Average number of words per chapter in a book

As persuasion progresses, jane austen seems to elongate hers, building them up on a crescendo. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals. Harry potter and the sorcerers stone has an average of 4,560 words per chapter. Deconstructing five spooky picture books with spoilers and word counts. However, many authors, frustrated with the low price of ebooks, have taken to writing ebooks that are between 40,000 and 50,000. The typical range is 3565 pages for a chapter book, 4590 for a lowmiddlegrade, 90120 for a middlegrade, 150200 for a young, young adult, but these are just averages. As pointed out in the axis labels, the horizontal x axis represents chapter length in words, and the y axis represents how many times throughout the books a chapter of that length occurred. The hunger games has 27 untitled chapters, and about 3700 words per chapter. Now that you know the average number of words per page in your book, you can calculate the page count with a little arithmetic. You dont have to pick a number like 80,000 and then divide it by 30 chapters.

That means the average word count for each numbered section is a whopping. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 words. And even if you did, the average wouldnt depict what the average truly is because it would be skewed by books that had far too little or far too many words. The length can vary greatly between genres, though. And dont forget to calculate what your word count will be. For more information on word counts for childrens book, check out this post. Never write a chapter longer than 4,000 words bookfox.

It depends on the font you are using, of course, but in general, 250300 words per page. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. Right now, when it comes to novellength word count, its all about 90,000 words. I asked agents elizabeth pomada and michael larsen of larsen pomada literary agency to add their thoughts to the subject. Words counts of bestselling novels better novel project. May 14, 2018 with a track record to back them up, established writers have greater flexibility. Then i counted the average number of pages per chapter, and the number of chapters. Roughly how many pages would 50,000 words produce in a. 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. 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.

You can use comparable, successful books as models to determine the length. Aug 05, 2019 the average singlespaced document typed in 12point font contains about 500 words per page, but that can vary pretty drastically depending on your formatting. With that, youll get between 250 and 350 words per page. When it gets closer to 1,000, editors and agents may shy away. So that usually includes everything from chapter books, to middle grade, to young adult novels. There are plenty of books that purposefully play with the word counts of their chapters. The red vertical intercept here represents the series average chapter length, which is around 6,000 words. Naturally, a poem or a chapter less childrens book would follow different rules. This makes me wonder if publishers choose book sizes based on average scene length, to create the illusion of a certain pace. The average chapter word count of these novels falls within the 2,0005,000 range. If you are writing young adult that can go smaller, if you writing advance technical stuff that can go bigger. A change of scene, a change of chapter seems to make sense to me. Virtually every book i try to shop by a debut author thats any longer than thatregardless of categoryreceives the same response from editors. Therefore, a 55,000 word book should be about 200 manuscript pages.

A statistical analysis of robert jordans the wheel of time. I am 42000 words in to my first novel and i have 39 chapters, so on average its just over words per chapter, though some may be nearer 2000. For example, hyperion chapter book manuscripts must currently be 2,5005,000 words maximum. Why chapter length matters more than you think medium. It should be enough to communicate your message effectively. Jun 27, 2019 a story that is over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel. As a publisher who has laid out dozens of books for printinga 50,000 word manuscript should end up somewhere between 180 and 220 pages. If youre averaging 1800 words per chapter and the next one is 4200, consider breaking it into two parts. Sep 20, 2019 ultimately, you can expect there to be roughly 300 words per page in a book you write as a whole. A novelist of my acquaintance insists that the only way to estimate the number of words in a book is to multiply the number of pages by 250.

Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. Many people read in spurts, at lunch time, or on the subway to work, readers. This is an art rather than a science but here are a few tips. Oct 01, 2012 a scene that takes place in ten or fewer pages can comfortably be considered short. But again as a surprise to me, dune was a close second, averaging just 3,800 words per chapter. It is feasible to count the number of words in a published chapter. Most middle grade novels are between 40,000 and 69,000 words long. 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. But remember that too many short scenes in a row can make the flow of the plot feel choppy, and disrupt the continuity that john gardner said creates a dream for the. Typical novels are about 260 pages, 65,000 words, and 18 chapters, about 14 pages a chapter. Jun 05, 2017 childrens book manuscript chapter length consistency is what sort of keeps the engine of your pacing going. Some 6090k ya books get classified as hilo, but i dont think they were specifically written for the category. 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.

