Average number of words nonfiction book

Feb 24, 2015 sketch out your outline, make sure your structure works, and then start coming up with more clever titles for the chapters and parts, if you use those. What is the ideal word count for a nonfiction book in the. The art of the nonfiction book proposal writers relief, inc. A book can be 25,000 words and still be of incredible value if it is priced appropriately. Thrillers and epic fantasy often clock in at over 100,000 words. And conversely, a longer book of over 60k words or 200 pages can command a higher price. Sep 29, 2014 he wrote, the number of ebook singles any ebook between 5,000 and 30,000 words in length published in the third quarter increased a whopping 27 percent compared to the second quarter of 20. Nov 07, 2016 when you look at competitors book pricing, note the page count.

This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. Therefore, a 55,000 word book should be about 200 manuscript pages. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. May 14, 2018 with a track record to back them up, established writers have greater flexibility. No more than 90,000 words seems to be the editors mantra these days. For things like memoirs and autobiographies, the length is going to be a bitter longer, on the order of 5,000 words or so.

A typical popular business book runs 25,000 to 75,000 words. Text book type nonfiction books will be shorter, and the length will be tied to the topic. You want 50,000 to 85,000 words for a fulllength selfhelp book, half that for a selfpublished ebook. Number of words should be visible in amazon for book s details. Generally speaking, a shorter book of 150 finished pages or 40k words or less typically commands a lower price. Her picture book nine months, illustrated by caldecott honoree jason chin, released in. The most important thing here is to realize that there are always exceptions to these rules. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. On average there are 233 words per page for a nonfiction book and 280 words per page for a fiction book on amazon. Bestselling author caleb carr may write novels of 250,000 words, but when you pitch your novel and offer up that number, be prepared for a glacial reception. Generally speaking, traditional publishers expect completed nonfiction book manuscripts to be between 50,000 to 75,000 words.

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 books 50% of books have fewer words and 50% of books have more words. 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. There are vastly different numbers for mass market paperback novels, tradepaperback original novels or trade nonfiction, hardback original trade books, and for nontrade titles in any of a. Obviously, my point is not that you should submit a first book of anywhere near. 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. Jun 07, 2017 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. A nonfiction book attractive to publishers of bestsellers starts at around 75,000 words. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. It should be enough to communicate your message effectively. A fulllength nonfiction book usually contains 9 to 15 chapters of average length. Most adult books are about 90,000 words, and no longer than 100,000 words unless youre jk rowling. If your manuscript is on the short side, make this clear when pitching to a publisher. Chapter length can vary depending on the purposes of the author. If you have questions about specific series of books, do some research read the books, check the catalogue, contact the publisher, etc.

Over that size is the territory of the academic or technical business book. One of the questions that a new writer often asks is how long should my book be. 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. The di vinci code 2003 by dan brown is 8,380 words christian book word count.

Aug 05, 2019 for most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Harry potter and the halfblood prince 168,000 words. 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. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 words. It was really interesting to read your publisher tips as well and the expectations of the authorities. Dont submit an outline for a book that contains less than 9 chapters. But i also know of others who have sold over 500,000 copies.

Publishers ultimately decide what length is proper for a particular book. Any selfhelp or motivational nonfiction book should be between 30,000 and 70,000 words. There is no reliable data from 2012 to make a viable yeartoyear comparison. According to chuck sambuchino see below for word count. How to write a book chapter in 7 simple steps for your. Right now, when it comes to novellength word count, its all about 90,000 words.

By most peoples standards, 40,000 words would be pretty short for a novel. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to. If im writing a novel, this gives me 40 chapters and 70,000 words when im done. According to this cool site, the one minute manager, talked about i. Big, epic stories get anywhere from 120,000 to 200,000 words. A reasonable word count for a nonfiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words. Sketch out your outline, make sure your structure works, and then start coming up with more clever titles for the chapters and parts, if you use those. However, here are some guidelines you will find helpful. There are no hardandfast rules for the number of pages in a book. I use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. 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. Of course, rules are made to be broken, especially in literature.

Sep 03, 2017 amazons most sold charts rank books according to the number of copies sold and preordered through, amazon books stores, and books read through digital subscription programs once a customer has read a certain percentage roughly the length of a free reading sample. Less than 100 pages and it becomes difficult for a printer to print the title of the book on the spine. The left behind series original books, not including the prequel, 19952007 by tim lahaye and jerry b. Average word count ranges from 70,000 to 100,000 words, although biographies of major celebrities or public figures can support a higher number. Amazons most read charts rank titles by the average. On the upper end, a novel over 110,000 words is considered an epic. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. One plastic bag, water is water, and i am farmer were all named junior library guild selections and her book whose hands are these. Apr 18, 2020 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. 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. This means your book will be between 100 and 230 pages in total. It depends on the font you are using, of course, but in general, 250300 words per page. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid.

Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words. The first alone has sold more than 120 million copies, and the rest have sold at least 65 million each. Mind you that great classic, the little prince, was such a work. You might normally write 750 words per hour, but the type of book youve chosen to write could slow you down to just 500 per hour. Jul 23, 2012 the average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 words. Amazons most sold charts rank books according to the number of copies sold and preordered through, amazon books stores, and books read through digital subscription programs once a customer has read a certain percentage roughly the length of a free reading sample.

The grandfather of modern christian fiction, in his steps by charles m. What is the average number of words per chapter in a non. Learn more about miranda at the end of this post, and learn more about the workshop here. 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. 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. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. The harry potter books are young adult titles, and ya publishers generally look for manuscripts in the 50,000 to 80,000 word range. The old man and the sea was about 25 to 30,000 words. But, he also mentions that the wizard of oz was 40,000 words. As always, be sure to keep it interesting so you can justify the word length. Indeed, most traditional publishers limit nonfiction authors to 80,000 words for standard 6 x 9 books, between 240 and 280 pages. Virtually every book i try to shop by a debut author thats any longer than thatregardless of categoryreceives the same response from editors. 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. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages.

For example, hyperion chapter book manuscripts must currently be 2,5005,000 words maximum. Oct 27, 2018 i use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. While theres no reliable statistic, heres an interesting post on word count from the blog of former agent colleen lindsay. This is about the length readers want for general nonfiction, and it keeps publishers happy given the high cost of paper. The science fiction and fantasy writers of america specifies word lengths for each category of its nebula award categories. Harry potter and the deathly hallows 198,000 words. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. May 07, 2018 right now, when it comes to novellength word count, its all about 90,000 words. The art of the nonfiction book proposal writers relief.

Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. Generally, 50,000 would be considered the minimum word count, and ideally a novel should be over 70,000 words. Make sure you have enough material and time to fulfill this obligation before you propose it. Determine how long it will take you on average to compose the number of words you must compete per day to meet your final word count goal. Mar 17, 2010 the perennial favorite by gary chapman, the five love languages 1995, comes in at only 46,145 words. What you and they need to calculate is not just the word count but also the number and size of illustrations, tables, maps, etc. And dont forget to calculate what your word count will be.

It contains 38 lines per page, with an average of 12 words per line, thus 456 words per book page. And man, people love to point out exceptionsand they always will. Miranda paul is an awardwinning author of more than a dozen fiction and nonfiction books for children. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 to 75,000 words, but this can vary depending upon category.

Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to be. Nonfiction book 25,000 150,000 words fiction novella 18,00040,000. I asked agents elizabeth pomada and michael larsen of larsen pomada literary agency to add their thoughts to the subject. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. In outlining your book in 3 easy steps, editor shawn coyne says, the average novel today is about 90,000 words. By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages. 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. 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. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about. Today, however, while the physical size of a book may still matter in a bookstore, ebooks have no dimensions. One of the most sobering factors that impacts book sales is the sheer number of books released each year over 2 million new titles were released worldwide last year verses how many books people actually read each year.

In general, the nonfiction book proposal is designed to give editors a wellorganized, detailed sales pitch describing what your proposed book is about and how it will make money for the publishing company. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. Know your content, know your mainline pitch and some. That means your manuscript must be at least 3540,000 words long. The total page count excluding appendices and index is 204 pages, thus about 93,000 words. Popular nonfiction like novels, these books fall into the 70,000 to 120,000word range. Ideally, you want to give your reader something she knows.

Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. Thats the level where publishers may suggest dividing a story into multiple volumes. Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. Miranda is an awardwinning author of more than a dozen fiction and nonfiction books for children. The post lists a dizzying number of genres and a recommended word count range for each. And for every book that sells 20,000, there is one that is a disaster. These books are generally heftier in general, so for a 150page book you can target 45,000 words and 60,000 words for a 200page book. 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. Classification word count novel over 40,000 words novella 17,500 to 40,000 words novelette 7,500 to 17,500 words short story under 7,500 words. He wrote, the number of e book singles any e book between 5,000 and 30,000 words in length published in the third quarter increased a whopping 27 percent compared to the second quarter of 20. Mysteries and young adult books run between 40,000 and 80,000 words.

Long book length at the other end of the spectrum a book of 80,000 to 100,000 words has significant heft, 320400 pages. The average across a sample of 50 books in august 2015 showed 172 words per kindle edition normalized page. For the larger, 6 x 9 trim size, would be about 300 words per page. 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. The average adult novel runs approximately 100,000 words while those in other categories run 80120,000 words. Authors often ask me about average word lengths for their manuscripts. How to set the retail price for your nonfiction book. The list was revised in september 2010 in consultation with a number of us. But, most nonfiction publishers want to be sold the concept, and therefore be able to discuss the direction of the project, before you write the book. May 11, 2009 for a printed book, 37,000 words is definitely on the short side less than 150 pages so publishers may not be interested as pricing will be low and volumes needing to be correspondingly high. Rowlings recordbreaking series began with two titles on the high end of that spectrum and finished with five that left the guidelines in the dust. A 90,000 word count signals to professionals that you know what you are doing. The average sales per title are utterly without meaning.