Naverage word count of a book chapter

My observation of this whole word count thing for a picture book having to be under doesnt make sense. First of all, find your word count in word by opening your document and looking at the bottom left of your screen. Author eve tells me her book came in at 95,000 words. 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. 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. It takes the question of length completely off the table as an issue. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. Ive been researching the word countspages of ya novels to make sure im not under or over.

Your target audience for these is kids ages 4 to 8. A third indicates that it is a natural breath in the action of the novel. Im concerned because the word count is around 1,000 words. Compressing a very exciting scene so you can meet your chapter word count target is also not going to do you any favors. My chapters word counts average out to be around 3,5004,000 words. Well, youll put the book down when you get to the end of this chapter. It is feasible to count the number of words in a published chapter. List all your current plot threads, and then explore ways to expand upon them. This is a true statement if your goal is to be published through traditional methods someday. The hunger games uses 3,700 word chapters, dividing each chapter into three parts. Word count per chapter is highly subjective, and 5,000 should be plenty. Basically, instead of applying a formula for word count, we apply the final format and see what results. One of the plot threads i included in my story involved a characters attempts to cover up her past. Genre in childrens writing meg rosoff the guardian.

But remember, this is more of a guideline than a rule. Chapters for his first and bestknown novel the notebook average about 3,200 wordsthe perfect length for casual readers. Put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be around 8090k. Word count is the devil you have to love, or at the very least, respect. 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. Aug 28, 2010 word count is the devil you have to love, or at the very least, respect. Before we discuss the best word count of a chapter, lets first break. Search for word count totals in books word counters. May 21, 2006 my observation of this whole word count thing for a picture book having to be under doesnt make sense. Chapters in books for younger readers often err on the shorter side, while fantasy. The word count to aim for with this type of book is usually between 500 and 600 words. That was the formula in the good old days when courier was the only typeface and typewriters were king. Chapters need to be relatively equal in length for the structure of the book to make sense. A reader of the editors blog asked about word count for novels and although i answered the question on the blog article where it was posed, i thought other writers might have the same concern. On the macro level in any type of edit, but especially a wordtrimming one, you always want to start with the big picture. In some cases, these books will have no words at all, such as for the very small child who likes to feel the fluffy cotton tail of a bunny or push the squeaker for a duck.

These include using published information about the book to determine an exact word count, estimating the number of words based on industry standards and. Early readers are the earliest chapter stories that a kid can get. Words counts of bestselling novels better novel project. When i first started in the business around 7 years ago, we looked for picture book manuscripts that were less than words. If your protagonist has just discovered something and is going. I have a copy of their jungle book picture book and it has in excess of 5300 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. That said, this figure differs from book to book and organization to. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. I use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. Varying chapter lengths helps build the pace and tension in a novel. What is the average word count for a scene in a chapter. From a conference, paula sadler had given out a handout that said the word count could be between 5,000 to,000 words. Harry potter and the sorcerers stone has 17 chapters with titles, and about 4560 words per chapter. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. Therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. For example, atonement has a word count of 123,378 and my utility comes up with 110,765 words. Now the decisions can be made based on your writing and.

Those of you who dont care about traditional publishing can leave the room now. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. These are basic learning books that creatively teach colors, numbers or simple, fun stories for bedtime. Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book. Of course, word count wont matter if a story doesnt hook the target audience. Its for the ages 710, would i need to stretch it up to 8,000. In the current one my longest chapters are 4,600 and my shortest merely journal entries 600. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. I dont mean to imply that a manuscript with such a word count cant be sold. I just popped into my office and pulled a few books off the shelf. That would mean that walt disney doesnt have a clue as to what they are doing. Im a little confused about the word count for chapter books. A light novel is around 50,000 words on average, not 20,000. You wont get exact, but youre wondering whether 35k is reasonable, so you dont need exact.

But chapter word count is something that you want to keep in. 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. As persuasion progresses, jane austen seems to elongate hers, building them up on a crescendo. Remember that a light novel is under 20,000 words but more than 15,000 words, so if ever wanting to publish it, be sure to convince the publisher that this is not a kids book. So, with only a few edits, the question and answer about word counts question. The final cut of my mystery novel is 72,500 words and 18 chapters so shorter chapters than yours. 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. The word count varies per chapter for each young adult novel. And it doesnt matter how many chapters there are in any young adult book. So, whats the sweet spot for an average chapters word count and. 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. 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. Sharp objects has a word count of 80,565 and my utility calculates it at 80,7. Its the overall word count publishersagentsanyone cares about.

Many of these books are written in rhyme or in a simple singsong meter that is catchy and fun. Twilight has 24 titled chapters, or 26 if you count the preface and epilogue, and about 4580 words per chapter. Jun 27, 2019 put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be around 8090k. If youre writing a young adult fantasy novel, you should keep your word count below 90,000 words or 300 book pages. With fun, lighthearted, simple middle grade youll want to stay around the 20k30k word count range. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. Check that the book actually starts on page 1 sometimes the stuff before it starts is counted then go to the last page before any bibliography, acknowledgements, appendices, etc. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals. But the word count of a chapter matters if you want your story to flow right.

Theres no point in obsessing about word choice if your story has whole scenes and whole subplots you can axe. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. For full titles, authors and descriptions of these books, see whats on my travel memoir bookshelf. One website indicated that a chapter is roughly 23 scenes long. 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.

