Average book length non-fiction book

Book length average length of a non fiction book book n. By reading quickly, learning and doing, your reader will get good value, even from what you might consider to be a shorter book. These sizes are only guidelines to approximate sizing, and should not be used in order to design an actual book or magazine. Nothing is standard, and with the opportunities available for printing, the only right answer to how long should my book be. May 11, 2009 word count and book length one of my biggest problems as a publisher is having authors deliver more than was agreed to. I know of an author with a very large publisher whose novel has sold only 1,087 copies in its lifetime. Specifically, an accessible nonfiction book might be anything between about 30,000 words and 50,000 words. This is about the length readers want for general non fiction, and it keeps publishers happy given the high cost of paper. Jun 24, 2019 be aware that the word average means that for every book that sells 15,000, there is one that sells 5,000. However, i understand that the length of twilight is unusually long for a debut novel. Writing a first novel that doesnt represent too much of an economic gamble for a publisher makes it so much easier for the publisher to say yes. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. Martin and harper lee keep things more evenly paced in a game of thrones and to kill a mockingbird, respectively. The trade paperback is 314 which is at least 350 on a standard paper book.

You might be more surprised if a ya novel required olympianlevel arm strength to lift. With digital as well as print books available, the length of books varies. In this article youll discover the average number of pages for four different types of book. One of the concerns that brandnew authors constantly ask is how long should my nonfiction publication be. 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. Book length average length of a non fiction booki youtube. Everything you wanted to know about book sales but were. Many wouldbe authors worry that readers will not take a short book seriously. How to set the retail price for your nonfiction book. It is a story poem format with a short introduction before each poem to help with some additional history information.

And for every book that sells 20,000, there is one that is a disaster. When writing a longer book that is aimed at 12yearolds and could maybe be considered tween, using the term upper middle grade is advisable. And this ebook page length differs significantly depending on the book genre. When planning your non fiction book it helps to have an idea of how long a book needs to be to be marketable. Oct 27, 2018 chapter length matters more than you think. 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. Long enough to feel substantial, short enough not to intimidate potential readers.

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 book sizes and dimensions listed on this page and throughout most of our site are rounded measurements. A nonfiction book attractive to publishers of bestsellers starts at around 75,000 words. If the word count of twilight is disregarded, the average. My experience is that a book reaches its right length when the story follows the beats in save the cat writes a novel, the characters come alive and become memorable, their development is believable, and the plot develops and wraps up properly. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. In these cases, the overall design of the book determines the publishing costs more than word count. While there is some variation in average sales between different types of novels, nonfiction sales are entirely dependent on which. Although science fiction and some other genres have been creeping up and can now exceed 400 pages 200,000 words. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. If youd like some guidelines, you can assume that the average non fiction book is 50k words, and that they have 12 chapters, so around 4k words would be an average chapter length. With so much diversity in non fiction, its selfdefeating to try to set rules on the length of a book. Indeed, most traditional publishers limit nonfiction authors to 80,000 words for standard 6 x 9 books, between 240 and 280 pages.

Jul 17, 2017 not necessarily, according to a new study by book in a box of 272 non fiction books that hit the new york times best sellers list between 2011 and 2017. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000. When talking about book length, its common to talk about word count rather than page count. Oct 10, 2016 the right answer to how long should my book be. Novel 50,000 110,000 most print publishers prefer a minimum word count of around 70,000 words for a first novel, and some even hesitate for any work shorter than 80,000. The 1 thing you need to do to write a new york times. A typical popular business book runs 25,000 to 75,000 words.

However sometimes, like today, the reverse happens. If youre creating collateral pieces like custom envelopes to go with your finished book, please refer to the. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. At a writers conference i recently attended, publishing veteran jane friedman said 80,000 words is good for most fiction, below. Although science fiction and some other kinds were now invasive and can exceed 400 pages 200,000 words. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. I heard 10,000 words can be accepted as an ebook at a short length at least for non fiction. The average adult novel runs approximately 100,000 words while those in other categories run 80120,000 words. Mar 17, 2010 i am working on a book about my experience with losing a 9 year old cat to lymphoma. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price for the translation job. If you plan to turn your ebook into a print book at some point, you might want to consider length. You can follow any responses to this entry through the rss 2. I dont know what i can say to add to what has already been said. As persuasion progresses, jane austen seems to elongate hers, building them up on a crescendo.