I definitely notice when a chapter is a lot shorter or a lot longer than sort of what has been established. However, there are some general guidelines in this article that may help you determine the page count and chapter length needed for your book. 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. And when im reading, i definitely notice, you know, with my editorial clients, i have manuscripts in front of me all the time. May 03, 2018 well, if you use standard modern manuscript formatting, about 2530,000 words total are in 100 manuscript pages. 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. Chapter books will come in at the lower end of the spectrum, while middlegrade books meant for older readers may even slightly exceed 55,000 words.

Most adult books are about 90,000 words, and no longer than 100,000 words unless youre jk rowling. However, it will be on the short side, as the average length of a novel hovers around 50,00070,000 words. That said, if your book is around 40,000 words, youre in good company. Even if youre not using sections to number off parts of your novel, and. This reduction will be very small, like maybe 12 lines less per page, and 510 pages less for the book. The average number of words per chapter is entirely up to you. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels.

Simply divide the total word count from your word document by the number of words per page. Estimate a small reduction for the lines per page and the number of pages values. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about. Frequently asked questions getting published meg cabot. On average, there are about 300 words per page in a book. So, whats the sweet spot for an average chapters word count and why. The longest average chapter lengths were lord of the rings 7,500, prince of nothing 8,700, and the. I typed out one page of the text yes it did take a while and got the approximate number of words per page. Also, the chapters are evenly divided into 3 titled parts.

Ideally, you want to give your reader something she knows. The total page count excluding appendices and index is 204 pages, thus about 93,000 words. For paperbacks you get 2550 lines per page, with 35 being a good average. How many words in a novel vary depending on genre, audience, and the story itself but in general, the average words in a novel is between 60,000 and 90,000 words for most genres. Now we have computers and word processing software. I thought the average for a midsized novel would be around 100200 pages. The average mean word count was about 53,000 words. The word count at big five publishers had a slightly narrower range. 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.

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. 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. Genre in childrens writing meg rosoff the guardian. Ive read a lot of ya in the last few years and chapters generally feel longer than that. You wont get exact, but youre wondering whether 35k is reasonable, so you dont need exact. In my own most recent book, the shortest chapter not counting the prologue and epilogue is just over 2000 words and the longest about 5500. How to calculate a word count per page pen and the pad. Lewis the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe, roald dahls charlie and the chocolate factory. The longest average chapter lengths were lord of the rings 7,500, prince of nothing 8,700, and the beefiest chapters were found in the black company, with. I personally find the trend these days, particularly in thrillers, is to use shorter chapters. The idea is that the number of words on a page comes out at about the same as it will do when the manuscript is printed as a book. Thats generally considered enough information to make a reader feel like an update was worth it, its long enough for most people to read in under ten minutes, its mobiledevice friendly, and its plenty of time for things to happen. Oct 18, 2017 as with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. Try it on some books with chapter lengths you like, and dont be surprised if it.

I need information about novel details average number of. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. For example, if your book has about 20 chapters, you can put about 10,000 words in each chapter. Did the math and created a guideline for myself to use. Chapter length can vary depending on the purposes of the author. It contains 38 lines per page, with an average of 12 words per line, thus 456 words per book page. Pick 10 lines on a page that appear to contain the most number of words. A single novel can be longer, but once the length is above 110,000 words publishers may look at cutting it back, unless it is a particular kind of book books over the 110k word count are usually considered epics. You dont have to pick a number like 80,000 and then divide it by 30 chapters to give you 2500 words a chapter average. You dont have to, but staying within 500 words of the other chapters tends to result in a readerfriendly, smooth experience so if youre averaging 1800, 2800 is the point where your readers will really start to notice that this. Middlegrade novels are generally 20,000 to 55,000 words. Obviously books at the younger end tend to be shorter. 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.

