This article suggests that essentially, it should be as long as it needs to be, meaning dont look at the word count, just get the story out then edit. Sara, in a manuscript written solely in msword, that would be 87,500 with the professionally calculated 250 words per page times 350 pages. In the opposite direction, it can give a more accurate estimate of how many pages you have created if you only know the word count. 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. So, with all of this in mind, is there actually an average word count you should aim for. 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. Now, depending on how youve setup your document your page count may vary slightly, but with arial or times new roman 12 point font and conventional margins you should see similar results. The truth is the number of words per page depends on a variety of factors such as the type of font, the font size, spacing elements, margin spacing, and paragraph length to name a few.
The daily word counts of 39 famous authors writers write. Just to keep in mind, the average one spaced page usually contains about 3000 characters or 500 words. How many pages would my manuscript be in paperback. This averages to about 22 to 23 chapters per novel, with the average chapter length around 4,280 words. Kenpc kindle edition normalized page count with the introduction of the new royalty system for kindle unlimited and the kindle owners lending library books for amazon prime, borrows are paid by the number of actual pages read by the reader. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. Im presently working on a novel and want to make certain my. For example, childrens books are going to have fewer words per page than a book meant for adult readers. The 5 x 8 trim size means about 250 words per page. Each page contains about 34 lines, with an average word count of 11 words per line, thus 375 words per page.
Jan 08, 2018 now that you know the average number of words per page in your book, you can calculate the page count with a little arithmetic. The standard is 32 pages and could be one line per page, therefore a total of 350600 words. Check that the book actually starts on page 1 sometimes the stuff before it starts is counted. By using these three options to more accurately define your writing, the words per page calculator should provide a better estimate on how many words you need to write to fill a page. You can write as short or as extended a chapter as you want, with as many scenes in each that you want.
You have to remember that the publishers printer whoever they may be uses a program to put the manuscript in book form. Count the number of lines on each page to get the linesperpage. Estimates vary based on different kindle devices available, but the above settings translate into approximately 250300 words per page on average. Usually a full novel is considered between 60,000 to 90,000 words. Because dialogue requires paragraph breaks, there will be fewer words than if you have a few pages of full paragraphs instead of dialogue.
The following are average wordcount ranges by genre. Stephen king word count 112263 274,672 bag of bones 203,3 black house 252,270 blockade billy 15,917 carrie 60,718 cell 121,931 christine 193,602 cujo 121,150 cycle of the werewolf 15,955 desperation 195,011 doctor sleep. Estimate your page count book designer fiona raven. How many words per page are there in a typical novel. Deconstructing five spooky picture books with spoilers and word counts. For manuscripts, the answer is about 250300 words per page if it is doublespaced. 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. It depends on the font you are using, of course, but in general, 250300 words per page. For paperbacks you get 2550 lines per page, with 35 being a good average. 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. There are instances when youre given an assignment, not by word count, but assigned by the number of pages. Standard word counts for books publishing with kindle. But depending on the ereading device and the font size setting, it varies significantly between a phone, a tablet, or a kindle.
You can figure out the finished runtime based on the word count. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. Traditional publishers and agents advised using the industry formula for determining word count, which is assuming certain standards 12 pt. What are the average words per page of a microsoft word.
For the larger, 6 x 9 trim size, would be about 300 words per page. This will give you a rough estimate of the word count. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. Divide your word count by 390 to arrive at the approximate number of pages ex. Excluding endnotes and index, the book has about 200 pages of text, which means its total word count is about 74,000 words. The chapters are short and simple with only an illustration or two per chapter. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. Of course, word count wont matter if a story doesnt hook the target audience. The typical books wordsperpage count tends to range between 225 and 275an average of 250. Sep 18, 2015 this is a question we get from time to time. This 90,000word guideline for how many words in a novel is just that, a guideline.
If you need to figure out words per page, you can use. Count the number of lines on each page to get the lines per page. Pauls article shows you a formula to calculate finished time. However if youre curious to see what the average word count is for standard genres. Check that the book actually starts on page 1 sometimes the stuff before it starts is counted then go to the last page before any bibliography, acknowledgements, appendices, etc. Amazon cannot count the kindle words per page readers read, the number of pages readers flip, or the time readers spend on reading an ebook. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. If you get an assignment to write four pages, one of the first questions that will likely come to mind is, how many words are in four pages. Of course, rules are made to be broken, especially in literature. For instance, audible uses an average rate of speed of 155 words a minute, or 9300 words per finished hour. What is the average word count per page on an essay. 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. Frequently asked questions getting published meg cabot.
