The sweet spot, according to donald maas, is 100,000 to 115,000 words. A word count guide for 18 book genres, including fiction. For direct submissions we only consider complete and unpublished science fiction, fantasy and horror novels, written in english of between 95,000 150,000 words. Generally a 50,000word novel would be the minimum word count. That said, the average word count for science fiction and fantasy novels generally lies between 100,000 and 115,000. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. A good 20,000 more words would probably make a decent novel, but it still doesnt say if the novel is any good. King, and lee child run well over 90k, sometimes going as high as 120k. As for non fiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction.
If it has areas that need further explanation the word count will go up. And, in case youre wondering, here are the average word counts for other popular genres. Hello i have completed my first book, it a erotic, science fiction fantasy. Larson writes science fiction with a word count around 100k. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. In comparison, the database gives an average length of 89,000 words for adult fiction excluding fantasy, smack in the middle of the commonlycited range of 80,000100,000. Its not how much you write, rather its about how good you write. And normally something in the range of 70k 150k depends is considered over the first publishing hurdle.
Horror novels, as demonstrated with stephen kings behemoth of a novel, it, can be of any lengtheven as short as 150 pages. In other words, you must be scrupulous about editing every sentence for length. I have been rereading it, fixing it best i can before i look into finding editor. If youre new to selfpublishing on amazon and wondering, just how much should i write for my kindle book.
But i did find a few things that could be useful guidelines for us. Yet any piece of fiction climbing over the 110,000 word mark also tends to give editors some pause. What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a non fiction book. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. 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.
But the word count of a chapter matters if you want your story to flow right. Put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be. Anyway, heres the figures and facts i have so far looks like big debut novels are anything but unusual in epic fantasy now. Literary agent danielle zigner takes a look at typical novel lengths and what appeals to. It has to do with all the descriptions and worldbuilding in the writing. Here are some word count guidelines major fantasy and science fiction publishers have given during open submission rounds. Concerning the low end, below 55k could be all right but i wouldnt drop much below about 47k. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors.
The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. The science fiction and fantasy writers of america specifies. Now, they dont offer word count or running time for books, but they do have a search api. That said, the average word count for science fiction and fantasy. And what are the word counts of some famous novels regardless of the range above. I found some disagreement about the ideal length of mystery novels. A word count that is much higher than the average range tells the agent or editor your work probably needs to be tightened. Word counts can also differ, depending on the programme used most modern word counts come from the ebook editions and how they count punctuation. How long does your future publisher want your novel to be.
It might be more accurate to count every word in every scene in. Nanowrimo asks that we write at least 50,000 words in one month, but they say that is more of a novelette. Average word count for a scifi novel dvd talk forum. What is the best word count for a science fiction novel. Fantasy and science fiction novels are known to be lengthier than other books. A good reason to have a longer ya novel that tops out at the high end of the scale is if its science fiction or fantasy. I just did a word count of my ya novel in courier new 60,705. Longest science fiction books of all time futurism. Book talk average word count for a scifi novel im curently writing a science fiction novel and i was wondering if anyone here would have any idea as to what the average word count should be. Traditionally published mysteries, like the books of sara paretsky, louise penny, laurie r. Within the publishing industry we tend to talk about the length of a book in words. Search for word count totals in books word counters. None of them fit the industry standard in word count.
But can you guys think of any published scifi novels the skirt these limits. Anything above 70k but less than 115k science fiction and fantasy tend to run up around 100k115k words. Ya fiction for mainstream ya, anywhere from about 45k to 80k. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. The second or third in a particularly bestselling series can go even higher. Word count matters because every book, regardless of genre, has an inherent contract with the reader. Middle grade or young adult science fiction or fantasy. This is a lot harder because its not a specific field im receiving back i have to. Michaels, melisa 2005, focusing on the wrong things, science fiction writers of america, archived from the original on april 17, 2009 an article on the relative importance of various word count methods in fiction publishing. Written by the founder of scientology, the famed phenobarbital and opium addict l. This is not an exact science, people, so dont take any of these findings as gospel truth. Ron hubbard billed it as a satirical science fiction adventure set in the far future. This post was written in 2008, and revised in 2010. Here are some popular scifi novels and their word counts.
