Well, it’s difficult to say how many words when compiled together can be called a book. But still, in the world of books, there are few guidelines that differentiates books on the basis of the word count. So, how long should a book be? Word count for books is mainly guided via the genre of the book.
But still the question remains how long should a book be? Well if a book is self published then it purely depends upon the choice of the author. But if the book is published by a publishing house then they have some guidelines to decide the word count of the book. But why is word count so important? We should understand that too. The reasons behind that includes:
- Shorter Books are easily marketed and have better saleability as compared to large books in a particular genre. Like in the adult non-fiction genre, short length has more value than large word count books.
- Easier for readers to stick to the story: the correct word count helps in maintaining the curiosity and interest of the reader. That is why crisp and sharp editing makes the story with limited word count worth reading.
How long should a Book be to get Published?
The length of a book is usually ruled by the publishing houses on the basis of the genre of the book. These guidelines help in formatting book-length as the length of the book affects the cost and saleability of the book.
According to the thumb rule, the word count or length for novels (fiction books) lies in the range of 80,000 to 100,000. The minimum word count for a novel is 50,000 and a word count over 110,000 is considered too long for a fiction book/novel. Within the fiction genre sub-category like for thriller books, the ideal word count lies somewhere between 70,000 to 90,000. In the science fiction category, the word limit is 90,000 to 120,000. Whereas in romantic novels the word count can be as low as 50,000 to 100,000 in long romantic sagas.
Now, comes historical books which usually tend to have an average word count of 100,000. Talking about non-fiction genre there are no thumb rules or guiding numbers and the word count usually depends on the subcategories of the genre like memoirs are usually 80,000 to 100,000 long.
A novella is a fictional piece that is placed between a short story and a novel. The average word count for novella is somewhere between 10,000 – 40,000. If the word count lies between 7,500 – 17,00 then it is referred to as a Novelette.
Talking about the length of a book in the children’s genre, the word count depends on the age group. For example books for kids aged between 8 – 12 (middle Grade) usually have 20,000 – 50,000 word count. For the age group of 7 – 8 years an avg. word count of 1,000 – 10,000 is considered ideal. For kids aged between 4 – 8 years the recommended word count is 500 – 600 only, along with pictures. Whereas for teenagers, young adults the books have word count in the range of 40,000 – 80,000.
Now comes the short story length which runs around 5,000 – 10,000 word count or anything above 1,000 word count can fall in the short story bracket of the books. But Flash fiction is a story less than 500 words usually but it may range from 500 – 1500 in some cases.
How many Pages does a Book have to get published?
Well for budding authors this is a very common query “How many pages should a book have to get published ?” This is a valid query on their part as the number of pages are important especially if the author is not self-publishing his book. In such cases the publishing houses are the decision makers of which book will belong to which section depending on the number of pages.
The page count depends on factors like publishing house guidelines, genre of the book etc. in general the publishing house equals a single page for 250-word count in Times New Roman Double spaced (font) with font size of 12. The average length of a book falls into 200- 400 pages.
But a writer also needs to understand a few things to optimize the number of pages of the book, these keypoints are as follows:
1. Cost Consideration: the number of pages is directly proportional to the costs of the book. With more pages, the printing cost increases. Due to which to earn a reasonable profit one has to decide a price on the higher side usually by a dollar or two as compared with other writers of the same genre.
2. Aim of the Book and the Writer: well the aim of the book is an important factor to decide the number of pages. For example, if a writer is penning down a specific issue like common summer health issues, destinations to travel in budget, children books, etc then the number of pages will be limited. But if a writer chooses to pen down on the theory of black hole, the Life story of Queen Elizabeth II, How humans discovered art of writing? etc. may exceed page by 500 -700 also. Also the writing style of the writer is also.
3. Go out and Compare different Books: with this activity a writer can compare the cost of different books in the same genre, with similar number of pages. This gives an estimate on how to cast the price of a book. This helps in achieving competitive pricing and adjusting pricing according to the market trends too. Like there are times when a particular genre hits record sales so during that time period the publisher runs different offers and schemes to bring in the sales for other genres too.
Also Read – What Makes A Book Worth Reading?
4. Is the Author Writing a Series?: Sometimes the story idea is so elaborate that even the writer is aware that if he pens down all details in a single book then it will be a cumbersome process for both readers and writers (for publishers also) . So it’s advised to write such ideas in different parts or series. There are two main benefits for choosing this method – firstly a writer can release short shorties or volumes from time to time rather than publishing once in a blue moon. Secondly, it is cost effective and easy for readers too to read short or one volume at a time.
Now we have reached a conclusion- How long Should a book be? Is an important aspect in terms of sales, costing, marketing and reading efficiency too? Anything too short might not be able to leave a lasting impression in terms of characters, format and style of the story. Whereas if the book is too long then there are chances that the story gets intertwined between long descriptive characters and scenes thus not leaving the readers satisfied and happy. So the correct word count is a crucial factor for a book’s success.
