Chapter book word length

Theyre very short in terms of manuscript length 1,500 words max but are. Surely when writing the important thing is to get words on the page even if theyre in pink comic sans. Try it on some books with chapter lengths you like, and dont be surprised if it. If you dont know how to find your documents word count, this article shows you how. It is feasible to count the number of words in a published chapter. Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. What follows is a rough guide to book length expectations in certain genres. These are books that resemble young adult in matter and storytelling. Information on writing and publishing in the early reader and chapter book market. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. Is there a maximum or minimum length for a chapter. On a scale of one bad to ten excellent, chapter books rate their agents overall as an 8. This being said, there are plenty of books with 30 or 40 chapters. Length of a book is typically associated with its sizespecifically page countleading many to assume the largest and thickest book equates to its length.

I went to another conference and told an agent about my chapter books series with the word count ranges and she was like thats kind of short for a chapter book. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading. I tend to be a very unconventional author when it comes to chapter length and word count for the entire novel. Before you decide your average chapter length, its a good idea to think about the purpose behind dividing a book into chapters. From a conference, paula sadler had given out a handout that said the word. If you plan to turn your ebook into a print book at some point, you might want to consider length. Mainstream, thriller, horror, romance, suspense, mystery, and. With that in mind, ive tried to put together the definitive post on word count for fiction novels, young adult, middle grade, childrens books and even memoir. Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book.

The reader gets exhausted, shoves the bookmark in the middle of the scene and may have to reread. But the word count of a chapter matters if you want. Heres what you need to know about this often overlooked. 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. It contains 29 chapters now and will probably contain 30 or 31 depending on how the last two go. Learn about about childrens book manuscript chapter length and what you should be aiming for in. Also, the chapters are evenly divided into 3 titled parts. Word count for novels and books is something i dont think about too often until i travel to a writers conference, and then someone asks a simple, innocent question. For this reason, there really is no average word count within the range. Id guesstimate that nonfiction books generally yes, this is very rough run perhaps 150450 pages, and at about 350 wdpage that works out to something like 50150k words. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words.

If im writing a novel, this gives me 40 chapters and 70,000 words when im done. How to write early readers, easy chapter books, and chapter. If you know how long the book is, you can divide it into eighths to find the perfect timing for all your major turning points. When i got back home i checked and found that her latest book published april 1, 2014, ive got you under my skin, has an average chapter length of 768 words. For example, if youre writing for genres that have a word count range of 80,000 89,999 words i. If you are an author of a book or know of a books accurate wordcount, contact me. Readers of individual genres anticipate certain book lengths, and so do publishers. 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 an average chapter length of 11,300 words. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan. Given this, being aware of some of the reasons why you might endstart a chapter is helpful.

The only word of caution is to consider that if the chapter is under 1,000 words, it may not be a whole idea or. A statistical analysis of robert jordans the wheel of time. The average mean word count was about 53,000 words. Writing middle grade a look at the numbers hannah holt. Oct 03, 2017 on a scale of one bad to ten excellent, chapter books rate their agents overall as an 8. Any less than 5 chapters, and your chapters may be running long or may contain too many ideas. Theres no hard and fast rule for when to end or start a new chapter. May 12, 2012 what i would advise, however, is to vary the length a little with some of them you can afford to increase some by word length and it wont affect the overall book. Otherwise, changing even the smallest details will be a nightmare. How to calculate your books length before writing helping.

A chapter is a single argument, idea, or step in your process. Childrens book writers must adhere to strict industry standards for word counts. Heres what you need to know about this often overlooked genre. With upper middle grade, you can aim for 40,000 55,000 words. How to calculate book length in an earlier post i discussed broad issues relating to word count and book length but didnt actually explain how the length of a book is calculated. If you are an author of a book or know of a book s accurate wordcount, contact me. When writing for the younger ages especially, every word must count. 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.

The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. 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. Jun 27, 2019 middlegrade novels are generally 20,000 to 55,000 words. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. It should be enough to communicate your message effectively. 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. For more information on word counts for childrens book, check out this post. Jun 15, 2017 this is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. Though the average word count of a chapter is around 2,000 5,000 words, it all depends on your story. The hunger games has 27 untitled chapters, and about 3700 words per chapter. This survey was open from may 24th to september 15th, 2017. Sep 20, 2019 if youre writing a young adult fantasy novel, you should keep your word count below 90,000 words or 300 book pages. Analyzing chapter lengths in fantasy fiction creativity hacker.

When it comes to chapter length and layout, my rule is uniform throughout all my works. If you have any questions about how long your book should be, feel free to contact me and we can figure out your book vision and word count together. What i would advise, however, is to vary the length a little with some of them you can afford to increase some by word length and it wont affect the overall book. Chapter length variation keeps things a bit more interesting for the reader.

