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. Industry standard childrens categories published childrens books are divided into three main categories. 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. In 2017, the downward trend has continued, with an average book length of 273 pages. The standard size for a mass market paperback is around 4. At there is a nifty search tool outlining the interest level, book level, word count and number of pages in many childrens books, as well as various awards, booklists and groupings. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. Many, yes, but there are exceptions due to the layout and font size of a particular book. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. Sep 20, 2019 on average, when writing a memoir should not exceed 90,000 words and that is a stretch when it comes to memoir word count.
Kdp standard book sizes include most standard book dimensions, but they exclude the mass market paperback size. Search for word count totals in books word counters. Im curious about your advice compose the novel in the standard format from the start rather than changing it later why does this matter. For your reference, the standard book sizes in inches are. Each page often has only one line to keep it simple and easy for a young child to.
If i tell you that my book is 70,000 words, and send you an 800 page correctly formated ms the 1. The book fold layout sets you up for printing your masterpiece automatically in the correct order, ready for folding and binding. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading. Bookbaby offers both hardcover and softcover book options. Your best bet is to go to a good childrens bookstore and look at books like your own in terms of target audience. The books designer can do that when the book reaches the design stageand youll be able to make suggestions. Click librarian or teacher and then search for books like yours click on the titles to get all kinds of info about them, including wordcount. Start your story with action, dialogue, or set the mood in a way thats so intriguing kids cant walk away. Miranda is an awardwinning author of more than a dozen fiction and nonfiction books for children. Short and punchy books are 40,000 to 60,000 words, but many nonfiction books are lengthy. From picture books to ya information to get you started at. But chapter word count is something that you want to keep in. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. I created this website to help you better gauge your books word count, because the more examples you see and the more advice you read, the more confident youll be.
Guidelines for word count for childrens books anita. 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. Now, before you lose your mind, let me explain what i mean. In 2016s list, ron chernows 816page alexander hamilton managed to crack the top spot. You want to begin as close as possible to the storys catalyst, that moment. However if youre curious to see what the average word count is for standard genres. I dont think ill ever look at a picture book the same way again. When cornered and asked this, our usual answer can be a bit. A guide to word counts filles vertes publishing, llc. If you dont know what that means, check your word processors help information, and try different settings to see what they look like. Tucker max tucker has sold over 5 million books as a 4x nyt bestselling author and is the cofounder of scribe.
But it seems that word counts are shrinking these days, especially with all the epublishers. When setting up your book, this is the default in the print options section of the paperback content tab. If youre given a perpage rate, you can calculate a per word rate by assuming the industry standard of 250 words per page, e. May 15, 2011 well, while the accelerated reader program is lame in a lot of ways, this is a very handy tool. I was trying to keep it under 500 but i am happy with the flow and rhythm of the story. In itself, no measure is perfect but personally i find word count the most useful. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. Writing middle grade a look at the numbers hannah holt.
Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to. Books at this size usually come with a tiny typeface and spine flexibility ranging from minimal to moderate. For example, atonement has a word count of 123,378 and my utility comes up with 110,765 words. If you want to learn more about writing books for children. Basic trade picture books as seen in most stores will typically have a standard set of 32 pages.
Guidelines for word count for childrens books from rebecca ryals russells website. Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book. To find pretty much any kids ya word count, you can use the ar bookfinder. How often do you find a longer picture book like the journey of oliver k. 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. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words.
Check out that piece for all the details, or see the breakdown below. On the spreadsheet, the editors total cost will be automatically calculated once you insert your total word count and the editors per word rate. When it gets closer to 1,000, editors and agents may shy away. Sharp objects has a word count of 80,565 and my utility calculates it at 80,7. As a nonfiction writer myself, i know this is tough. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. 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. If this is only a trend, and word count will continue to remain standard, ill find out soon enough. I like this category because for the first time we start to see subplots and more complex story lines. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. There is a 24page count minimum for our hard case bindings. This is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. Discover what size your book should be and if thats comparable to the standard book sizes in publishing.
The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. But the word count of a chapter matters if you want your story to flow right. Writing a book, and wondering what size your book should be. Im not posting this to start a huge discussion over word count, and im posting anon. Generally a 50,000word novel would be the minimum word count. Standard word counts for books publishing with kindle. The average mean word count was about 53,000 words. On the spreadsheet, the editors total cost will be automatically calculated once you insert your total word count and the editors perword rate. Custom hardcover books can also be covered with a dust jacket, a removable paper cover used to protect a book from dirt or damage. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals. I am very happy that it comes out to the 3 page standard like the printed childrens books i have in my collection. Can be publisher specific, ranging from 3,000 to absolute max 5,000. These books are geared for children between the ages of 3 and 8 years old. My kids are going to be frustrated if i count spreads while i read to them.
List of book sizes standard sizes for all different self. Apr 05, 2015 generally a 50,000 word novel would be the minimum word count. Just a heads up that the graphic of children s book size says 5x8 but i. Count pages in some board books the cardboard books for babies and toddlers. Its a christmas book, trying to model word count per page after charlie brown christmas and polar express. Heres what you need to know about this often overlooked. Its just this is what im being told by my agent, and publishers. If you dont make a good first impression, your childrens book manuscript will likely get sent right back to you accompanied by one of those dreaded rejection letters. Cowboy camp is illustrated in spreads, whereas spaghetti eddie is told with mostly singlepage illustrations. When writing a longer book that is aimed at 12yearolds and could maybe be considered tween, using the term upper middle grade is advisable.
Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. Deconstructing five spooky picture books with spoilers and word counts. Childrens book categories are not static and they are not written in stone. Story books have been tough to sell for a long time, but i like to think there is a growing revival of longer texts, nevertheless be aware the project is a harder sell if its outside commonly accepted. 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. We all had our favorite childrens book illustrators growing up. Nov, 2009 so many people today rely on the word count given by their software program, but when you go to print a physical book, the pages matter. 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. Line count varies depending on page size, font size, etc. Is there a standard range on word count for early readers books. Im currently writing a series of childrens picture books aimed at 56 year olds and have got the first two out the way. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures of readability and to measure typing and reading speeds usually in words per minute. Whether you want to create a booklet for an event or print out an ambitious book project, consider using the prebuilt page settings for booklets that comes with word. The best thing that you can do is look over comparable books and try to judge word count by their size, average wordspage, and illustration content.
Picture books for children up to age eight average words though many are. Of course, when youre writing the first draft of your story, you want to just get your words out on paper. Estimate your page count book designer fiona raven. I was quickly flooded with emails from many an angry author for daring to put a word count on a level of book. We recommend memoirs be between 45,000 to 80,000 words in order to maintain intrigue and reduce intimidation. The truth about word counts for childrens book is nothing is set in stone, so it can be a good idea to do as much. Editors have very specific guidelines for the types of stories they publish and those types all have specific word count ranges. Many of these books are written in rhyme or in a simple singsong meter that is catchy and fun. In all cases, you can find an author who has successfully pushed the envelope one way or another. Curious how the pages in the microsoft word document will translate into pages.
It helps to spend some time in a library and this could be your home library or a bookstore with a measuring tape and to measure some of the books in your book s genre. Make sure the word count for your book is appropriate for your target readership. A childrens book template will work with indesign cs4. Standard book trim sizes are the book sizes most commonly used in the publishing industry for books of a particular genre or type. When converting character counts to words, a measure of 5 or 6 characters to a word is generally used for english. Manuscripts should be left justified and ragged right. They are short books, usually with a lot of illustrations. I have a 1700 word book, planning to have illustrations on each page, about 75 words a page. Standard book sizes custom book binding book trim sizes.
Some of my favorite childrens books are found in the chapter book format. I remember reading some westerns in high school and, if i. We explain two easy methods to estimate your book s page count. 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. Shorter novels such as fahrenheit 451, the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, the great gatsby, and slaughterhousefive are between 4050,000 words. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. Epic fantasy would consider that a short novel, as they like their. Surely when writing the important thing is to get words on the page even if theyre in pink comic sans. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. Both our hardcover and softcover books come in all standard book sizes. Counting chickens a few words about word counts at hope vestergaards site. This means your memoir will average between 150 and 265 pages.
Are you wondering what the word count for your book should be. Your readers will stick around for the first few sentences, but if theyre not hooked theyll close the book. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. However, the drop in the overall average length of bestsellers over the last 7 years points to a marked. Thats why the traditional submission formats exist. Should writers worry about word count the editors blog says. The only thing is ive been looking at various sites and asking advice around how long a childrens picture book should be word count and im getting a lot of conflicting advice.
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. It should be enough to communicate your message effectively. Multiply up by the number of pages and get to a rough word count. Its interesting to note that cowboy camp and spaghetti eddie are both by debut authors.
How to format your childrens book manuscript dummies. Jan 08, 2018 calculate book page count using the word count from your word document. Too many words are a warning sign that the author does not know how to write for the age group and that the book has not been edited seriously enough. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. Some people consider them genres, and some people insist that they are only subcategories of childrens books which may or not be a genre, depending upon who is doing the delineating. Before middle grade came along as a category, chapter books were the only bridge to close the gap between picture books and young adult. Childrens book writers must adhere to strict industry standards for word counts. That article contains more information about word count, including genre.
Most often when people think of childrens books, they are referring to picture books. The maximum standard word count for an adult novel is about 110,000. Choose a favorite published childrens book and type it up as a manuscript in standard manuscript format. In general, board books for infants and toddlers are 100 to 300 words. I have a question about your opinion on word count in ya fantasy. I was a middle school english teacher, so know i know mg pretty well, and i am going to say i think casey is pretty spot on. Im okay with a manuscript that goes up to 30,000 words over. David fickling once told me not to worry about word count, just write what the story needs. I almost hesitate to get into the childrens book length discussion publicly because it can be controversial.
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. Childrens fiction is so varied in terms of length, type, illustration. Therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. Much has changed in childrens fiction in the past twenty years. A reasonable word count for a nonfiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words. Word count for novels and childrens books at the guide to literary agents blog. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. In microsoft word i inserted comments where illustrations would go.
You can choose from a variety of trim sizes see the table below for a list of sizes, as well as minimum and maximum page count by size. Publishers know this and often wont even look at a book submission that is too long. Word count is very important to writing books for young children. Editors see a gazillion manuscripts every day, and the sight of certain common errors makes them sigh with impatience. Manuscript format basics a childrens book editors site. But if youre curious to see how your manuscript measures up to to the standard wordcount expectations for your genre, the following is a summary of an informative article by chuck sambuchino called word count for novels and childrens books. This isnt to say that long books are no longer succeeding. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. Generally, editors are a bit wary of answering questions about word counts. Many new writers are unaware there are guidelines and rules for numbers of pages or words per type of literature as well as specific ages each category applies to.
If youre given a perpage rate, you can calculate a perword rate by assuming the industry standard of 250 words per page, e. Aug 02, 2008 the manuscript is 2 double spaced pages and the word count is 515. Jun 27, 2019 put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be around 8090k. The definition of novel varies a bit from genre to genre, and as you didnt specify yours, all you can get is a vague answer. Nonfiction books also vary tremendously in word count. Id guesstimate that nonfiction books generally yes, this is very rough run perhaps 150450 pages, and at about 350 wdpage that works out to something like 50150k words. Childrens book template to download star print brokers. Amazon consider a novel to be 50,000 words minimum. Early readers book length society of childrens book.