Nlong book word counts

According to wikipedia, these are the classifications are novel, novella, novelette, and short story. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. Basically, instead of applying a formula for word count, we apply the final format and see what results. To find the word count at for a particular book, search the books title, and click on it. This is a list of the novels over 500,000 words published through a mainstream publisher. The binding, font and paper size establish how many pages a published book will be. Scrivener counts only those words toward your target, and if youre importing text into the binder it doesnt increase the word count within the session. In general, ive found that approximate word counts are easily obtained through random sampling. Hamiltons the reality dysfunction 1,230 mediumtype pages. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. The actual word count for the hunger games is 99,750 and my utility calculates 94,743 words. To get an accurate word count for your manuscript, take the character count and divide by 5.

Longer word counts allowed for fantasy, scifi, paranormal, historical. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. The average book on the planet is 65,000 words at 200 pages, which is pretty close to this method. This entry was posted in uncategorized and tagged average word count, book word count, novel word count, robert jordan word count, wheel of time word count by michael kistner. A small print encyclopedia can have 200,000 words in just under 400 pages of course, so type size and format matter but this is a rule of thumb given amazons removal. How to find word count on your favorite novels nathan. Word count for book series the first book in each series below was the authors first.

With that in mind, it can still be an interesting work of selfevaluation to consider how many words you write each day. What you need to do is look at the word counts a publisher will accept. Word count information books words wordcount ask metafilter. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. I believe that the lord of the rings is over 300,000 words in length. Books that can be read by many ages are called crossover books. Word counts of the most popular books in the world foster grant uk. Pay particular attention to the minimum word count. And, as much as word counts shouldnt matter, anyone who has looked into publishing is aware of the numbers. The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe 38,421 prince caspian 46,290 the voyage of the dawn treader 53,960. On the macro level in any type of edit, but especially a wordtrimming one, you always want to start with the big picture. For example, you might manually count all the words on a single page and then multiply by the number of pages in the book. When writing a longer book that is aimed at 12yearolds and could maybe be considered tween, using the term upper middle grade is advisable.

The first book in each series below was the authors first. Reading length is a participant in the amazon services llc associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to and affiliated sites. Everything you need to know about word count and book length for books and novels and memoirs and childrens novels and picture books. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to. Many, yes, but there are exceptions due to the layout and font size of a particular book. Word count is a direct way to measure the length of a novel in a manner unaffected by variations of format and page size. As a general guideline 40k is on the low end, and 70k is pretty close to the high end for many publishers. Robert jordans the shadow rising 1,008 smalltype pages. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading. Jan 18, 2010 the average book on the planet is 65,000 words at 200 pages, which is pretty close to this method. Find out how long your favourite books are and how they compare to their contemporaries and books in other genres.

Estimate your page count book designer linda parke. I clicked on the unabridged version, and it lists the word count as 97,364. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. For more information on word counts for childrens book, check out this post. Jan 14, 20 hey, im writing a book and im a bit worried about the word count. Your guide to book word counts as a reader, ive never felt a good book was too long, even more than a thousand pages. You have just discovered the wonderful world of bibliographic metadata. I think it mostly only has kids ie ya and younger books. Book length word count science fiction and fantasy world. This last one is really good for gauging where a topic is most emphasized in scripture. Like everything in writing, you may write a work of genius that smashes all the rules. Feb 20, 2008 typically word counts are not advertised. A way to check word count of published books anita nolan.

Still, instead of word count being neutral, it could be a negative. Apr 07, 2012 higher word counts cost more to produce and if publishers are already taking a chance on a new author, taking a chance on a high word count is one more element of risk they have to deal with. You should be fine, but it wouldnt hurt to get it closer to 70k. While page counts are a common but not universal feature of bibliographic metadata, word counts are much less frequently provided and are not at all mandatory. And whether or not writers want to admit it, word counts count, and editors and agents judge you on them every. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. The graphic looks at the length of some famous novels, poems, and plays from literary history. See how your word count stacks up against these popular best sellers. Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book.