We will only consider sf, fantasy, horror or ya crossover novels. Once again, these categories are expected to be a little longer because of the worldbuilding. 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. Science fiction and fantasy are the big exceptions because these categories tend to run. Wot, but it could have been 23 of the word count without any real drop in quality. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. 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. Realize it over the maximum word count for erotic, science fiction fantasy genre. Literary agent danielle zigner takes a look at typical novel lengths per genre and what appeals to publishers within the current marketplace. If the publisher has a convincing argument for cutting a passage or two, the book will be shorter.
Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelist s competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for non fiction books. Being a science fiction book, setting up lore can cost words, i guess. Science fiction books typically have between 50,000 and 150,000 words, like fantasy novels. Editor dana isaacson discusses desirable word counts for different genres. Within short stories, there is a further breakdown to define supershort stories as flash and microflash.
With these genres, i would say 100,000 115,000 is an excellent range. But that contract is dependent upon the book s genre. Of course, when youre writing the first draft of your story, you want to just get your words out on paper. For instance, when a reader picks up a thriller, they have. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. If youre writing for a more literary audience, then the rules above apply on upper limits. The first book is around 95k words, so if every book is about that long, it should be closing in on a million words all told. The sweet spot, according to donald maas, is 100,000 to. An article on various word count methods in fiction publishing. Middle grade or young adult science fiction or fantasy or related genre books, including graphic novels.
Science fiction and fantasy are the big exceptions because these categories tend to run long. A word count guide for 18 book genres, including fiction and non. There are a lot of books that fit nicely into this range, such as enders game with 100,609 words and the martian with 104,588 words. I then did a word count after switching to times new roman 60,705. You cant really tell if a novel is good by the word count. Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. Precise word count definitions will vary, but as a general rule of thumb, a short story is anything up to about 7500 words sometimes 10,000, with higher word counts typically called novelettes, and short novels called novellas. With fun, lighthearted, simple middle grade youll want to stay around the 20k30k word count range. 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.
Compiling a list of longest novels yields different results depending on whether pages, words. The graph shows the average length of the top 100 bestsellers in each of the 30 main amazon kindle categories, measured in terms of the number of. Word count for novels and childrens books writers digest. But it shouldnt be word count for the sake of word count. Ive been doing some research into epic fantasy word counts recently, especially to get an idea of debut novel figures over recent years. 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. Works in the middle grade or young adult science fiction or fantasy category shall have no word count requirements. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. Recently i got asked this question, what is the ideal length word count wise for my first book. But for mainstream ya it is always best to stick to under 80k.
Say what you will about the quality it was universally panned but its easily one of the longest science fiction books of all time. This is why page count is a poor guide to working out a novel s true length, and word count is more reliable indicator. While 50,000 words is a fairly firm minimum, plenty of ya books reach up to 100,000 words, with a. Perkins agency in new york says its much easier to market a firsttime novelists book if the word count falls between 80,000 and 100,000 words, or roughly 300 doublespaced, typed pagesthe average novel length. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy by douglas adams 50,895 words. For young adult fiction, the word count is once again lower, with the ideal. The definitive post by chuck sambuchino heres the beginning of a great post by chuck sambuchino about the optimal word count range for novels of various genres, and also includes recommended length for ya, middle grade, and picture books.
Therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. Science fiction and fantasy novels typically have a word count between 90,000 to 125,000 words. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. Word count of popular fantasy and science fiction series. If this thread still going can someone tell me how many words is reasonable for a chapter im writing my first fantasy novel and worried if i have too short or to long of a chapter right now my first chapter word count is at 1,436 and in counting.