Include the title and type of manuscript, the number of pages and a short description are you interested in reading my 120page, middlegrade novel, funky feet, about a girl who cannot stop dancing. Adults typically read these out loud to kids, so the vocab can be more complex. May 11, 2009 word count and book length one of my biggest problems as a publisher is having authors deliver more than was agreed to. Frequently asked questions i have written a childrens bookhow can i get it published. Oct 10, 2016 most of the data ill be using throughout this article was sourced from writers digest and the manuscript appraisal agency, with any differences split to find the average. Less than 70,000 unless its fantasy or scifi, which can stretch to 90,000 at a push. If youre new to selfpublishing on amazon and wondering, just how much should i write for my kindle book. Since 2011, the average length of a bestseller has dropped steadily from year to year. Middle grade novels vary a lot, but a safe spot to aim for would be 30,000 words. Rich olson children s book illustrator this is a good breakdown of the children s book categories. By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages. The average sales per title are utterly without meaning. A common mistake with wouldbe picturebook authors is to use too many words.
However sometimes, like today, the reverse happens. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to be. But theres no right or wrong answer to the question, because theres not an exact number of words required to tell a good story. Childrens books cover a huge range, from books for babies up to young adult fiction. The society of childrens book writers and illustrators scbwi does offer length guidelines in terms of the appropriate number of manuscript pages for various genres meaning the number of pages a writer would submit to a publisher. For childrens fiction, the general rule is the younger the audience the shorter the book, and for ya novels the average is 50,000 70,000 words. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to. We wish there was a simple, onesizefitsall answer to this. Literary agent danielle zigner takes a look at typical novel lengths per genre and what appeals to publishers within the current marketplace.
Return to writing for children printmobilefriendly version. The average short story should run anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 words, but they can be. And ya novels, which have grown in popularity, can often be the same length as a standard novel 80,000 words. Depending on your genre, having too many or too little can not only hurt your book sales, but also cause fewer 5star. Traditional publishers and agents advised using the industry formula for determining word count, which is assuming certain standards 12 pt. The length can vary greatly between genres, though. When you embark on the journey of getting a book published theres a lot to consider and one of the things that should be on your priority list is how much youll be pricing your book for, which is a key piece of your book metadata. With that in mind, ive tried to put together the definitive post on word count for fiction novels, young adult, middle grade, childrens books and even memoir. In my experience, individual short stories dont tend to sell well on kindle compared to novels. The list was revised in september 2010 in consultation with a number of us fiction editors, but remains focused on fiction. When i was young, there were picture story books for older children ages 610. But i also know of others who have sold over 500,000 copies.
So that usually includes everything from chapter books, to middle grade, to young adult novels. These are basic learning books that creatively teach colors, numbers or simple, fun stories for bedtime. More important is whether or not your book reads like a picture book succinct, musical, pictorial. 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. And for every book that sells 20,000, there is one that is a disaster. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about 246 to 307 ebook pages. 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. And this ebook page length differs significantly depending on the book genre. There are plenty of books that purposefully play with the word counts of their chapters. On average there are 233 words per page for a nonfiction book and 280 words per page for a fiction book on amazon. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising.
Word count assuming your manuscript is in courier 12 with 1inch margins in a manuscript will come out to about 250 words per page. It costs money to proofread a book twice the length of another. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. You might find your story strengthening as the excess words drop off. Sep 20, 2019 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. I would like to illustrate the book and would like to know if this is advisable.
Sep, 2010 of course, foundation posts work best for this, and ive started with a blog post dating from 2010, and one of the more popular destinations for search traffic, selfpublishing basics. And in that case, people always ask, you know, how long should my chapters be. Understand how the childrens book publishing industry works, including writing, revising. Jan 11, 2011 the list was revised in september 2010 in consultation with a number of us fiction editors, but remains focused on fiction. Knowing how many words in a novel is the first step toward writing a book. Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words.