However part why the new writers, the answer is difficult to identify because the answer is so difficult. This is not an uncommon length in traditional publishing, especially in my observation for nonfiction books that are heavy on research. Nonfiction ebook pricing in the kindle store by joel friedlander on april 25, 2011 61 comments pricing of ebooks is a constant source of discussion online, and weve seen the rebellions in the kindle store when publishers were allowed to start setting their own prices last year. Your chapter structure needs to be in proportion to the overall length of the book. That means 75,000 words equals 300 pages, which is just about perfect for a first novel. A word count guide for 18 book genres, including fiction and non fiction. Jul 23, 2012 so 50,000 words is the minimum for a non fiction book. The retail price you set for your book impacts your profit margin. Nonfiction is an insanely huge category that encompasses everything from craft books and joke books to travel guides and memoirs.

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. Book length average length of a non fiction book a 10 minute training video from video discusses how to determine the av. These are books that resemble young adult in matter and storytelling. Less than 100 pages and it becomes difficult for a printer to print the title of the book on the spine. When in doubt, i suggest people target 50,000 words to start. Thus i usually say that the average book sells 10,000 copies with a major publisher. The question of fiction and nonfiction was not introduced into the story so that brings another question as to the length of nonfiction v fiction and whether there should be a separate category for nonfiction ebooks so that we can remove these ebooks from the general population for data assessment purposes or simply provide another set. Non fiction readers, in particular, want value fast. What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a nonfiction book. One of the questions that new writers always ask is how long should my nonfiction book be. I guess 50,000 is a short novel and some early novels before goes as low as 40,000 which can be considered to be a novella. Available in ebook, print, audiobook and workbook formats. 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.

According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. An approximate word count round numbers based on what your wp tells you enables them to estimate costs and other factors involved in printing a book. At the other end of the spectrum a book of 80,000 to 100,000 words has significant heft, 320400 pages. This entry was posted on monday, may 11th, 2009 at 11. Since 2011, the average length of a bestseller has dropped steadily from year to year. 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. The length of your book should be determined by the content, whether it is a work. By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages. How to finally write your nonfiction book the new york times. Before diving into the specifics of genrebased word counts, lets look at the broader picture of average book length. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing stack. You can use comparable, successful books as models to determine the length.

With upper middle grade, you can aim for 40,000 55,000 words. And a typical howto nonfiction book might need between 7 and 12. Word count is not the beall and endall of your book. I dont know if the question is meant as a mentalstatistical exorcise. The length can vary greatly between genres, though. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. Jun 07, 2017 for my client base, which includes experienced consultants, coaches, and speakers who selfpublish, i find a nice book length is somewhere in the 40,000 to 70,000word range, which is 160280 pages. If you stick to these when youre writing your nonfiction book, youll. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. The average chapter word count of these novels falls within the 2,0005,000 range. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about 246 to 307 ebook pages. In the publishing industry, 250 words is considered a printed page of text.

When planning your nonfiction book it helps to have an idea of how long a book needs to be to be marketable. The book length on kindle is rather useless since you dont get a real book length. Mar 20, 2020 is there a correct length for an ebook. Every category will have an average length, including childrens books, young adult, business books, etc. But i also know of others who have sold over 500,000 copies. I know fiction works on average come in at 60,000 but i really had no idea about non fiction. It makes quite a difference whether you want to publish a childrens picture book, a 50recipe smoothie book, a science fiction novel or a technical encyclopedia. Generally speaking, traditional publishers expect completed nonfiction book. Kindle finally updated the page count to 276 from 114.

Standard book sizes, dimension, and specifications chart. Word count estimates are not guaranteed to be accurate. If yes, then most publishers still work on specific word count lengths for books so youll probably be aiming for around 60,00080,000 words for nonfiction. Im going to write about my experience and not worry too much about the word count. Typically, a book that is published in paperback format at a length of 300400 pages will come in between 80,000 and 100,000 words. For adult fiction especially crime, thrillers, womens fiction, saga and romance, 100,000 words is a good. For most publishers, a book is novel length when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Book length average length of four types of non fiction book. Make it actionable, helpful, and great value and the length wont matter.

