Standard children's book word count average

For the first three children s book categories listed above, you are better off editing your word count down as low as possible. The romance genre has word count standards of its own. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. I use amazon s data feeds to come up with the calculation. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. Surely when writing the important thing is to get words on the page even if theyre in pink comic sans. Line count varies depending on page size, font size, etc. You converted it into epub ebook format either using an app on your computer or online.

Standard book sizes custom book binding book trim sizes. Most middle grade novels are between 40,000 and 69,000 words long. The truth about word counts for childrens book is nothing is set in stone, so it can be a good idea to do as much research as possible on current expectations. Dec, 2019 chapter books are a bit of an anomaly in the publishing world. Realize it over the maximum word count for erotic, science fictionfantasy genre. Trim sizes in this post were updated on january 30, 2015 as soon as you get serious about selfpublishing a book, you are confronted with the choice of what size your book ought to be for instance, if you want to get a price on how much a book will. Im curious about your advice compose the novel in the standard format from the start rather than changing it later why does this matter. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. They are short books, usually with a lot of illustrations.

Im not sure if im pushing the word count over, been trying cut back the word count. This is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. Anything from 80,000 to 110,000 is common, with many novels falling in the 90,000 to 100,000 count range. Sep 20, 2019 how many words in a novel vary depending on genre, audience, and the story itself but in general, the average words in a novel is between 60,000 and 90,000 words for most genres. They are the problems weve all encountered in writing childrens literature, only magnified. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. This number can vary depending on if youre writing dialogue or how short each paragraph is. Now, before you lose your mind, let me explain what i mean.

I know that picture books are getting shorter and shorter. Chapter length varies greatly even within individual books. If i tell you that my book is 70,000 words, and send you an 800 page correctly formated ms the 1. 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. On average, there are about 300 words per page in a book.

Books at this size usually come with a tiny typeface and spine flexibility ranging from minimal to moderate. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. According to lexicographer and dictionary expert susie dent, the average active vocabulary of an adult english speaker is around 20,000 words, while his passive vocabulary is around 40,000 words. So should i stay with this word count, or try to bring the word count down.

As an editor, i cant tell you how many times ive turned down a manuscript because of excessive word counts. A common mistake with wouldbe picturebook authors is to use too many words. Most often when people think of childrens books, they are referring to picture books. These are basic learning books that creatively teach colors, numbers or simple, fun stories for bedtime.

Miranda is an awardwinning author of more than a dozen fiction and nonfiction books for children. Big, epic stories get anywhere from 120,000 to 200,000 words. The word counts of some famous novels for comparison. Publishers currently consider picture books as suitable for children up to only five or six salisbury, 20, p. After all, childrens books have an entirely different set of expectations. Oct 23, 2017 dont count on royalties to support you. In contrast, he states that the limit age of picture books has crept down recently. Both our hardcover and softcover books come in all standard book sizes. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to be. 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. So that usually includes everything from chapter books, to middle grade, to young adult novels. Can be publisher specific, ranging from 3,000 to absolute max 5,000. Books range from several words to several thousand compare goodnight moon to the polar express. 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.

Less is more, just look at maurice sendak s where the wild things are. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. On the spreadsheet, the editors total cost will be automatically calculated once you insert your total word count and the editors perword rate. Its even more complex when you consider the age of your audience. Meanwhile write more stories in the current word count and hope they sell. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or short, perkins says.

In terms of actual word usage, the reading teachers book of lists claims that. My next traditionally published book, the author training manual writers digest. For more information on word counts for childrens book, check out this post. As soon as you get serious about selfpublishing a book, you are confronted with the choice of what size your book ought to be. Some 6090k ya books get classified as hilo, but i dont think they were specifically written for the category. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. May 15, 2020 the standard size for a mass market paperback is around 4. Many of these books are written in rhyme or in a simple singsong meter that is catchy and fun. 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. In itself, no measure is perfect but personally i find word count the most useful. I would limit the book at 100,000 words to be safe. For debut books in this field the average word count tends to be 35k and it has therefore become the marker many industry professionals look for in queries from new writers. First of all, find your word count in word by opening your document and looking at the bottom left of your screen. Check the children s book council members list to find out who wants what.

I have a question about your opinion on word count in ya fantasy. Bookbaby offers both hardcover and softcover book options. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. Include the title and type of manuscript, the number of pages and a short description are you interested in reading my 120page, middlegrade novel, funky feet, about a girl who cannot stop dancing. 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. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures. The average mean word count was about 53,000 words.

Picture books 101 from alison hughes michael hingston medium. Thats why the traditional submission formats exist. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. List of book sizes standard sizes for all different self. The word count at big five publishers had a slightly narrower range. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. If youre given a perpage rate, you can calculate a perword rate by assuming the industry standard of 250 words per page, e. I am very happy that it comes out to the 3 page standard like the printed childrens books i have in my collection. The old man and the sea was about 25 to 30,000 words. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. You cleaned up the text, added optimized images, pulled together all of the front and backmatter, and created a cover. More important is whether or not your book reads like a picture book succinct, musical, pictorial.

