Average number of words nonfiction book

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. Virtually every book i try to shop by a debut author thats any longer than thatregardless of categoryreceives the same response from editors. The most important thing here is to realize that there are always exceptions to these rules. And dont forget to calculate what your word count will be.

The left behind series original books, not including the prequel, 19952007 by tim lahaye and jerry b. 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. 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. Ideally, you want to give your reader something she knows. One of the questions that a new writer often asks is how long should my book be. It was really interesting to read your publisher tips as well and the expectations of the authorities. Miranda paul is an awardwinning author of more than a dozen fiction and nonfiction books for children. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about.

Learn more about miranda at the end of this post, and learn more about the workshop here. Less than 100 pages and it becomes difficult for a printer to print the title of the book on the spine. 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. 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. According to this cool site, the one minute manager, talked about i. Generally speaking, a shorter book of 150 finished pages or 40k words or less typically commands a lower price. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to be. 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.

Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words. One plastic bag, water is water, and i am farmer were all named junior library guild selections and her book whose hands are these. But i also know of others who have sold over 500,000 copies. How to set the retail price for your nonfiction book.

Mind you that great classic, the little prince, was such a work. However, here are some guidelines you will find helpful. A nonfiction book attractive to publishers of bestsellers starts at around 75,000 words. 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. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. Thrillers and epic fantasy often clock in at over 100,000 words. Know your content, know your mainline pitch and some.

There is no reliable data from 2012 to make a viable yeartoyear comparison. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. Mysteries and young adult books run between 40,000 and 80,000 words. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length.

For example, hyperion chapter book manuscripts must currently be 2,5005,000 words maximum. Of course, rules are made to be broken, especially in literature. 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. How to make a living with your writing is my shortest nonfiction book at 27,000 words and looks fine in print.

Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. It depends on the font you are using, of course, but in general, 250300 words per page. Generally speaking, traditional publishers expect completed nonfiction book manuscripts to be between 50,000 to 75,000 words. Apr 08, 2019 special thanks to miranda paul for this guest post. What is the ideal word count for a nonfiction book in the. The total page count excluding appendices and index is 204 pages, thus about 93,000 words. A 90,000 word count signals to professionals that you know what you are doing. The art of the nonfiction book proposal writers relief. On the upper end, a novel over 110,000 words is considered an epic.

Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. Harry potter and the halfblood prince 168,000 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 list was revised in september 2010 in consultation with a number of us. According to chuck sambuchino see below for word count. The average adult novel runs approximately 100,000 words while those in other categories run 80120,000 words.

Make sure you have enough material and time to fulfill this obligation before you propose it. 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. It should be enough to communicate your message effectively. I know of an author with a very large publisher whose novel has sold only 1,087 copies in its lifetime. Nov 07, 2016 when you look at competitors book pricing, note the page count.

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. While theres no reliable statistic, heres an interesting post on word count from the blog of former agent colleen lindsay. On average there are 233 words per page for a nonfiction book and 280 words per page for a fiction book on amazon. 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. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 words. And for every book that sells 20,000, there is one that is a disaster. The average sales per title are utterly without meaning. 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. By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages. If your manuscript is on the short side, make this clear when pitching to a publisher. The grandfather of modern christian fiction, in his steps by charles m. And conversely, a longer book of over 60k words or 200 pages can command a higher price. 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.

Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. The first alone has sold more than 120 million copies, and the rest have sold at least 65 million each. 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. Thats the level where publishers may suggest dividing a story into multiple volumes. The di vinci code 2003 by dan brown is 8,380 words christian book word count. Amazons most read charts rank titles by the average. Like novels, these books fall into the 70,000 to 120,000 word range. A fulllength nonfiction book usually contains 9 to 15 chapters of average length. Popular nonfiction like novels, these books fall into the 70,000 to 120,000word range. Average word count ranges from 70,000 to 100,000 words, although biographies of major celebrities or public figures can support a higher number. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. 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 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. 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.