Lets take a quick tour of copy fitting, casting off and related issues here. A statistical analysis of robert jordans the wheel of. Hi, im a little confused about the word count for chapter books. How to write and publish early readers and chapter books. Tips and tricks by writerkellie kellie bowe with 4,362 reads. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. Jun 05, 2017 so childrens book manuscript chapter length is a big question that ive received many times about all sorts of childrens books that have chapters. Early readers are the earliest chapter stories that a kid can get. As with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. Let me tell you about how i had to remove my membership from a childrens writer forum because i responded to a newbie about this topic. Increasing book length and complexity across a series works very well when the books are first published. May 11, 2009 word count and book length getting published was indeed a good blog post.

One of my biggest problems as a publisher is having authors deliver more than was agreed to. Oct 27, 2018 chapter length matters more than you think. Before diving into the specifics of genrebased word counts, lets look at the broader picture of average book length. If there is a halfyear or year between each book release, then it stands to reason that the readers wont want the same book complexity by the. 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. T he indie author chris fox coined the term potato chip chapters for easilydigestible book chapters of a certain size. Ultimately, the ideal book length for a fantasy could vary from reader to reader, sub genre to sub genre, agent to agent, and publisher to publisher but looking at it from all angles, i personally think a fantasy book in roughly the 90120,000 word range would be well placed on all fronts perhaps with allowance for up to 150,000 for. 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.

When writing a longer book that is aimed at 12yearolds and could maybe be considered tween, using the term upper middle grade is advisable. Oct 22, 2010 early readers and chapter books are a childs first tentative steps into the grownup world of reading. May 14, 2018 readers of individual genres anticipate certain book lengths, and so do publishers. Therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. This averages to about 22 to 23 chapters per novel, with the average chapter length around 4,280 words. The only word of caution is to consider that if the chapter is under 1,000 words, it may not be a whole idea or chapter and may be part of something else. Chapter book dictionary definition chapter book defined. If perhaps it had even more pictures it would be even a lot better. But the word count of a chapter matters if you want your story to flow right. This is due to the audience youre reaching preferring that length.

A reasonable word count for a nonfiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words. 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. I use the target average of 1,500 words per chapter. There are plenty of books that purposefully play with the word counts of their chapters. What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a nonfiction book. If it feels more like a chapter book, i can add subplots. Some 6090k ya books get classified as hilo, but i dont think they were specifically written for the category.

Apr 23, 2018 this post covers why word count matters for novels, the standard word count ranges for various genres, and the word counts of some famous novels. However sometimes, like today, the reverse happens. Ill walk along published may 12, 2011 has an average chapter length of 1,021. Most are written inhouse or by packagers, and a few, as carrie noted about the dora books, are downright dreadful. I was quickly flooded with emails from many an angry author for daring to put a word count on a level of book. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. Writing chapter books a look at the numbers hannah holt. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. So childrens book manuscript chapter length is a big question that ive received many times about all sorts of childrens books that have chapters. The authors had sold between 10 copies and 2 million copies of their chapter books. Conversely, when we write epiclength chapters 10,000 words long, theres nowhere to pause. Yet all too often they arent taken seriously in the world of childrens publishing.

Jul 18, 20 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 an average chapter length of 11,300 words. Sep 20, 2009 how to calculate book length in an earlier post i discussed broad issues relating to word count and book length but didnt actually explain how the length of a book is calculated. Here is everything writers need to know about novel word counts. I am in the middle of cutting down a story right now. What is the typical word count for a middle grade novel.

Middlegrade novels are generally 20,000 to 55,000 words. That was the formula in the good old days when courier was the only typeface and typewriters were king. The collection as a whole posted an average chapter length of 6,100 words. Analyzing chapter lengths in fantasy fiction creativity. The dragon reborn was rightskewed, which means there was a heavy distribution of exceedingly long chapters. In this huge value book, youll get three short story collections, four complete series adventures, quirky stand alone stories, and an entire six book series about a chubby unicorn with a heart of gold. Like word choice or sentence length, its a matter of feel, of craftsmanship. How many trade childrens book have you sold with or. Of course, when youre writing the first draft of your story, you want to just get your words out on paper. Readers are a lot less likely to finish reading a chapter or especially a book if they have to fight their way through it. Once the story is in place, if it feels more like an easy reader, i can simplify the vocabulary and sentence structure. 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. Word count is a direct way to measure the length of a novel in a manner unaffected by variations of format and page size. 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. If they want a 6 x 9 book, this is only about 66 pagesalmost not a book. Still, there ought to be a good reason for beginning and ending a chapter. Im curious about your advice compose the novel in the standard format from the start rather than changing it later why does this matter. Im working on a series and have most of one book written thats about 100,000 words now. I hope this information has helped you gain clarity about your book.

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. Most nonfiction books have between 5 and 20 chapters. The first book is around 7,600 words and the second book is around 6,800 words. Kids chapter book, kids fantasy book, kids mystery book, kids funny book, kids free stories, kids free book, ages 68, 79, 810, 912. Word count estimates are not guaranteed to be accurate. Why chapter length matters more than you think medium. Oct 18, 2017 therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. I generally write horrorfantasy, as a result much more description is required to properly tell the story. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. Instead of having a separate word document for each of your chapters, i would highly recommend instead writing your manuscript as a single word document with chapter breaks. This looks like a simple question, but you have to look at several factors before you can determine optimum length.