Hey, im writing a book and im a bit worried about the word count. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures of readability and to measure typing and reading speeds usually in words per minute. Knowing where to look to locate your word count will help you determine how long your book is actually going to be once its finished and you. For others, making sure that they dont go over the word count can be a chore especially if their editor is strict about not going over that number. For example, atonement has a word count of 123,378 and my utility comes up with 110,765 words. Heres how the wordcount of your book will decide what category your masterpiece falls in. Sep 12, 2012 put a title the exact title in the search engine, then click on the title, or one of the titles if more than one comes up. When converting character counts to words, a measure of 5 or 6 characters to a word is generally used for english. A letter in response to jack hitts article july 23, 2012 august 6, 2012 save this story for later. Publisher word count for magazine writing word counter blog.

If the editor doesnt care and you get paid by word for your articles, using publisher word count can increase your salary for an article by as much as 30% if you write for magazines or newspapers on a per word basis, this count is your friend. Unless youre tolstoy, youll likely still needs to tighten it up. I do find if someone has written a very short or overly long novel, they often dont quite have a grip on their story. Ive looked at articles that say literary agents wont consider a book with a word count of over 100 000, so you can see why im a little concerned.

Dec 04, 2014 see how your word count stacks up against these popular best sellers. That often dreaded, while at the same time appreciated, element of freelance writing. Aug 28, 2006 it is a way an author can estimate word count, but its just as easy these days to use the word count function on your average word processing program to get a pretty accurate count. The book will be part of a trilogy, and although ive only written little over half of the entire thing, the estimated word count is looking to be nearly 300 000 words. Sharp objects has a word count of 80,565 and my utility calculates it at 80,7. So its important to take each of the writers word counts with a pinch of salt in that, just because they are writing x amount of words. Regarding the value of adhering to standard word counts, jackie bates, a former managing editor at aa publishing, adds. As a result, a 100k manuscript can size up very differently on a shelf. Jun 27, 2019 chapter books will come in at the lower end of the spectrum, while middlegrade books meant for older readers may even slightly exceed 55,000 words. Again, the word counts i listed are general targets, and there may be a necessary reason for a nonfiction book to be more indepth. They are arranged from shortest to longest, though you probably could have figured. Word count, with a little help from amazon alexis grant. It is very rare for a publisher, or any reader for that matter, to be willing to take a chance on a manuscript of over 100 000 words from a firsttime author.

Using e publisher word count will almost always give you more words than the straight word count. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. Itll give you the word count in the books summary when you click on its title. We can see that the book of galatians has a very heavy emphasis on the subject of justification, and that out of the whole bible it uses the words the most proportionally. The book provides simple but powerful techniques for parents and other loving adults in babys life to encourage. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. Publishers word count requirements were set up back in the days of typewriters when courier was the only option. But for print publishing, the physical cost of producing the book is an issue, and the market does generally know what it likes. This is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books.

Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. Kelly, the scribe by elizabeth hunter, love is a stranger by. Of course, word count wont matter if a story doesnt hook the target audience. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. As you can see, established authors get much more flexibility when it comes to the length of their book. Aug 05, 2019 before diving into the specifics of genrebased word counts, lets look at the broader picture of average book length. Is there a website that gives the word counts on books. Every word counts shows you how to establish an effective daily readaloud routine to take charge of your babys future understanding and success. Search for word count totals in books word counters. May 11, 2012 heres how the wordcount of your book will decide what category your masterpiece falls in. Its about 20k words more than a novella, so its right on the low end, id say.

The book provides simple but powerful techniques for parents and other loving adults in babys life to encourage language and literacy development from the earliest days. It gives me a chance to lay out standard word counts for different types of books. For some content writers or bloggers, hitting their word count is a pain. Put a title the exact title in the search engine, then click on the title, or one of the titles if more than one comes up. If the average length is 300 pages, youre looking at a 75,000 word manuscript approximately one reason its harder for a new author to sell a 140,000 word manuscript is the size of the book. Word counts for chapter books and middle grade can range from 1,50030,000 or more.