I wrote this book over 2 years ago and have been spending the last few years editing and researching agents etc. At times the readers of books may be interested in discovering how many words they read. How to find out the number of words in a book pen and. This averages to about 22 to 23 chapters per novel, with the average chapter length around 4,280 words. Once you know your word count, follow one of our two methods below to estimate your page count. What do you think is a good word count per chapter. Now the decisions can be made based on your writing and whether your book is a fit for that publishing house. About how many words per chapter should a youngadult novel. What do most writers see as a good average chapter length. Try instead to end where theres a significant event or cliffhanger so the reader keeps turning pages. Im a retired ministry of defence police officer and was seconded to the united.

The one im targeting would be the younger audience around ages 6 to 9. Never write a chapter longer than 4,000 words bookfox. This is due to the audience youre reaching preferring that length. Of course, when youre writing the first draft of your story, you want to just get your words out on paper. Its also worth noting that the average word count figure can vary by genre. If the word count of twilight is disregarded, the average becomes around 88,625. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. There are some key differences between a thesis and a book chapter here are six of the most important. Sep 23, 2008 the word count varies per chapter for each young adult novel. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages.

In the first book i wrote my chapters average about 6k words. To give you a general idea of the average chapter length, the range is usually between 3,000 to 5,000 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. Anything above 70k but less than 115k science fiction and fantasy tend to run up around 100k115k words. 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. Since i work in tnr, a proportional type that gets more words to the page, i kept my first regency to a computer count of 70,000, figuring by guess and by gosh that i had just about reached signets maximum word count of. Why chapter length matters more than you think medium. If youre writing an adult fantasy novel or an epic fantasy novel like game of thrones, your word count can skew higher at 90,000 200,000 words. How to write early readers, easy chapter books, and. Just trying to reduce a thesis chapter to book length is rather like trying to jam a weeks clothes into an overnight bag it doesnt fit. As such, word count for picture book manuscripts are very low. Go play cricket or bake a souffle or save the whales. Oct 06, 2010 ive rechecked my word count of my childrens fiction book and i have just under 7500.

Calculate book page count using word count for book design. Or to put it another way every chapter needs a three line plot. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. Many, yes, but there are exceptions due to the layout and font size of a particular book. Also, make sure your chapters are under 3,000 words. Ive rechecked my word count of my childrens fiction book and i have just under 7500. Im a retired ministry of defence police officer and was seconded to the united nation mission in kosovo on three occasions. Ive been reading a 123 chapter fic and it is around 120ksome chapters were long, some were short.

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. Most stories dont reach 200k, let alone three million. If im writing a novel, this gives me 40 chapters and 70,000 words when im done. Word count for book series the first book in each series below was the authors first. Try it on some books with chapter lengths you like, and dont be surprised if it. When i started writing three years ago, the mg word count i kept hearing was no more than 30,000 words. Aug 16, 2010 well, as long as the whole story is told, word count doesnt matter at all. There doesnt seem to be any specific guidance for finding a standard break. 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.

Mar 25, 20 high word count for first novels and for the works of unproven writers is a valid concern. The length of a chapter in a novel should be less about words and pages and more about plot points. The first book in each series below was the authors first. Jan 25, 2018 the length of a chapter in a novel should be less about words and pages and more about plot points. Can be publisher specific, ranging from 3,000 to absolute max 5,000. Jun 15, 2006 im 55 years of age and writing a book which covers 7 years, from 2001 until 2007, of my life.

If your book falls within the standard preferred wordcount range, its one less reason for it to be rejected. 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. Sep 03, 2009 remember that a light novel is under 20,000 words but more than 15,000 words, so if ever wanting to publish it, be sure to convince the publisher that this is not a kids book. A reasonable word count for a nonfiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words. There are several methods for determining the word count of a given book. Im 55 years of age and writing a book which covers 7 years, from 2001 until 2007, of my life. Oct 18, 2017 the average chapter word count of these novels falls within the 2,0005,000 range. 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. A novelist of my acquaintance insists that the only way to estimate the number of words in a book is to multiply the number of pages by 250. About how many words per chapter should a youngadult.

Now, i have to look for word counts that are more like 500 words or less because many editors wont even look at something thats 700 or 800 words. Sep 25, 2008 the results are sometimes completely impractical. I do try to answer questions, although it sometimes takes a while. Should writers worry about word count the editors blog. In itself, no measure is perfect but personally i find word count the most useful.

Shorter novels such as fahrenheit 451, the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, the great gatsby, and slaughterhousefive are between 4050,000 words. Line count varies depending on page size, font size, etc. Youll use the word count in your word document to calculate book page count. What is the ideal wordcount per chapter for a novel.

Novelty books include popups, puzzles, pulltabs and other interactive features. How to increase your novels word count noveldoctor. How many words are in an average chapter in a novel. Oct 22, 2010 early readers are the earliest chapter stories that a kid can get.

Most chapters run around 5,000 words, while some may run up to 9,000 words. Youve honestly given yourself a harder challenge with that high word count. Im leaving this in the list to show that word count isnt offered for every book. As you can see, established authors get much more flexibility when it comes to the length of their book. Count the number of lines on each page to get the linesperpage. Well, as long as the whole story is told, word count doesnt matter at all. Nov 25, 20 and dont forget, it might seem logical that a thesis chapter can be simply converted into a book chapter, but the length issue alone means this isnt so. Aug 05, 2019 for most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words.