Average word count of a book chapter

As persuasion progresses, jane austen seems to elongate hers, building them up on a crescendo. This is due to the audience youre reaching preferring that length. 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. What do most writers see as a good average chapter length. This article on writers digest also suggests a length of around 100115,000, and takes a good look at desirable word count ranges for different genres. That number actually lines up pretty well with the data we have on this, but again, that number should neither be a goal, nor a constraint.

A statistical analysis of robert jordans the wheel of time. 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. If youd like some guidelines, you can assume that the average nonfiction book is 50k words, and that they have 12 chapters, so around 4k words would be an average chapter length. Do you want to publish a wide format bookwith inspiring quotes down the side margins. Analyzing chapter lengths in fantasy fiction creativity. Once you know your word count, follow one of our two methods below to estimate your page count. I am writing the last chapter of my childrens chapter book manuscript and am currently just shy of 23k. Compressing a very exciting scene so you can meet your chapter word count target is also not going to do you any favors. I definitely notice when a chapter is a lot shorter or a lot longer than sort of what has been established. I use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. The authors had sold between 10 copies and 2 million copies of their chapter books.

Aug 25, 2014 the overall average for all five books is 5145 words chapter 1. Youll use the word count in your word document to calculate book page count. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or short, perkins says. New writers tend to assume that a chapter must be a certain set length in order to maintain the average novel length of around 80,000 95,000 words, but in truth, chapters can be as long or as short as you need them to be. 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. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. The hunger games uses 3,700 word chapters, dividing each chapter into three parts. If youre a new author, id recommend staying on the shorter side, perhaps around the 75,000 word mark.

The average chapter word count of these novels falls within the 2,0005,000 range. When you find those commercial breaks, end your chapter and start a new one. Look for your chapters to have those similar elements. Your article was a welcome relief to me since i cannot justify writing for the sake of adding to my word count if the story is already complete. Never pad your manuscript just to meet a wordcount guideline. 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. Count up the total number of words on 10 random full lines from different places and divide by 10 to get the average wordsperline count the number of lines on each page to get the linesperpage check that the book actually starts on page 1 sometimes the stuff before it starts is counted then. May 12, 2012 new writers tend to assume that a chapter must be a certain set length in order to maintain the average novel length of around 80,000 95,000 words, but in truth, chapters can be as long or as short as you need them to be. If im writing a novel, this gives me 40 chapters and 70,000 words when im done. Depending on your genre, having too many or too little can not only hurt your book sales, but also cause fewer 5star. Your best bet is to figure out what books yours is comparable to, then sit down and count the words on 23 typical pages. We are also going to look at how harry potter is comparable to other young adult novels in regards to word count.

Nicholas sparks word count popular novel word count. Apr 11, 2015 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. Writing middle grade a look at the numbers hannah holt. 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. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. Apr 11, 2015 nicholas sparks word count the notebook 38,520 message in a bottle 92,760 a walk to remember 49,311 the rescue 100,916 a bend in the road 93,766. 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. Know your content, know your mainline pitch and some. Each chapter is a mini story in its own right, so to work properly, just like any story, each chapter must have, as a bare minimum, a beginning, a middle, and an end. Theyre very short in terms of manuscript length 1,500 words max but are broken up into either chapters or vignettes that will give the reader the feeling of reading a book with real chapters in it. During the introductory month of the new system, the conversion of kenpc into the actual number of words in the book actual word count showed significant differences from one book to the other. Excluding endnotes and index, the book has about 200 pages of text, which means its total word count is about 74,000 words. It is feasible to count the number of words in a published chapter.

If yours is too short, restructure it and add more tightly written stuff. This 90,000word guideline for how many words in a novel is just that, a guideline. The overall average for all five books is 5145 wordschapter 1. Its also worth noting that the average word count figure can vary by genre. A nonfiction book attractive to publishers of bestsellers starts at around 75,000 words. That number actually lines up pretty well with the data we have on this, but again, that number should neither be. The word count at big five publishers had a slightly narrower range. Before you decide your average chapter length, its a good idea to think about the purpose behind dividing a book into chapters. In other words, let your content dictate your chapter length, not the other way around. If you have a 1,000word chapter, a 4,000word chapter, then a 2,000word chapter, then you need to make it clear to the reader that each has a unique value. Nicholas sparks word count the notebook 38,520 message in a bottle 92,760 a walk to remember 49,311 the rescue 100,916 a bend in the road 93,766.

From a conference, paula sadler had given out a handout that said the word count could be between 5,000 to,000 words. Click librarian or teacher and then search for books like yours click on the. While the idea of chapters in the 3,000 to 5,000word range is a good guideline when roughing out your books structure, it isnt a rule, and the story itself should be the primary deciding factor. Eye of the world was one of the more normally distributed book in terms of chapter wordcount, which essentially means it had a mostcommon chapter length and a comparable number of chapters that were longer or shorter the dragon reborn was rightskewed, which means there was a heavy distribution of. Or to put it another way every chapter needs a three line plot. The longest average chapter lengths were lord of the rings 7,500, prince of nothing 8,700, and the beefiest chapters were found in the black company, with.

