Ideal word count for non-fiction book

For nonfiction, the people who say a book should be however long it needs to be are absolutely right. There is no definitive word count guide for nonfiction books due to the many subgenres. And remember, keeping to word counts is important, but what makes or breaks your chances with a publisher is the quality of your manuscript. Novel 50,000 110,000 most print publishers prefer a minimum word count of around 70,000 words for a first novel, and some even hesitate for any work shorter than 80,000. I consider myself a student of life, so i selected student and continued on.

When writing a longer book that is aimed at 12yearolds and could maybe be considered tween, using the term upper middle grade is advisable. Never pad your manuscript just to meet a word count guideline. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. There is an important question that needs to be answered in your book proposal in the manuscript status section. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for non fiction books. Oct 26, 2018 discover what size your book should be and if thats comparable to the standard book sizes in publishing.

In 2011, the average length of a bestselling nonfiction book was 467 pages, but that dropped to 273 pages in 2017. Only if youre a major celebrity can you blow right through that word count and just keep going. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. 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. Apr 05, 2015 generally a 50,000word novel would be the minimum word count. If your book falls within the standard preferred wordcount range, its one less. We analyzed the nyt bestsellers to see what the optimal length and word count is. The magic whether the readers desire is to achieve pleasure or knowledge or both takes place inside the readers mind. There are several methods for determining the word count of a given book. What is the ideal wordcount per chapter for a novel. 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.

Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. Id guesstimate that non fiction books generally yes, this is very rough run perhaps 150450 pages, and at about 350 wdpage that works out to something like 50150k words. I heard 10,000 words can be accepted as an e book at a short length at least for non fiction. You would be wise to come close to these suggested. A recommended wordcount might be 15002000 words but, more. If there is an average, 60,000 words to 80,000 words are probably the sweet spot. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. Selfhelp books are often pretty short, sometimes as little as 30,000 words. 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. Count the number of lines on each page to get the linesperpage. Most middle grade novels are between 40,000 and 69,000 words long.

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 average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 words. While average word length is 50,000 to 80,000 words, this genre has so much variety that word count depends on the book and its intended audience. The most important thing here is to realize that there are always exceptions to these rules. Search for word count totals in books word counters. Writing middle grade a look at the numbers hannah holt. By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. This is due in large part to the variety of subgenres within it and the trend for a book series with an ever greater word count.

A nonfiction book attractive to publishers of bestsellers starts at around 75,000 words. There are a few book word count guidelines for each genre, but these arent hard and fast rules. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. On the other end, reference and academic books can have huge word counts.

As you can see, you need to know your word count, not the number of pages your word processor produces. The following are average wordcount ranges by genre. These include using published information about the book to determine an exact word count, estimating the number of words based on industry standards and. Jun 15, 2017 this is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. Check that the book actually starts on page 1 sometimes the stuff before it starts is counted.

It should be enough to communicate your message effectively. This information is important whether you are writing fiction or non fiction. From this point, search for your book, click on the title within the list of results, and on the following page youll find the book s word count. We analyzed the nyt bestsellers to see what the optimal length and word. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing stack. There are a lot of agents that will reject on atypical word count alone. Most memoirs need to be in the 70,000 to 100,000word range. Reader preference for longer form ebooks speaks well for the future of books. But for mainstream ya it is always best to stick to under 80k. Jun 07, 2017 when talking about book length, its common to talk about word count rather than page count. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. Some genres like science fiction can be much longer and spend 1,000s of words on worldbuilding.

Middle grade is from 20,000 55,000, depending on the subject matter and age range, and the word count of these books has been trending up in recent years. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. This is a 100% safe range for literary, mainstream, womens, romance, mystery, suspense, thriller and horror. Although there is not a requirement for the work to be complete before an initial query, this is the word count literary agents want projected and delivered. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. The word count at big five publishers had a slightly narrower range. A word count guide for 18 book genres, including fiction and nonfiction. If youre new to selfpublishing on amazon and wondering, just how much should i write for my kindle book. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. We all know there are exceptions, but i wouldnt count on being one.

If you stick to these when youre writing your nonfiction book, youll be fine. Think carefully before you declare a word count in your. A word count that is much higher than the average range tells the agent or editor your work probably needs to be tightened. A reasonable word count for a nonfiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words. Recently i got asked this question, what is the ideal length word count wise for my first book.

As for non fiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. For example, memoirs are generally 80,000 to 90,00 words. A word count that is much lower than the acceptable range alerts the agent or editor that your novel or nonfiction book probably hasnt been adequately developed. If yours is too short, restructure it and add more tightly written stuff.

Anything in this word count wont scare off any agent anywhere. As a general rule of thumb, a novel falls somewhere between word count ranges of 50,000 words and 100,000 words. Basically, having an idea of how long you want your book to be helps you work smarter, not harder. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals. What is the ideal word count for a nonfiction book in the. In contrast, word count is finite and usually i can calculate book length with about 99% accuracy in part because also included in any calculation is a count. Average nonfiction word counts biographies and memoirs. A good way to gauge appropriate length is to check out similar books for comparison.

And man, people love to point out exceptionsand they always will. Jan 25, 2018 the length of a chapter in a novel should be less about words and pages and more about plot points. Step 4 is measure your manuscript in word count, not pages. With digital as well as print books available, the length of books varies. Im going to give you some information here, but first i want you to know why this is important. Count up the total number of words on 10 random full lines from different. I suspect youre a student of life too, so perhaps you should choose the same.

Jul 23, 2012 so 50,000 words is the minimum for a non fiction book. If youre writing a nonfiction book, be sure to look up that category to find the length of similar books. At times the readers of books may be interested in discovering how many words they read. I recommend staying within or close to the recommended word count for your age categorygenre unless youve received a lot of feedback verifying it needs every word or doesnt need more if youre low. Sep 06, 2014 according to chuck sambuchino see below for word count. Between 80,000 and 89,999 words is a good range you should be aiming for. The overview and summary information led to some redundancy in the book, which increased the word count to around 60k words, but that intentionally designed structure offered readers more options for getting the information they needed.

May 11, 2009 in contrast, word count is finite and usually i can calculate book length with about 99% accuracy in part because also included in any calculation is a count of figures, tables, etc. If youre concerned about the final page count for your book, you should know that the average 6. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. I guess 50,000 is a short novel and some early novels before goes as low as 40,000 which can be considered to be a novella. Less than 100 pages and it becomes difficult for a printer to print the title of the book on the spine. What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a non fiction book. What chapter, section, or point in a fiction or nonfiction book completely ruined an otherwise perfect. Most print publishers prefer a minimum word count of around 70,000 words for a first novel, and some even hesitate for any work shorter than 80,000. Alternatively, this is an acceptable length for a short work of non fiction.

How many words should be in an adult nonfiction book. If yes, then most publishers still work on specific word count lengths for books so youll probably be aiming for around 60,00080,000 words for nonfiction. I just popped into my office and pulled a few books off the shelf. Reading is an active, participatory activity between reader and book. A plan for your book that includes a word count helps you not write too little or too much. May 27, 2008 the question of how long your manuscript should be is sometimes hard to answer because different publishers have different guidelines. You can hear more about the strategy for beckys book in the 5minute video on my speaking page. Yet any piece of fiction climbing over the 110,000 word mark also tends to give editors. If i were to ask you how long your book is, and you answer that it is 225 manuscript pages, i am still not clear.