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. That means your manuscript must be at least 3540,000 words long. 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. The average across a sample of 50 books in august 2015 showed 172 words per kindle edition normalized page. Number of words should be visible in amazon for book s details. What you and they need to calculate is not just the word count but also the number and size of illustrations, tables, maps, etc. The post lists a dizzying number of genres and a recommended word count range for each. 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 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. Therefore, a 55,000 word book should be about 200 manuscript pages.

For the larger, 6 x 9 trim size, would be about 300 words per page. Any selfhelp or motivational nonfiction book should be between 30,000 and 70,000 words. Most adult books are about 90,000 words, and no longer than 100,000 words unless youre jk rowling. Miranda is an awardwinning author of more than a dozen fiction and nonfiction books for children. May 14, 2018 with a track record to back them up, established writers have greater flexibility. 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. In outlining your book in 3 easy steps, editor shawn coyne says, the average novel today is about 90,000 words. I use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. Right now, when it comes to novellength word count, its all about 90,000 words. 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. If im writing a novel, this gives me 40 chapters and 70,000 words when im done. 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.

Over that size is the territory of the academic or technical business book. The old man and the sea was about 25 to 30,000 words. Harry potter and the deathly hallows 198,000 words. 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 book can be 25,000 words and still be of incredible value if it is priced appropriately. No more than 90,000 words seems to be the editors mantra these days. Frequently asked questions getting published meg cabot. May 07, 2018 right now, when it comes to novellength word count, its all about 90,000 words. Chapter length can vary depending on the purposes of the author. Text book type nonfiction books will be shorter, and the length will be tied to the topic. If you have questions about specific series of books, do some research read the books, check the catalogue, contact the publisher, etc. Dont submit an outline for a book that contains less than 9 chapters.

Aug 05, 2019 for most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 to 75,000 words, but this can vary depending upon category. This means your book will be between 100 and 230 pages in total. Nonfiction book 25,000 150,000 words fiction novella 18,00040,000. 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. How to write a book chapter in 7 simple steps for your. This is about the length readers want for general nonfiction, and it keeps publishers happy given the high cost of paper.

Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. What is the average number of words per chapter in a non. There are no hardandfast rules for the number of pages in a book. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. I asked agents elizabeth pomada and michael larsen of larsen pomada literary agency to add their thoughts to the subject.

Long book length at the other end of the spectrum a book of 80,000 to 100,000 words has significant heft, 320400 pages. 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, he also mentions that the wizard of oz was 40,000 words. And man, people love to point out exceptionsand they always will. By most peoples standards, 40,000 words would be pretty short for a novel. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of 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. Today, however, while the physical size of a book may still matter in a bookstore, ebooks have no dimensions. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. You want 50,000 to 85,000 words for a fulllength selfhelp book, half that for a selfpublished ebook.

Mar 17, 2010 the perennial favorite by gary chapman, the five love languages 1995, comes in at only 46,145 words. Oct 27, 2018 i use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. Indeed, most traditional publishers limit nonfiction authors to 80,000 words for standard 6 x 9 books, between 240 and 280 pages. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. Publishers ultimately decide what length is proper for a particular book. 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. Jul 23, 2012 the average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 words. As always, be sure to keep it interesting so you can justify the word length. Authors often ask me about average word lengths for their manuscripts. It contains 38 lines per page, with an average of 12 words per line, thus 456 words per book page. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising.

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. Big, epic stories get anywhere from 120,000 to 200,000 words. The art of the nonfiction book proposal writers relief, inc. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. 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. Her picture book nine months, illustrated by caldecott honoree jason chin, released in. Obviously, my point is not that you should submit a first book of anywhere near. 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 science fiction and fantasy writers of america specifies word lengths for each category of its nebula award categories. A reasonable word count for a nonfiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words. Generally, 50,000 would be considered the minimum word count, and ideally a novel should be over 70,000 words. 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 typical popular business book runs 25,000 to 75,000 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.