At 300 wpm, that comes to another 11 minutes a day. Once you have a vision for your book small, standard, or wide formatyou can move on to the second step in deciding how many words you should write. Oct 25, 2018 keep in mind that the average compensation per book matters less the more books you sell, which depends on your business model. However, it will be on the short side, as the average length of a novel. 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.
I always try to make books for boys a little shorter. Then use the following formula to calculate the average number of words per page. For comparison purposes, lets look at the editing rates and use an average pageperhour and an average hourly rate. It depends on the font you are using, of course, but in general, 250300 words per page.
Most ebooks i see are double spaced, which makes their pages clearer but also reduces the number of words per page. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about. Set the trim size and type specs to whatever you wish see instructions below, and see how many pages the text runs to. So, if you have an hour to write and aim to get down 300 words, you might wonder, how many pages is 300 words and the answer is less than one. To put these numbers in perspective, if you type with a font size of 10, you could be packing nearly words on each a4 page which would make nearly 3 paperback pages. Apr 10, 2008 the average young adult book today is about 1200 pages. You can use comparable, successful books as models to determine the length. The point is that the perpage count is an estimate that will average out over time, and its good enough for most purposes. As a general guideline, chapters should be between 3,000 to 5,000 words. How does your book measure compare to whats succeeding in todays marketplace. All we have to do is use the wp tool that shows word count. Chris, for trying to answer a big question with a small answer.
If you have front or back matter dedications, forewords, bibliography, indexes, etc. Its too much hassle and timeconsuming time you couldve spent refining and perfecting your book content. Oct 18, 2017 as with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. Nov 15, 2015 a rough guideline to start with would be 500010,000 words per book. Continuing the exercise, assume each book contains 100,000 words a reasonable estimate, and the goal is to read one book a month. Books for 7 to 9yearold readers would probably start at the 15,000 word mark, rarely going higher than 30,000 words. Its no longer necessary to estimate according to the 250wordsperpage formula. Depending on the text formatting, a page word count may include from 200 large print up to 600 words academic book. Inciting incident, plot point 1, midpoint, plot point 2, denouement. While a general guideline is one page is 500 words single spaced or 250 words double spaced, this is a ballpark figure. The truth is the number of words per page depends on a variety of factors such as the type of font, the font size, spacing elements, margin spacing, and paragraph length to name a few. When i write technical articles, theyre usually 600 words and about a page and a half. Though the average word count of a chapter is around 2,000 5,000 words, it all depends on your story. The average across a sample of 50 books in august 2015 showed 172 words per kindle edition normalized page.
Stephen king word count 112263 274,672 bag of bones 203,3 black house 252,270 blockade billy 15,917 carrie 60,718 cell 121,931 christine 193,602 cujo 121,150 cycle of the werewolf 15,955 desperation 195,011 doctor sleep. Of course it begs the question, how much material does it take to become publishworthy. For example, a typical 5th grade book has 200 to 250 words per page. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. Yes, its possible to break this model by having lots of staccato dialog, or paragraphs that are more than 250 words long, but those are extreme cases. How to calculate a word count per page pen and the pad. It contains 38 lines per page, with an average of 12 words per line, thus. Estimate a small reduction for the lines per page and the number of pages values. So 25 50 k words is about right depending on your target age. Keep in mind that the average compensation per book matters less the more books you sell, which depends on your business model. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. A manuscript for a novel is typically 500 words per page if singlespaced. Most agree that under 1,000 words would be rather short and that over 5,000 might be rather too long. This line count includes blank lines between paragraphs as well as lines with just a single word.
If using 12 point times or times roman font, its about 10 english words per line, on average. Academic books might put 600 words on a page with works of reference. Multiply the average number of words per line by the number of lines on a full page. The average adult novel runs approximately 100,000 words while those in other categories run 80120,000 words. The average young adult book today is about 1200 pages. Many category editors find it easier to judge the length of a book in the way theyve always done.
This number was significantly different from the average we had seen for the estimated print length that had been given in the product details of each book s amazon sales page. Academic books might put 600 words on a page with works of reference squeezing in words. Learn the average wordcount for every type of novel, novella, genre, etc. So that comes out to about 400 a page and then factor in the double spacing and you get to 250 or so. On average, there are about 300 words per page in a book. For paperbacks you get 2550 lines per page, with 35 being a good average. Such books will have a minimum length of 75,000 words but seldom exceed 110,000. Oct 27, 2018 james patterson the mostselling author in the world is famous for his tiny chapter of a page and a half around 250500 words. Further, that font and size will put 49 singlespaced lines on a page. At one extreme you get large print books with 250 words on the page.
This is an art rather than a science but here are a few tips. 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. Frequently asked questions getting published meg cabot. Using amazons number of words as a guide, 5,000 words would equal 26. Using your current word count and the appropriate formula below, calculate the number of pages you can expect in your finished book. Jun 04, 2012 continuing the exercise, assume each book contains 100,000 words a reasonable estimate, and the goal is to read one book a month. You may decide that compensation isnt your end goal and your publication is more about creating a. For manuscripts, the answer is about 250300 words per page if it is doublespaced. An approximate word count round numbers based on what your wp tells you enables them to estimate costs and other factors involved in printing a. This gives you 200 large print, 500 for an academic book with 350 words per paperback page as a working average. Roughly how many pages would 50,000 words produce in a. Most adult books are about 90,000 words, and no longer than 100,000 words unless youre jk rowling. This would mean a book with 30,000 words would be roughly 120 pages. If you figure an average of about 250 words per page, then what about 60,000 words or so for an average book.
