
Non-fiction Book
Due to the numerous subgenres, there is no fixed word count guide for nonfiction books. If you’re producing a nonfiction book, search up that genre to see how long other books in that genre are. Memoirs, for example, are commonly between 80,000 and 90,00 words long.
All of these are typical book word count ranges and should not be used to determine the exact number of words you must include in your book. We’ve all heard about outliers in each genre who were published far below or far over these word counts.
Use these figures as a starting point for your writing objectives.
Know what readers expect as far as word includes in your classification regardless of whether the reader isn’t aware of their assumptions for how long a book ought to be.
I hope now you understand what’s the ideal book size of different niches and how many words is the average book?
It’s fine whether your book is currently too long or too short.
That is the purpose of revision. Some writers including me write quickly and then have to go back and fill in the blanks. Some folks who make me jealous compose long pieces that must be edited and tightened. This is quite natural. On a first draught, very few people get it properly. What’s more, guess what? You still managed to finish a draught! OMG – rejoice, regardless of your word count!
Then, at that point, will chip away at improving it.
I’m sure you’re still trying to persuade yourself that your work can be published as is, and you’re coming up with excuses. There are always exceptions to the rule. My book club recently finished reading The Nightingale, a 167,000-word novel. Although I did not find this to be excessively long, Kristin Hannah is a bestselling author.
Before The Nightingale, she had been publishing for more than 20 years, and the rest of her books are much shorter, closer to 100,000-120,000 words, which is well within historical fiction’s range.
Novellas are also available for purchase. I recently finished rereading Susan Minot’s Rapture, which is roughly 35,000 words long and fantastic. However, a publisher would be crazy to take on a novella by a rookie author who hadn’t already been writing for publications like The New Yorker.
Yes, now and again, a book by a debut author is produced that is abnormally long or short. However, think about what happens much more oftentimes? The Powerball is won by someone. If you think you’re the happy exception and have the Midas Touch, get over to the convenience store as soon as possible, my buddy. You’ll save a ton of time thusly.
When should you be concerned with word count?
Don’t think about it all when you’re writing. Simply put, write. As I previously stated, the majority of first draughts will be either too long or too short (not to mention too boring or confusing or predictable, with plot holes and caricatures and flat dialogue to boot). For the love of God, they’re draughts! On revision, whether you’re working alone or using professional writing services, we clean them up.
Give word count a good hard look when you’re ready to pitch agents, small publishers, or self-publish.
Again, why raise the issue of word count if it is a red flag for agents and editors? You want to do everything you can to improve your chances because the competition is so stiff.
It may not seem fair that someone would criticize your book before reading it in its entirety, but you would do the same. Would you give a sledgehammer to the person who quotes you $999 or the one who asks for $20,000 if you were in the market for a kitchen makeover (roughly the same degree of stress and commitment as an agency taking on an author) and the market rate is $10,000?
Remember that this person is completely new to the position and has no previous experience. No way, no how. You’ll take their business card, close the door as quickly as possible, and examine the contractors who appear to know what they’re doing more closely.
When it comes to self-publishing, does the word count matter?
Both yes and no. When you self-publish, you are the boss, copyrighter and your book may be as long as you want it to be. You can call that 12,000-word piece a book, however, will pursuers feel like they got what they anticipated? Similarly, if you don’t mind paying for printing, you may self-publish a 400,000-word tome. Should you, however, do so?
Let’s think about movies for a moment because they’re a little easier to mass-produce and you’re more likely to have seen the same ones.
There are several fantastic three-hour films available. Almost none of them were written, produced, or acted in by new people. No one wants to take a chance on an unknown team’s extra-long narrative. Even when you consider most three-hour films with well-known directors and performers, many of them might have been cut in half. Did Titanic need every single scenario in which they became submerged again?
If you want to ensure that your book or ghost book writing provides the finest possible reading experience, you should edit it so that it is completely fleshed out while still being a finely written page-turner.
Fixing an excessively long book
This is the point at which authors groan and say, “OK, I’ll split it into multiple books.” This sounds like an easy way out, like padding a too-short book, but it’s not the solution.
If we’re talking about a novel or memoir, you’ll need a detailed, fulfilling story arc in which the protagonist urgently wants something, faces challenges in obtaining it, and emerges a transformed person at the conclusion.
Each following book would have to be able to stand alone and take the reader on a complete journey. You can’t just publish a chapter of a book and expect people to wait for the whole of the novel to be published later. Books can certainly be part of a series as kids books usually are, but each one has its story arc.
Breaking off in the middle of a non-fiction book is just as problematic. When an author effectively produces multiple books on a topic, they do not quit in the middle of each one. Each book has its theme or technique, or they may have taken the same concept but tweaked it for a new readership.
FAQ’s
1) How many words are in a 100-page book?
Totally depends on the font you’re using but 250-300 words per page is a good rule of thumb. As a result, the overall word count should be around 25,000.
2) How many words are in a 200-page book?
A 200-page book has a word count of between 50000 and 60000 words. It varies depending on the work’s complexity, the language used, the font and letter sizes used, and so on.
3) How many words are in a 300-page book?
It depends on the font and size of the text, as well as the size of the page. Most books are between 65,000 and 90,000 words long. This varies by genre, target audience, and author.
4) How many words are in a 400-page book?
When it comes to a 400-page book. There are approximately 100,000 words. It depends on font size and writer on how they put it up.
5) How many words are in a 500-page book?
Let me tell you how many words are in the 500-page book. Total words in a 500-page book are 150,000-200,000.
Conclusion
There are valid reasons for standard word counts in most published publications, but don’t get caught up in the numbers. Find out why your book is too lengthy or too short, and then change it.
Don’t make it repetitive!! You must maintain your focus. Rather than defending your book’s numbers, get down to business and edit, edit, edit.
I hope with this article, all your concerns about the average book word count and now you’ll be able to use this valuable information into producing the book that is going to be the top-selling.
If you are looking for a professional book writing service, then get in touch with Mczell Book Writing today.