If you are an author of a book or know of a books accurate wordcount, contact me. Word counts on every book of the bible from longest to shortest you can click on any book of the bible to read an overview of what its about. Conversely, if you remove text files it doesnt decrease the word count, but it. Well skip the extreme options like microfiction upto 100 words and flash fiction 100 words because you may not need a traditional publisher to print such a small book itll resemble a booklet or worse, a pamphlet. Word counts are exacting in devotionals and magazine articles and inexact in almost everything else. Nope, this is a post for writers who set out to write a nice little 100,000word noveland find themselves at the finish line with a 200,000word behemoth on their hands. Before diving into the specifics of genrebased word counts, lets look at the broader picture of average book length. Oct, 2016 a super high word count like 200,000 or 300,000 words or more is this an appropriate length for a book. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Cs lewis the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe 38,421 prince caspian 46,290 the voyage of the dawn treader 53,960 chuck palaniuk choke 70,562 fight club 53,267 rant 75,223 invisible monsters 60,930 lullaby 64,737 philip k. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures. As a reader, ive never felt a good book was too long, even more than a thousand pages. Word count and story classification the vintage bookworm.

A super high word count is most often an indication that the writer hasnt edited their work enough. Publishers are reluctant about firsttime novels shorter than 80,000 words or longer than 120,000. Length of a book is typically associated with its sizespecifically page countleading many to assume the largest and thickest book equates to its length. One of the things you will learn from countless agents and publishers is that there are preferred word counts for books. May 23, 2015 and whether or not writers want to admit it, word counts count, and editors and agents judge you on them every. Also, heres another list i may swipe and add in here. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan. Using your current word count and the appropriate formula below, calculate the number of pages you can expect in your finished book.

If you are an author of a book or know of a book s accurate wordcount, contact me. This is not a post for the writers who have trouble writing books that arent long enough. Page count is determined by the publisher, not the writer. Dec 28, 2017 as the new year dawns, lets focus on making sure every word in our roundedoff word count communicates, impacts, motivates, instructs, or comforts. A super high word count like 200,000 or 300,000 words or more is this an appropriate length for a book. Its easy to take smaller samples, too, and still come up with a reasonable approximation. Where can i find a database of all published books word.

Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. And, in case youre wondering, here are the average word counts for other popular genres. Coyne uses the nanowrimo wordcount length of 50,000 words for his examples, calling 50,000 words a good foundation to build upon. So thats when i decided to pump 10,000 to 15,000 new words into my new adult speculative fiction novel. A way to check word count of published books anita nolans blog. Yes, having a book that is overly short or overly long for its genre will incrementally decrease your odds of finding. They confound new writers who discover too late that the average contemporary romance is not 400,000 words, as are their debut unpublished epics. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. Less than 70,000 unless fantasy scifi supernatural, which can be longer, max 90,000. Is there a website that gives the word counts on books that. Sometimes theres a slight difference between different editions even though their content is supposedly identical. Opt already knows how many words opt has in the ms. Therefore, word counts are still based on the standards of umpteen years ago. If youre working on a novellength book, aim for 50,000 words at the very least but its better to aim for 90,000.

Theres no point in obsessing about word choice if your story has whole scenes and whole subplots you can axe. At a writers conference i recently attended, publishing. Where can i look up the word count for popular books. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. Failing to mention the word count, or committing the faux pas of stating the page count instead, will also see a quick rejection. For others, making sure that they dont go over the word count can be a chore especially if their editor is strict about not going over that numbe. Word counts and other distractions griffin paul jackson. Word count estimates are not guaranteed to be accurate. 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. Ive been researching the word countspages of ya novels to make sure im not under or over. This is not a post for writers who say theyre going to write a short story and actually end up writing a short story. Anything above 70k but less than 115k science fiction and fantasy tend to run up around 100k115k words. Jan 27, 2017 so its important to take each of the writers word counts with a pinch of salt in that, just because they are writing x amount of words.

Higher word counts cost more to produce and if publishers are already taking a chance on a new author, taking a chance on a high word count is one more element of risk they have to deal with. Find the word count for published ya and childrens books. Conversely, if you remove text files it doesnt decrease the word count, but it does affect it the draft total. It is, i think, the easiest to use to quickly find the word count of a book. I put in anne of green gables and clicked on the first entry, and it listed the word count as 17,129. Famous books and their word counts freelance writing jobs.