A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. I once entered a competition that set a maximum word limit of 80,000 for young adult novels and 100,000 for adult novels. So itll be off on occasion, but it should get you relatively close for the average book. Oct 18, 2017 the average chapter word count of these novels falls within the 2,0005,000 range. If youre writing a young adult fantasy novel, you should keep your word count below 90,000 words or 300 book pages. The one im targeting would be the younger audience around ages 6 to 9. Jun 05, 2017 childrens book manuscript chapter length consistency is what sort of keeps the engine of your pacing going. Calculate book page count using the word count from your word document.

Each genre and subgenre has its own word count range. Your target audience for these is kids ages 4 to 8. Try it on some books with chapter lengths you like, and dont be surprised if it. Oct 22, 2010 early readers are the earliest chapter stories that a kid can get. Oct 27, 2018 i use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. Write as much as it takes to tell the story, and no more. Childrens book manuscript chapter length consistency is what sort of keeps the engine of your pacing going.

What is the average number of words per chapter for each of. Many, yes, but there are exceptions due to the layout and font size of a particular book. 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. The important thing is that your length fits your book. Writing towards a word count might not work for everybody, but having a rough goal in mind certainly helps me when im sketching out chapters and undertaking my first draft. If the word count of twilight is disregarded, the average becomes around 88,625. To find pretty much any kids ya word count, you can use the ar bookfinder. The average mean word count was about 53,000 words. If you have a 1,000 word chapter, a 4,000 word chapter, then a 2,000 word chapter, then you need to make it clear to the reader that each has a unique value. I just popped into my office and pulled a few books off the shelf. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts.

New writers tend to assume that a chapter must be a certain set length in order to maintain the average novel length of around 80,000 95,000 words, but in. Otherwise, the inconsistency could drive the reader away from the book altogether. How many words are in an average chapter in a novel. Each chapter in your book tells a ministory that forwards your overall plot. How to write early readers, easy chapter books, and. Twilight has 24 titled chapters, or 26 if you count the preface and epilogue, and about 4580 words per chapter. Never write a chapter longer than 4,000 words bookfox. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. Jan 08, 2018 wondering how many word pages equal a book page. Chapters for his first and bestknown novel the notebook average about 3,200 wordsthe perfect length for casual readers. There are no hardandfast rules on how long or short a chapter needs to be. The author selling the most copies was a scholastic author published only in softcover hello, scholastic school. And remember, keeping to word counts is important, but what makes or breaks your chances with a publisher is.

On average i prefer a chapter of between and 3000 words, about 2000 the ideal but what matters more is how it is written. Martin and harper lee keep things more evenly paced in a game of thrones and to kill a mockingbird, respectively. You dont have to pick a number like 80,000 and then divide it by 30 chapters to give you 2500. A long block of text that is not broken up into paragraphs, with no dialogue is hard to read even if its words or less.

Each page contains about 34 lines, with an average word count of 11 words per line, thus 375 words per page. This is a lot of information at a glance, so ill distill a few salient observations. Why chapter length matters more than you think medium. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals. For example, atonement has a word count of 123,378 and my utility comes up with 110,765 words. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. In this article, were going to look at how many words are in the harry potter series. As far as length, popular memoirs range quite a bit from about 60,000 words to 120,000 or more. But, most nonfiction publishers want to be sold the concept, and therefore be able to discuss the direction of the project, before you write the book.

Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or. A recommended wordcount might be 15002000 words but, more. You shouldnt set manuscript guidelines for yourself on chapter length. Do check your comparable titlesrecent debuts onlyto make sure your story falls in that range. Ideally, you want to give your reader something she knows. Most middle grade novels are between 40,000 and 69,000 words long.

Calculate book page count using word count for book design. Fantasy novels with a 300k total word count might run 10,000 or 15,000 words whereas a standard standalone novel might only have 3,000 or 4,000 words a chapter. Well, youll put the book down when you get to the end of this chapter. It should be enough to communicate your message effectively. For debut books in this field the average word count tends to be 35k and it has therefore become the marker many industry professionals look for in queries from new writers. Feb 09, 2015 word counts of popular ya books as i started drafting my new wip a ya scifi thriller i began wondering what word count i should aim for. And when im reading, i definitely notice, you know, with my editorial clients, i have manuscripts in front of me all the time. The eight harry potter books have an impressive combined word count of over 1 million words.

Chapters in books for younger readers often err on the shorter side, while fantasy. Early readers are the earliest chapter stories that a kid can get. 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. Writing chapter books a look at the numbers hannah holt. Sharp objects has a word count of 80,565 and my utility calculates it at 80,7. Chapters need to be relatively equal in length for the structure of the book to make sense. Im a little confused about the word count for chapter books. Harry potter and the sorcerers stone has 17 chapters with titles, and about 4560 words per chapter.

First of all, find your word count in word by opening your document and looking at the bottom left of your screen. We explain two easy methods to estimate your book s page count. When i started writing three years ago, the mg word count i kept hearing was no more than 30,000 words. So, whats the sweet spot for an average chapters word count and. But remember, this is more of a guideline than a rule.