Also, the chapters are evenly divided into 3 titled parts. This is a question that many beginning writers have. Depending on the text formatting, a page word count may include from 200 large print up to 600 words academic book. 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. If you want to know the total word count for your document, then multiply this number by the number of pages it contains. Generally, there are 300 words per typed doublespaced page, using a 12 point font. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. I remember reading some westerns in high school and, if i. How many words are there on the average page of a novel. A 100 page book would be, then, about 25,000 words.
At one extreme you get large print books with 250 words on the page. The kindle unlimited problem it cant count words or pages. We have compiled a list of the daily word counts of famous authors and what they had to say about writing every day what is a word count. 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. Oct 18, 2017 but chapter word count is something that you want to keep in mind for future edits.
I use microsoft word and a print page is different then a book page. Books in this genre are also often gag gifts or are meant to be facetious. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. Count characters and words with the anycount tool for a precise estimate and get every single cent youve earned. If the book offers more complicated instructions such as for creating an origami bird or a fashionable paper doll, the word count can extend as high as 1,500 words.
While a general guideline is one page is 500 words single spaced or 250 words double spaced, this is a ballpark figure. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. When it gets closer to 1,000, editors and agents may shy away. If a page is 500 words on an ipad, and 250 words on a kindle, it might be only 120 words on a phone. Simply divide the total word count from your word document by the number of words per page. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. May 14, 2018 literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. Now that you know the average number of words per page in your book, you can calculate the page count with a little arithmetic. It seems like ya novels are getting longer and longer nowadays, but maybe my attention span is getting shorter. Since there is no universal word count for a page in a book, publishers usually ask the author before publication for the overall word count of the book. If youve ever read a joke book or a book revolving around a humorous endeavor of some sort, it falls under this book category. On average, there are about 300 words per page in a book. Academic books might put 600 words on a page with works of reference.
Times new roman, doublespaced, leftside justified only, 1. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. The word count at big five publishers had a slightly narrower range. As basic info, you need to know the word count, not the page count, of the book you would narrate. The hunger games has 27 untitled chapters, and about 3700 words per chapter. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. Jun 15, 2017 this is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. Each genre and subgenre has its own word count range. Picture story books for older children between the ages of 6 and 10 include more text with each picture. Armed with these word counts, i now have a range of lengths that have been proven popular. The average mean word count was about 53,000 words. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. Set the trim size and type specs to whatever you wish see instructions below, and see how many pages the text runs to.
Since 2011, the average length of a bestseller has dropped steadily from year to year. But chapter word count is something that you want to keep in mind for future edits. Aug 05, 2019 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. A manuscript for a novel is typically 500 words per page if singlespaced. Stephen king word count 112263 274,672 bag of bones 203,3 black house 252,270 blockade billy 15,917 carrie 60,718 cell 121,931 christine 193,602 cujo 121,150 cycle of the werewolf 15,955 desperation. The average singlespaced document typed in 12point font contains about 500 words per page, but that can vary pretty drastically depending on your formatting. How many word document pages are there in a 350 page book. Jun 30, 2008 sara, in a manuscript written solely in ms word, that would be 87,500 with the professionally calculated 250 words per page times 350 pages. Do check your comparable titlesrecent debuts onlyto make sure your story falls in that range. Learn the average wordcount for every type of novel, novella, genre, etc. If you want to get a target for your nonfiction book, the best thing may be to look at a dozen or so bestselling books in the genreniche youre aiming at and see what their word counts are. The number of words on a page of ms word document depends on the size of the page size of the font kerning the distance between pairs of letters leading the space between the lines size o. Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction.
When i started to work on novels i wanted to keep an estimate of how many words and book pages. Book page count calculator how many pages is my novel. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. These questions made us fill the need of a book page count calculator we put at the bottom of this page. Here is what 187 words looks like in microsoft word.
Do you want to publish a wide format bookwith inspiring quotes down the side margins. Then use the following formula to calculate the average number of words per page. Most middle grade novels are between 40,000 and 69,000 words long. Ultimately, you can expect there to be roughly 300 words per page in a book you write as a whole. What is the generally accepted number of words per page for a published novel. How many word document pages are there in a 350 page. Word count to book pages resources for independent authors. Are you wondering what the word count for your book should be. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading.
The answer is one page single spaced or two pages double spaced. Academic books might put 600 words on a page with works of reference squeezing in words. Roughly how many pages would 50,000 words produce in a. This line count includes blank lines between paragraphs as well as lines with just a single word. I agree that it seems like for a debut author, the agent really looks at that word count. 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. When the final work is printed for sale and published, the number of words per page will differ. Writing middle grade a look at the numbers hannah holt. Thus, divide your word count by 300 and you again get an approximate number of pages. As you can see, a smaller trim size will produce more pages for the same word count, and a larger trim size will produce less. The average across a sample of 50 books in august 2015 showed 172 words per kindle edition normalized page. How to calculate a word count per page pen and the pad. Amazon estimates a page count in an ebook to be around 187 words.