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. Depending on your genre, having too many or too little can not only hurt your book sales, but also cause fewer 5star. However, as i understand it, the index isnt done until the final proofs are in place so as to get the page numbers right, and so im not sure how much buffer to leave. Chapters give readers a stopping point without abandoning the book.

In any of these books, some chapters are longer than others. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. But for suspense novels youll be going up into 50s and even to 90 chapters with only 34 pages a chapter. To get an idea of what your book will look like you need to match the number of words per page on your word processing page to the finished printed page. On average there are 64,000 total words in a book, though again, some have many more. Armed with these word counts, i now have a range of lengths that have been proven popular. For things like memoirs and autobiographies, the length is going to be a bitter longer, on the order of 5,000 words or so. The median amount of words would be a better estimate of how many words are in a chapter. Some authors write chapters as long as 12k words, and this can be okay for some, and a bit wordy for others. A scene that takes place in ten or fewer pages can comfortably be considered short. Because dialogue requires paragraph breaks, there will be fewer words than if you have a few pages of full paragraphs instead of dialogue. Some 6090k ya books get classified as hilo, but i dont think they were specifically. Analyzing chapter lengths in fantasy fiction creativity hacker.

Multiply the average number of words per line by the number of lines on a full page. What is the average number of words per chapter in a non. In north america, the standard used by editorial staff in figuring word count is 250 words per page, 10 words per line using a 12 pt. As for chapter length, i cant help but feel that 1500 words is a bit short for ya. Though the average word count of a chapter is around 2,000 5,000 words, it all depends on your story. May 11, 2009 hello, ive just received a contract for an academic book at 110,000 words with what looks like a 5 per cent capacity to go over, which is supposed to include the index. You may also pick the lines from random pages in the document. Divide the result by 10 to find the average number of words per line. So childrens book manuscript chapter length is a big question that ive received many times about all sorts of childrens books that have chapters. As with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. The title with the shortest chapters, on average, was whirlwind in the thorn tree, averaging just 2,900 words each.

This involves the manuscript being double spaced, with 12 pt tnr, arial, verdana or other easy to read font all throughout the manuscr. As previously discussed, there are different requirements for both fiction and nonfiction genres. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. So, if you have an hour to write and aim to get down 300 words, you might wonder, how many pages is 300 words and the answer is less than one. Divide it up by chapters so you remain aware of how long each should be.

The average words from 60,000 words to 200,000 or more words in a whole novel. Text book type nonfiction books will be shorter, and the length will be tied to the topic. If im writing a novel, this gives me 40 chapters and 70,000 words when im. Martin and harper lee keep things more evenly paced in a game of thrones and to kill a mockingbird, respectively. The average adult novel runs approximately 100,000 words while those in other categories run 80120,000 words. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. I use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. 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.

You want 50,000 to 85,000 words for a fulllength selfhelp book, half that for a selfpublished ebook. Analyzing chapter lengths in fantasy fiction creativity. Author answer on average there are three to four pages in one chapter, though some books have more. Well, calculating it out, that would mean the average book was 240480 pages. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. Some publishers have series of books with a maximum of pages. The average across a sample of 50 books in august 2015 showed 172 words per kindle edition normalized page. May 12, 2012 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. This averages to about 22 to 23 chapters per novel, with the average chapter length around 4,280 words. Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words. Jan 08, 2018 total number of words in your word document divided by number of words per book page your page count so far then add in all the extra pages for your front matter, back matter, images, chapter titles, and partsection openers see method 1, above. A 90,000 word count signals to professionals that you know what you are doing. For full length novels on wattpad, the average or recommended length is generally 20003000 words per chapter. 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.

Every category will have an average length, including childrens books, young adult, business books, etc. If im writing a novel, this gives me 40 chapters and 70,000 words when im done. That was the formula in the good old days when courier was the only typeface and typewriters were king. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. A reasonable word count for a nonfiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words. The typical book s words per page count tends to range between 225 and 275an average of 250. From these numbers, we can establish some guidelines. You dont have to pick a number like 80,000 and then divide it by 30 chapters to give you 2500. All of these are average book word count ranges and should not be taken as the definitive word count you must reach in your book.