In this writeup im mosting likely to try to respond to that inquiry. Easygoing, fairly light, userfriendly, nonfiction book for the masses. Id guesstimate that non fiction books generally yes, this is very rough run perhaps 150450 pages, and at about 350 wdpage that works out to something like 50150k words. Within the publishing industry we tend to talk about the length of a book in words rather than in pages. However, many authors, frustrated with the low price of ebooks, have taken to writing ebooks that are between 40,000 and 50,000. Generally speaking, a shorter book of 150 finished pages or 40k words or less typically commands a lower price. Recently i got asked this question, what is the ideal length word count wise for my first book. And conversely, a longer book of over 60k words or 200 pages can command a higher price. If the content is stepbystep and high quality, 15 pages is enough for a 99 cent kindle book or a freebie used for lead generation. This looks like a simple question, but you have to look at several factors before you can determine optimum length. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. Novels for adult readers fall between 80,000 and 120,000 words. Hi out there, ive just about finished a nonfiction book about little known young and other heroes of the american revolution. In fiction, a short book is between 50,000 to 80,000 words roughly 200 300 pages in paperback.

In fiction, a book about between 50,000 and 80,000 words about 200 to 300 pages in paperback. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 words. I noticed way too many nonfiction kindle books around 3040 pages. If you are planning to write a 200page book, then at 250words per page you are aiming for 50,000 words total. Indeed, most traditional publishers limit non fiction authors to 80,000 words for standard 6 x 9 books, between 240 and 280 pages. That number actually lines up pretty well with the data we have on this, but again, that number should neither be. Alternatively, this is an acceptable length for a short work of non fiction. Book length average length of a non fiction book one of the questions that new writers always ask is how long should my non fiction book be. With that in mind, ive tried to put together the definitive post on word count for fiction novels, young adult, middle grade, childrens. The 1 thing you need to do to write a new york times best.

Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. Harry potter and the sorcerers stone is about 77,500 words total. If you have an idea for a nonfiction book, its better to write a couple of chapters and then pitch a book proposal. Non fiction usually has longer sentences and also much less white room since it does not have discussion. Book length average length of a non fiction book 29th june 2018 posted in. If the topic really justifies length and especially if your credentials are highly impressive you can go longer, but check that you remain interesting, even at length. The ten awful truths and the ten wonderful truths about. Typically, fiction makes use of 250 words each web page, although 300 is additionally an usual worth. If you take the above authors and their 51 titles, they averaged 12,455 lifetime copies sold for each book published. As an interesting side note, amazons text stats show that the average length of all books on amazon is about 64,000 words.

I am working on a book about my experience with losing a 9 year old cat to lymphoma. If youre new to selfpublishing on amazon and wondering, just how much should i write for my kindle book. Theres nothing worse than a nonfiction book that doesnt engage the reader to keep reading. If you are an author of a book or know of a book s accurate wordcount, contact me. I heard 10,000 words can be accepted as an ebook at a short length at least for nonfiction. Although the length of fiction is genredependent to an extent fantasy novels, for example, tend to be on the thicker side, sticking to the ideal novel length is still the best advice. This is about the length readers want for general nonfiction, and it keeps publishers happy given the high cost of paper. What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a non fiction book. If you want to get a target for your non fiction book, the best thing may be to look at a dozen or so bestselling books in the genreniche youre aiming at and see what their word counts are. Publishers want to know the overall length of your book. A word count guide for 18 book genres, including fiction and non.

Theres nothing worse than a non fiction book that doesnt engage the reader to keep reading. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site post navigation. In this article im going to attempt to answer that question. 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. Nov 07, 2016 generally speaking, a shorter book of 150 finished pages or 40k words or less typically commands a lower price. 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. By the standards of fiction that is considered very short size news, actually.

That means your manuscript must be at least 3540,000 words long. The graph shows the average length of the top 100 bestsellers in each of the 30 main amazon kindle categories, measured in terms of the number of pages. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. But if all their books only sold 10,000 copies, they might struggle financially. Add screenshots or other graphics and youve got a nicesized ebook. The average length of a nonfiction book is 50,000 words, with some books falling at around 3540,000 words, and others running as long as 70,000.