Typical novels are about 260 pages, 65,000 words, and 18 chapters, about 14 pages a chapter. And it may already be shifting toward smaller word counts. 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. Incidentally, you have probably already divided your novel into chapters using your instincts. There are no hardandfast rules for the number of pages in a book. I definitely notice when a chapter is a lot shorter or a lot longer than sort of what has been established.
But, he also mentions that the wizard of oz was 40,000 words. You can see that the majority of books fall into the two brackets from 200 to 230 pages. Each chapter in your book tells a ministory that forwards your overall plot. 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. From these numbers, we can establish some guidelines.
Chapter books arent quite as strict when it comes to the number of pages. May 12, 2012 you could say that you are on doing 2800 words on average per chapter, which is pretty good, but just remember to vary the length of your proceeding chapters if you make each one quite long, you will end up something thats touching 100k words. Some novels contain 50 or more and some extremely rarely contain none. Your guide to the world of wattpad how long should my chapter be.
They can be as short as one sentence, especially when using dialogue. Average novels tend to be around 80,000 95,000 words, which is more easier for your readers. And when im reading, i definitely notice, you know, with my editorial clients, i have manuscripts in front of me all the time. They can vary in length between just a couple of pages and 50 or 60. That said, of course the books couldnt be more different. You shouldnt set manuscript guidelines for yourself on chapter length. If im writing a novel, this gives me 40 chapters and 70,000 words when im done. Mar 17, 2020 how to decide how many pages to have in your book. Regardless of genre, there is no hard and fast rule about how many pages or words each chapter should contain or how many chapters should be in a book. Most agree that under 1,000 words would be rather short and that over 5,000 might be rather too long. Therefore, a 55,000 word book should be about 200 manuscript pages. On the lower end of things, margaret atwoods dystopian 1985 novel averages only 2096 words per chapter less than half of the average length of middlesex chapters. How to set the retail price of your book mill city press. When wondering how many pages a book should be, it is notable that the average book length is between 200400 pages.
Unlike picture books for younger readers, a chapter book tells the story primarily through prose, rather than pictures. You might be able to reduce that a little by printing on a higherbulking paper, but that is more expensive than typical stock book papers that a printer keeps on hand. The average value for the socalled amazon kindle estimated print length is. My books tend to all hit around 95,000 words which comes out around 300 to 320 pages single spaced, formatted 9x6 for ebooks. Naturally, a poem or a chapter less childrens book would follow different rules. Somewhere around the 20page mark is about the average. Thats why crime novels tend to have shorter chapters than books in some other genres. However, you need to sustain your readers anticipation and interest in order for them to keep reading your book. The total page count excluding appendices and index is 204 pages, thus about 93,000 words. Beginning writers often ask how long the chapters in the novel they are working on should be.
That being said, this range is true for most books always do the research into comparable books and price your book accordingly. So around 4,000 words would be an average chapter length. Oct 27, 2018 james patterson the mostselling author in the world is famous for his tiny chapter of a page and a half around 250500 words. 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. Aug 29, 20 if your chapter pulls the reader in a little more with each page, youve done it right no matter the length. It contains 38 lines per page, with an average of 12 words per line, thus 456 words per book page. Of course, this will depend on the kind of reader that they are targeting. In 2015, the drop resumed as the average fell to 345. If you set yourself a target of 85,000 words, youll know that if you fall short of that average figure, your story is either lacking in substance, or it. But like average book length is like 200300, but ive read a lot of ya so depending on. This number was significantly different from the average we had seen for the estimated print length that had been given in the product details of each book s amazon sales page.
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. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. Instead of counting pages per chapter, you can simply divide the total number of pages in the book by its number of chapters. Somewhere around the 20 page mark is about the average. You can decide not to have any chapter at all, though it can be tricky. If youd like some guidelines, you can assume that the average nonfiction book is about 50 k words and that most nonfiction books have about 12 chapters. This means in a novel, a chapter can usually run from 628 novel pages or 314 word pages. As a general guideline, chapters should be between 3,000 to 5,000 words.
Xlibris gives away 400 pages for free, but charges four or five bucks for one page. Apr 07, 2021 the average across a sample of 50 books in august 2015 showed 172 words per kindle edition normalized page. Just an alternate way not necessarily a better way of accomplishing the same thing. Oct 02, 2017 how hard is it to sell a chapter book.
Things to know about chapter length in your novel joel. 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. On average, there are three misprints in every 10 pages of a. 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. May 25, 2020 using the novel example of 90,000 words, that breaks down to about 320 pages. Where do you feel a chapter should set in naturally. Some authors divide their story into parts part one, part two, and so on alongside the chapters. You solely determine the number of chapters in your book. Oct 18, 2017 to find out how long should a chapter be, we examined books from a wide variety of genres and eras. Feb 11, 2014 reader is usually between the ages of 8 and 12. On average, most novels contain about a dozen chapters. If youre designing your own pages in indesign or photoshop, please be sure to keep critical contentimages and textat least 14.