Estimate a small reduction for the linesperpage and the numberofpages values. This number was significantly different from the average we had seen for the estimated print length that had been given in the product. I use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. This example illustrates that for most situations, 20 minutes reading time might not be enough.
The industry standard for a manuscript page, however, is a firm 250 words. It contains 38 lines per page, with an average of 12 words per line, thus 456 words per book page. Some will tell you 2,500 words is the average, while others will say that 3,000 to 5,000 word chapters are more likely to be the norm. Heres how 90,000 words which is 360 pages at 250 words per page breaks down by act. As with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. Mar 20, 2020 howtos or selfhelp usually have 4050,000 words. 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. When the final work is printed for sale and published, the number of words per page will differ. Now that you know the average number of words per page in your book, you can calculate the page count with a little arithmetic. Nonfiction books tend to be shorter, around 45,000 words on average, and novels ten to be longer, around 80,000 words on average. Aug 05, 2019 the average singlespaced document typed in 12point font contains about 500 words per page, but that can vary pretty drastically depending on your formatting.
Publishers want to know the overall length of your book. How many pages do they read appalachian state university. Paperback books typically contain how many words per page. To fill a page in word, you would need around 500 words, 1. Hello, ive just received a contract for an academic book at 110,000 words with what looks like a 5 per cent capacity to go over, which is supposed to include the index. Pages by paperback uses an industry standard formula for english language publishing of taking the average number of words per page and multiplying it by the average number of characters per word five including a space, for six total, the product of which is then used to divide against the total character count of the project. An average doublespaced manuscript page has about 250 words on it. There are times when it helps to know how many words per page youre writing.
The truth is the number of words per page depends on a variety of factors such as the type of font, the font size, spacing elements, margin spacing, and paragraph length to. Ultimately, you can expect there to be roughly 300 words per page in a book you write as a whole. Book page count calculator how many pages is my novel. Count characters and words with the anycount tool for a precise estimate and get every single cent youve earned.
The typical books wordsperpage count tends to range between 225 and 275an average of 250. Targeted for 2 to 8yearold kids, this type of book typically has between 400 800 words. However, as i understand it, the index isnt done until the final proofs are in place so as to get the page numbers right, and so im not sure how much buffer to leave. To get an idea of what your book will look like you need to match the number of words per page on your word processing page to the finished printed page. I just laid out a 65,000word book and it ended up, with a couple pages of photos and a few pages of appendix, at 268 pages the pages in the main body of the text are numbered up to 237. Jan 08, 2018 now that you know the average number of words per page in your book, you can calculate the page count with a little arithmetic. Further, that font and size will put 49 singlespaced lines on a. How many words per page are there in a typical novel. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. Divide the result by 10 to find the average number of words per line. Therefore, a 55,000 word book should be about 200 manuscript pages. Words which is 360 pages at 250 words per page breaks down by act. This number can vary depending on if youre writing dialogue or how short each paragraph is. Before our book page count calculator, you had to dig around through multiple sources to figure out how many words per page for your exact font size and then do the math.
Books can be as short as 25,000 words, around 100 pages, or as long as 3 million words, or about 1,000 pages. Middle grade novels vary a lot, but a safe spot to aim for would be 30,000 words. The total page count excluding appendices and index is 204 pages, thus about 93,000 words. These are basic learning books that creatively teach colors, numbers or simple, fun stories for bedtime. Whether or not a book has more or less words per page depends on the layout, the physical size of the pages, the linespacing, the length of paragraphs, and the size of the font. Mysteries and young adult books run between 40,000 and 80,000 words. The average singlespaced document typed in 12point font contains about 500 words per page, but that can vary pretty drastically depending on your formatting.
Because dialogue requires paragraph breaks, there will be fewer words than if you have a few pages of full paragraphs instead of dialogue. Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words. Every category will have an average length, including childrens books, young adult, business books, etc. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. This is because printers print on large sheets of paper and fold it. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. James patterson the mostselling author in the world is famous for his tiny chapter of a page and a half around 250500 words. Jun 07, 2017 when talking about book length, its common to talk about word count rather than page count.
There are no hardandfast rules for the number of pages in a book. Some 6090k ya books get classified as hilo, but i dont think they were specifically written for the category. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. Write out your basic storyline in major plot points only. Knowing how many words in a novel is the first step toward writing a book. 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. Note that in the table, ive converted everyones estimates into words per hour wph instead of pages per hour. I find it is a stereotype, but boys are less prone to read longer books. Simply divide the total word count from your word document by the number of words per page. Using this exercise, you should end up with a good idea of book length expectations for a novel like yours.
Paperbacks generally average 250270 words per page. Using a standard font size, you can estimate about 250300 words per page. Right now, when it comes to novellength word count, its all about. 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 books50% of books have fewer words and 50% of books have more words. Just to keep in mind, the average one spaced page usually contains about 3000 characters or 500 words. There are plenty of books that purposefully play with the word counts of their chapters. A rough guideline to start with would be 500010,000 words per book. This reduction will be very small, like maybe 12 lines less per page, and 510 pages less for the book.
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