I was trying to keep it under 500 but i am happy with the flow and rhythm of the story. Picture books 101 from alison hughes michael hingston. You can use comparable, successful books as models to determine the length you book should be. A step up from picture books, these are for kids who have just started reading by themselves. Search for word count totals in books word counters. Picture books for children up to age eight average words though many are shorter. A guide to word counts filles vertes publishing, llc. Chapter book this varies widely, depending on grade and reader level, usually starting at 4,000 words and 15,000 words max young middle grade or mg 15,000 to 25,000 words middle grade or mg 45,000 words max for contemporary, mystery, humor upper middle grade 65,000 words max for fantasyscifi, adventure and historical. This reduction will be very small, like maybe 12 lines less per page, and 510 pages less for the book. Writing for young adults a look at the numbers hannah holt. 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 standard size for a mass market paperback is around 4.

Having some reallife examples at your side, you should get a better sense of. At standard, picture books are 32 pages long, including the cover pages, introductions, back flaps, and information. While its important that every story find its natural length, it takes time to develop an instinct as to what that length is. Feb 08, 2016 in martin salisburys illustrating childrens books, he defines a picture book as coming in the format of 24 or more usually 32 pages. Nov, 2009 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. Youve made sure the ebook file is valid and meets your standards. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan. Sharp objects has a word count of 80,565 and my utility calculates it at 80,7. Childrens book writers must adhere to strict industry standards for word counts.

As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. Childrens books cover a huge range, from books for babies up to. 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. For fantasy novels, you are allowed to go slightly above this limit, but unless you are an established author, i dont recommend going too far above. For novels in general, the accepted word count is 7080,000 words. Kdp standard book sizes include most standard book dimensions, but they exclude the mass market paperback size. Youve uploaded the file to your first retaileraggregator and you. 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. Publishers typically wont consider a writers first novel if its too long. For the first three childrens book categories listed above, you are better off editing your word count down as low as possible. Yes, having a book that is overly short or overly long for its genre will incrementally decrease your odds of finding traditional publication. For childrens fiction, the general rule is the younger the audience the shorter the book, and for ya novels the average is 50,00070,000 words.

The number of words will vary depending on the age of the reader the book is intended for. What is the average word count for a childrens age 810. Less is more, just look at maurice sendaks where the wild things are. Because dialogue requires paragraph breaks, there will be fewer words than if you have a few pages of full paragraphs instead of dialogue. In outlining your book in 3 easy steps, editor shawn coyne says, the average novel today is about 90,000 words. There is a 24page count minimum for our hard case bindings. Unfortunately, they dont offer word count so ive created an algorithm based on the number of pages, genre, and the dimensions of the book.

Aug 02, 2008 the manuscript is 2 double spaced pages and the word count is 515. You might find your story strengthening as the excess words drop off. I just popped into my office and pulled a few books off the shelf. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. The maximum standard word count for an adult novel is about 110,000 words some would say,000 words. 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. Your best bet is to figure out what books yours is comparable to, then sit down and count the words on 23 typical pages. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading. Even consider contacting agents and publishers asking for guidelines before sending them a copy of a manuscript. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or. Publishers have strict guidelines for childrens book manuscript length. Many, yes, but there are exceptions due to the layout and font size of a particular book. The manuscript is 2 double spaced pages and the word count is 515. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books.

Have you ever asked the question, what genre is my childrens book. Every category will have an average length, including childrens books, young adult, business books, etc. Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words. 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. Some authors have short 25 page chapters while other. For this reason, there really is no average word count within the range. Nov, 2015 the truth about word counts for childrens book is nothing is set in stone, so it can be a good idea to do as much research as possible on current expectations. Picture books are almost always an industry standard of 32 pages. Return to writing for children printmobilefriendly version. For example, atonement has a word count of 123,378 and my utility comes up with 110,765 words. I am on the record as saying i dont really care about word counts unless they are so offthe wall out of bounds that it is absurd. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job.

The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. While researching, i came across this interesting guide for the size of typefaces used in childrens books. Current word count trends society of childrens book writers and. Youll use the word count in your word document to calculate book page count. Much longer stories do register, but they only mean you end up reading fewer total books. Custom hardcover books can also be covered with a dust jacket, a removable paper cover used to protect a book from dirt or damage. Chapter books are a bit of an anomaly in the publishing world. 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. What is the recomended wordcount for a fantasyfiction book. When converting character counts to words, a measure of 5 or 6 characters to a word is generally used for english. Simple doesnt mean simplistic, and it definitely doesnt mean cute or babyish. Trim sizes in this post were updated on january 30, 2015. Picture books for children up to age eight average words though many are. A key issue is the fact that picture books are 32 pages.

For classification purposes, however, chapter books can be anywhere from 4,000 words to 40,000 words. Once you know your word count, follow one of our two methods below to estimate your page count. The editor also provides four popular trim sizes for formatting 4. But, he also mentions that the wizard of oz was 40,000 words. Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. Anita 50,000 words is a pretty standard number for the average ya novel. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures of readability and to measure typing and reading speeds usually in words per minute. In general, books for children follow these word count guidelines. They are not in high demand and there just arent a lot of standards out there. The actual word count for the hunger games is 99,750 and my utility calculates 94,743 words.

The average mean word count was about 73,000 words. There are no set rules for how long a childrens novel should be, and the. And, in case youre wondering, here are the average word counts for other popular genres. Apr 23, 2018 standard word count ranges for various genres. Genre in childrens writing meg rosoff the guardian. Im okay with a manuscript that goes up to 30,000 words over the suggested word count. Picture book length 32 pages is a standard picture book length in the industry as darcy pattison explains, but it can vary. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. Printerspublishers generally charge more for books that deviate from the 32page standard. In microsoft word i inserted comments where illustrations would go. Depending on your genre, having too many or too little can not only hurt your book sales, but also cause fewer 5star. Aug 05, 2019 for most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words.