Now that weve covered how many words are in a novel, its time to break it down even further by finding out the ideal number of chapters in a novel and how many words are used in a typical chapter depending on the writing genre, word count in book chapters can vary considerably. Sep 17, 2020 while theres plenty of room for variety, the average chapter length for a book is between 2,000 and 5,000 words, with the sweet spot lying between 3,000 and 4,000 words. I use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. Big, epic stories get anywhere from 120,000 to 200,000 words. Thats approximately 300 pages of doublespaced type. To give you a general idea of the average chapter length, the range is usually between 3,000 to 5,000 words. That number actually lines up pretty well with the data we have on this. Chapters give readers a stopping point without abandoning the book. It is better to answer the question by looking at the distribution of e book page lengths in a genre. So im trying to write my first book, and something that i never realised id have. How many pages are reasonable to make a chapter in an average 250page novel.
The fault in our stars, by john green, 65,750 words, 25 chapters, average chapter length 2,630. Since each chapter of the book is independent to each other, the required probability is the product of the probability of 10 misprints in the chapter 1 and 5. There are many apps and books you can get to help you do this, but it might not be worth it if you need to read a chapter book in 23 hours today. Book page count calculator how many pages is my novel. Go to a bookstore and support your fellow authors by purchasing these books, or check them out of the library.
So, the length of your chapters should be determined by the number of words it takes to present that idea. May 14, 2018 collecting comp titles will prove useful to you throughout your novels journeyespecially later, when trying to market your book. The graph shows such distribution for 100 topranking cozy mystery books. However, there are some general guidelines in this article that may help you determine the page count and chapter length needed for your book. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. And, the probability of the 10 misprints in the chapter 1 and 5 will be equal.
An 80,000 word nonfiction book works out to about 350 pages. I shoot for an average of 2500 words per scene, so if i were writing your book, id probably have two scenes for most chapters. This critically renowned 2002 novel by jeffrey eugenides divides its 544 pages into 28 chapters. But then, there are some that contain as many as 3050 chapters. The average number of chapters in a novel, not accounting for. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count.
Here are the average novel word counts in the top five genres in the book publishing industry in no particular order. Jun 05, 2017 childrens book manuscript chapter length consistency is what sort of keeps the engine of your pacing going. Many people read in spurts, at lunch time, or on the subway to work, readers. Nov 08, 2020 a survey of popular fiction from different eras reveals the following chapter word count for selected books. It should me no shorter or longer than it has to be. You cant allow yourself to be intimidated by 12 page chapters or 200 pages a week. But for suspense novels youll be going up into 50s and even to 90 chapters with only 34 pages a chapter. What publishers do pay attention to, though, is word count. Either way, even if you write only one page per day, youll have a completed manuscript in less than a year. Never write a chapter longer than 4,000 words bookfox. A guide to book length by word count for standard book genres. Writing chapter books a look at the numbers hannah holt.
Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. But remember, this is more of a guideline than a rule. Estimate your page count book designer linda parke. A chapter book is a story book intended for intermediate readers, generally age 710. A chapter should take 15 minutes to read so roughly 24 per book or one every 3 750 words or in pages one after every 8 or so. Since we have 35 pages in each chapter and the average number of misprints in every 10 page of a book is 3. Keep in mind that sometimes speedreading can affect your comprehension, so there is a trade off. With suspense and thrillers, youve got to keep the story moving at a fast pace so readers stay enthralled to the very end. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 to 75,000 words, but this can vary depending upon category. Most of the authors in the survey sold the very first chapter book they wrote, but they wrote an average of three drafts before it sold. Using the novel example of 90,000 words, that breaks down to about 320 pages. Most adult books are about 90,000 words, and no longer than 100,000 words unless. Paragraphs have no specific sentence or word count. Young adult novel 60,000 words on average, young adult novels usually fall around 55,000 and 70,000 words.
Unlike books for older readers, chapter books contain plentiful illustrations. How many pages are reasonable to make a chapter in an average. In outlining your book in 3 easy steps, editor shawn coyne says, the average novel today is about 90,000 words. Aug 20, 2012 you can do anything you want with subsequent books, if you sell a gazillion copies of the first book or two. Apr 01, 2014 the targets average chapter contains 1,600 words while the goldfinchs average chapter contains 25,000 words. Chapters should be just long enough to serve a purpose and, once that purpose is served, cut off so a new chapter or ministory can begin. Jun 21, 2020 speed reading is a specific skill that takes practice and dedication. With this in mind, what considerations should be taken when deciding how long a book should be.
In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. But then, there are some that contain as many as 3050. If you write a novel that averages 3,000 words per chapter but, twothirds of the way through the book, you insert a 400 word chapter, it is likely to. Hero is usually 10, and in middle school grades 48. How to read a long chapter book in two or three hours. Standard book sizes, dimension, and specifications chart. Thus, you will see that these books can be anywhere from 32 to 60 pages long.
As previously discussed, there are different requirements for both fiction and nonfiction genres. Once you have a vision for your booksmall, standard, or wide formatyou can move on to the second step in deciding how many words you should write. Mar 20, 2020 so, what length is the right one for a book. Feb 15, 2017 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.
Oct 31, 2020 if youre thinking bigger and wondering, for example, how many pages is 50,000 words, simply divide your target word count 50,000 by 500 since thats the average words per page. Frequently asked questions getting published meg cabot. When it gets closer to 1,000, editors and agents may shy away. Deconstructing five spooky picture books with spoilers and word counts.
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