I thought id answer it for everyone, since manuscript length really is on writers minds. May 19, 2008 and ya novels, which have grown in popularity, can often be the same length as a standard novel 80,000 words. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and. Im curious about your advice compose the novel in the standard format from the start rather than changing it later why does this matter. 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. Understanding children s book genres by laura backes, children s book insider. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. This information helps you calculate how long your novel or nonfiction work has to be to hit a certain page count on amazon, which is important if youre applying for promotions that require you to be above a certain number of pages to qualify.
The word count to aim for with this type of book is usually between 500 and 600 words. Times new roman, doublespaced, leftside justified only, 1. In some cases, these books will have no words at all, such as for the very small child who likes to feel the fluffy cotton tail of a bunny or push the squeaker. It costs a great deal of money to actually bind books. On average, how long is a childrens book for children. Writing chapter books a look at the numbers hannah holt. Theres no need to describe things that can be shown in the illustrations for. Every category will have an average length, including childrens books, young adult, business books, etc. A question many authors have is how many words are on the average page when it comes to books and ebooks on amazon. May 14, 2018 literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. The whole text is usually submitted for this length book.
Rich olsonchildrens book illustrator this is a good breakdown of the childrens book categories. It contains 38 lines per page, with an average of 12 words per line, thus 456 words per book page. Christacarol asked this question of how long should a childrens book be via email. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. Mar 20, 2020 howtos or selfhelp usually have 4050,000 words. Check the childrens book council members list to find out who wants what. I just received a letter from a writer who said, alas, i find myself adrift in a sea of unexplained andor contradictory publishing terms. Apr 08, 2019 consider joining us for this 9week online course. Before diving into the specifics of genrebased word counts, lets look at the broader picture of average book length. Luckily for you, many people dont revise their manuscripts or do enough research, so with a little extra work, you can help your manuscript rise to. One of my biggest problems as a publisher is having authors deliver more than was agreed to. Picture books for children up to age eight average words though many. Calculate book page count using word count for book design.
Though the average word count of a chapter is around 2,000 5,000 words, it all depends on your story. Some 6090k ya books get classified as hilo, but i dont think they were specifically written for the category. Targeted for 2 to 8yearold kids, this type of book typically has between 400 800 words. Boy is it harder than i thought to tell a story in 24 pages. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Simply divide the total word count from your word document by the number of words per page. The editor also provides four popular trim sizes for formatting 4. Each page often has only one line to keep it simple and easy for a young child to follow. Within the publishing industry we tend to talk about the length of a book in words rather than in pages. The 57 year old reading range straddles a few different categories of books. This is useful only as a writers alternate way of assessing the length of a manuscript, nothing more. 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. I know of an author with a very large publisher whose novel has sold only 1,087 copies in its lifetime.
Manuscripts are up to 1500 words, with words being the average length. I also have a short contemporary drama and according to your words a childrens adventure flash story ready for competitions. It costs time and money to have an editor work scrupulously with an author to condense their book down to an acceptable word count. A short memoir would be about 65,000 words, though if youre an established author read. I have a short story just over 5,000 words in length and i would love to publish it. Books range from several words to several thousand compare goodnight moon to the polar express. If it helps any, most though not all of the stories ive written for preschool aged children are about 2500 words or less. A rough guideline to start with would be 500010,000 words per book.
The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. Some publishers issue guidelines as to word length usually. Your book length should be determined by its usefulness to the reader, not just your personal agenda. As christacarol says, there are different accepted manuscript length word count limits for different genres and age. Everything you need to know about word count and book length for books. Every book type has its own recommended length based on the age of the. Of course, rules are made to be broken, especially in literature. For a novel, i would recommend at least 50,000 words in length.
A common mistake with wouldbe picture book authors is to use too many words. If it helps any, most though not all of the stories ive written for pre. Recently i got asked this question, what is the ideal length word count wise for my first book. Audiences are used to a certain story length and page count, so an unknown author can. Overall, the average picture book length is words or less. Now im seeing a lot more mg books with up to 60,000 words, so i think the water has become a bit murky here. If its illustrated, adjust the word count by the percentage you feel the pictures take up. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading. There s no need to describe things that can be shown in the illustrations for.
