When talking about book length, its common to talk about word count rather than page count. Participants are encouraged to download specially designed wordcount widgets to. At the end of this article, youre going to find a guide to suggested word count length for most every popular genre. 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 bookbooks over the 110k word count are usually considered epics. List of 50,000 word novels the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy by douglas adams 46,333 words. Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book.
Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. At a writers conference i recently attended, publishing. Here is a partial list of wellknown novels that contain roughly 50,000 words, which in turn is roughly 175 pages, and are thus comparable to the average size of a nanowrimo winners novel see also list of published authors who write quickly for published authors who consistently write at the nanowrimo pace or faster the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy by douglas adams 46,333 words. In such cases, depending on whats desired, it might not be too difficult for a writer to pivot up to 100,000 words, or down to 80,000. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words.
Generally a 50,000word novel would be the minimum word count. How to write 50,000 words in a month books the guardian. There are exceptions, like ya books that exceed 250,000 words, but those tend to be outliers, and. Perhaps more than any other, ya is the one category where word count is very flexible. As i just touched on above, books in these genres are allowed and expected to run longer than others.
And, though on the shorter side, its definitely long enough to be considered a novel. Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. Generally i consider any novel that is less than 300 pages to be a short one, 500 page a medium sized novel and anything more than 750 a lengthy novel. Roughly how many pages would 50,000 words produce in a. The typical book s wordsperpage count tends to range between 225 and 275an average of 250. For one reason or another, an agent and editor might feel this book length isnt ideal for a particular project. Genre has more influence on book length than you might think. Martins song of ice and fire series based on this infographic martins five books have an average length of 354, 000 words. As a publisher who has laid out dozens of books for printinga 50000 word. National novel writing month challenges more than 300,000. That said, if your book is around 40,000 words, youre in good company. The red badge of courage by stephen crane 50,776 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.
The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. When you think of a fantasy novel, you might think of an epic such as tolkiens the lord of the rings 455, 125 words or one of the five books in george r. Heres a guide to the recommended lengths for genre books. As you read this 750word essay, ill be taking a nap.
However, it will be on the short side, as the average length of a novel hovers around 50,00070,000 words. The word round the agent blogosphere is that these books tend to be trending longer, saying that you can top in the 80ks. Here is a partial list of wellknown novels that contain roughly 50,000. The typical books wordsperpage count tends to range between 225 and 275an average of 250. As a publisher who has laid out dozens of books for printinga 50,000 word manuscript should end up somewhere between 180 and 220 pages. A books word count does matter and if you get it wrong, this can impact. A story that is over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel. Such books will have a minimum length of 75,000 words but seldom exceed 110,000. A brief history of time stephen hawking 50,000 words. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. If you complete the word count, which comes to about 200 pages, you win the challenge.