Standard children's books word count average

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. The average mean word count was about 53,000 words. Have you ever asked the question, what genre is my childrens book. 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. Readability is an interesting topic, and there are a number of readability formulas that can be used to test the readability of text. Books range from several words to several thousand compare goodnight moon to the polar express. Miranda is an awardwinning author of more than a dozen fiction and nonfiction books for. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. For this reason, there really is no average word count within the range. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text.

Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. Some people consider them genres, and some people insist that they are only subcategories of childrens books which may or not be a genre, depending upon who is doing the delineating. I use amazons data feeds to come up with the calculation. Picture books for children up to age eight average words though many are. I would say aim towards the 125,000 for your first daft. Your best bet is to figure out what books yours is comparable to, then sit down and count the words on 23 typical pages. You can use comparable, successful books as models to determine the length you book should be.

Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. 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. If i tell you that my book is 70,000 words, and send you an 800 page correctly formated ms the 1. Special thanks to miranda paul for this guest post. Children s book writers must adhere to strict industry standards for word counts. Listed below is a compilation of some of these guidelines. The standard size for a mass market paperback is around 4. A key issue is the fact that picture books are 32 pages. Dont be misled into thinking that picture books are easy to write, says linda. There is a 24page count minimum for our hard case bindings.

I was trying to keep it under 500 but i am happy with the flow and rhythm of the story. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. I just popped into my office and pulled a few books off the shelf. 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. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. Basic trade picture books as seen in most stores will typically have a standard set of 32 pages. Current word count trends society of childrens book writers and. Excluding endnotes and index, the book has about 200 pages of text, which means its total word count is about 74,000 words. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to be. The actual word count for the hunger games is 99,750 and my utility calculates 94,743 words. Every category will have an average length, including childrens books, young adult, business books, etc. Books falling outside the standard range of 272320 pages can be problematic. The manuscript is 2 double spaced pages and the word count is 515.

Guidelines for word count for childrens books anita. I remember reading some westerns in high school and, if i. For more information on word counts for childrens book, check out this post. From picture books to ya information to get you started at. Return to writing for children printmobilefriendly version. But when you format your book, the layout of your content, structure and readability is just as important as the content itself. On the other hand, overlength books may be tolerated by scholars but. Every picture book author should make a storyboard plus a giveaway. 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. The creation of hilow books to help children with low reading levels and readers with additional learning difficulties develop their reading confidence.

Custom hardcover books can also be covered with a dust jacket, a removable paper cover used to protect a book from dirt or damage. Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. Writing for young adults a look at the numbers hannah holt. Much has changed in childrens fiction in the past twenty years. Thriller novels, even though a bit different from other categories of novels, are a type of fiction novels. Having some reallife examples at your side, you should get a better sense of. Naturally, the quality of the content of your book is the number 1 priority. 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. These are basic learning books that creatively teach colors, numbers or simple, fun stories for bedtime. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. The word count to aim for with this type of book is usually between. The average mean word count was about 73,000 words. Writing chapter books a look at the numbers hannah holt. Unfortunately, they dont offer word count so ive created an algorithm based on the number of pages, genre, and the dimensions of the book.

Both our hardcover and softcover books come in all standard book sizes. While researching, i came across this interesting guide for the size of typefaces used in childrens books. Most middle grade novels are between 40,000 and 69,000 words long. More important is whether or not your book reads like a picture book succinct, musical, pictorial. That sweet spot between picture books and longer middle grade.

If you want to experiment with book sizes and the way they might impact your typesetting choices, the reedsy book editor allows you to do so for free. Its even more complex when you consider the age of your audience. In microsoft word i inserted comments where illustrations would go. I am very happy that it comes out to the 3 page standard like the printed childrens books i have in my collection.

As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. 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. The average adult novel runs approximately 100,000 words while those in other categories run 80120,000 words. The word count at big five publishers had a slightly narrower range. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. Meanwhile write more stories in the current word count and hope they sell. Much longer stories do register, but they only mean you end up reading fewer total books. Then on your second edit try to cut 5,000 word from each part if you have 3 parts to your story. Search for word count totals in books word counters.

And, in case youre wondering, here are the average word counts for other popular genres. So many people today rely on the word count given by their software program, but when you go to print a physical book, the pages matter. Publishers have strict guidelines for childrens book manuscript length. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. Kdp standard book sizes include most standard book dimensions, but they exclude the mass market paperback size. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or short, perkins says. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. The editor also provides four popular trim sizes for formatting 4. Nonfiction books tend to follow that same word count expectation at least in print and traditional publishing formats. I have a question about your opinion on word count in ya fantasy. I know that picture books are getting shorter and shorter. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words.

However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. So true what great advice, and what a fabulous graphic you provided. Picture books for children up to age eight average words though many are shorter. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Writing middle grade a look at the numbers hannah holt. Nonfiction picture book 3,000 words max, but closer to 1,000 to 2,000 words. Picture books are almost always an industry standard of 32 pages. What is the minimum word count for a thriller novel in. Deconstructing five spooky picture books with spoilers and word counts. Board books are those tough little things you give to the smallest of readers. They are not in high demand and there just arent a lot of standards out there.

This is due to the audience youre reaching preferring that length. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals. 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. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. Simple doesnt mean simplistic, and it definitely doesnt mean cute or babyish.

Can be publisher specific, ranging from 3,000 to absolute max 5,000. And so they should have the average word count of about 8000090000 words, as is the case with other fiction novels. Books at this size usually come with a tiny typeface and spine flexibility ranging from minimal to moderate. Counting chickens a few words about word counts at hope vestergaards site. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. Published childrens books are divided into three main categories.

Anita 50,000 words is a pretty standard number for the average ya novel. There are no set rules for how long a childrens novel should be, and the. Chapter books are a bit of an anomaly in the publishing world. Childrens book writers must adhere to strict industry standards for word counts. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. Standard book sizes custom book binding book trim sizes. In general, books for children follow these word count guidelines. Thats why the traditional submission formats exist. Word count for novels and childrens books at the guide to literary agents blog. Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction.

When i started writing three years ago, the mg word count i kept hearing was no more than 30,000 words. Generally, editors are a bit wary of answering questions about word counts. Each page contains about 34 lines, with an average word count of 11 words per line, thus 375 words per page. When it gets closer to 1,000, editors and agents may shy away. Underlength books are often regarded with suspicion by scholars. Word count for novels and children s books at the guide to literary agents blog. 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. Picture books 101 from alison hughes michael hingston medium. After all, childrens books have an entirely different set of expectations. Targeted for 2 to 8yearold kids, this type of book. If youre writing a young adult fantasy novel, you should keep your word count below 90,000 words or 300 book pages. In authorillustrator if you want a picture book deal, write picture books, not for magazines in picture books comments feed for this article. So example first edit i have over 40,000 words or 160 pages. The average across a sample of 50 books in august 2015 showed 172 words per kindle edition normalized page.