Word count for novels and childrens books writers digest. I almost hesitate to get into the childrens book length discussion publicly because it can be controversial. Picture books for children up to age eight average words though many are shorter. The average adult novel runs approximately 100,000 words while those in other categories run 80120,000 words. This is useful for all writers to make sure they are hitting their appropriate market. These books are geared for children between the ages of 3 and 8 years old. There are no set rules for how long a childrens novel should be, and the lack of clear guidance can be frustrating. Having some reallife examples at your side, you should get a better sense of.
Surely when writing the important thing is to get words on the page even if theyre in pink comic sans. The length of a standard childrens picture book there are a lot of issues to consider, and just from today on my first storyboard ever i ran into. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. If you want to experiment with book sizes and the way they might impact your typesetting choices, the reedsy book editor allows you to do so for free. The lead character is a 6 year old little boy and he has a best friend who is a 9 year old girl. Trim sizes in this post were updated on january 30, 2015 as soon as you get serious about selfpublishing a book, you are confronted with the choice of what size your book ought to be for instance, if you want to get a price on how much a book will cost to print, the first thing you need to know is the size. It s true you can read three different books on writing and find three different definitions of picture book. Nov, 2009 christacarol asked this question of how long should a childrens book be via email. Understand how the childrens book publishing industry works, including writing, revising, submitting, publishing, and marketing a book for children, teens, or young adults. Word count for novels and books is something i dont think about too often until i travel to a writers conference, and then someone asks a simple, innocent question.
However, many authors, frustrated with the low price of ebooks, have taken to writing ebooks that are between 40,000 and 50,000. Oct 06, 2010 i have a childrens book manuscript written for children 812 which is about 37,000 words and i want to illustrate it. Novelty books include popups, puzzles, pulltabs and other interactive features. So childrens book manuscript chapter length is a big question that ive received many times about all sorts of childrens books that have chapters. Oct 25, 2018 be sure you also only look at examples that are roughly the same trim size, number of pages, and genre as the book you plan to publish. Jun 05, 2017 so childrens book manuscript chapter length is a big question that ive received many times about all sorts of childrens books that have chapters. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. Books for 7 to 9yearold readers would probably start at the 15,000. Oct 18, 2017 as with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules.
That word count is relatively high, but not so high as to make it a. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price for the translation job. It makes quite a difference whether you want to publish a children s picture book, a 50recipe smoothie book, a science fiction novel or a technical encyclopedia. This is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. A rough guideline to start with would be 5000 10,000 words per book. Books for 7 to 9yearold readers would probably start at the 15,000 word mark, rarely going higher than 30,000 words.
You can also search online for books similar to yours to get a good idea where to start when pricing your book. As with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. You can use comparable, successful books as models to determine the length. Now that you know the average number of words per page in your book, you can calculate the page count with a little arithmetic. Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. My picture books have ranged from 147 words to 1,400 words. I am constantly asked how many words should a childrens book actually be.
Follow this rough word count guide as you embark on your literary journey. With that in mind, ive tried to put together the definitive post on word count for fiction novels, young adult, middle grade, childrens. Word count is very important to writing books for young children. Word count varied from 5,000 words to 40,000 words, with an average mean of 17,200 and a median word count of 8,500. Be aware that the word average means that for every book that sells 15,000, there is one that sells 5,000. The page count is 32 or 40 pages with a word count of under 1,500. My samplesize simply isnt big enough to analyze anything with confidence. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. Picture book length, differences, and word count how long is a picture book. Plots are simple no subplots or complicated twists with one main character who embodies the childs emotions, concerns and viewpoint. Getting your book published requires hard work on your manuscript and lots of research into the field. When i started writing three years ago, the mg word count i kept. The total page count excluding appendices and index is 204 pages, thus about 93,000 words. It makes quite a difference whether you want to publish a childrens picture book, a 50recipe smoothie book, a science fiction novel or a technical encyclopedia.