Novel Word Count Guide (YA, Fantasy, Thriller, Romance & more)

[@AlexaDonne]

TIMESTAMPS Why you can't look at word counts for famous/classic novels/authors 01:20 Why debut books should be under 100K (practically speaking) 04:20 Minimum word count to call something a novel 08:42 How long is too long for a novel? 10:27 Why super high/low word counts are red flags for agents 11:21 Kidlit vs. Adult market word count ceilings 14:30 Word Count Guide by Genre 15:52 MG & YA Word Count Guide: 17:36 Word Count Examples for YA SFF, Adult Fantasy, Adult Romance, and Thrillers (YA & adult) 19:56 Why editing your book down to 100K or under is a good idea 22:28

[@lorettaknoelk3475]

It's worth mentioning that a truly good author should be able to adjust. I am on a lot of author groups and they have a ton of ego. They all think they are the exception

[@swissuz]

This video is such an important tool! Thank you for putting this together. I part of an author group that I'm certain that the majority are under 25 and have been weened on dystopia, vampires, zombies, and other undead genres. I'm 65 and I've been writing several books in my head for 30 years. This year I'm getting them down on paper. Now...I know they are out there, but I hope to find some age groups closer to mine, that are not a group of megalomaniacs who don't have an encouraging word to say to fellow writers.

[@jayc3596]

Great topic. Also, this video could have been seven minutes. Maybe work on your editing and scripting.

[@erikrinard7908]

Just to add some more data points: George R. R. Martin's first novel 'Dying of the Light' (1977) was 365 pages long. 'A Dance with Dragons' (2011) clocks in at 1,016 pages. So once again: famous author at the start of their career does not equal famous author after they become a household name.

[@racoon2623]

i’m such an underwriter, i can’t imagine hitting 100k

[@gordon6052]

Same! I’m sitting here like 😳 at the thought of going past 80k even. I want to mainly do MG and YA and am looking at like 50-70k max

[@Vangle-icarus]

Sameee I could easily get everything I really want to say in 50k or under

[@gloop7458]

I’m worried my novel might go over 100k but that’s just because so much happens in it lol. But I think I might be overestimating word counts. I haven’t finished one yet 😅

[@Atypical_Typo]

@@gloop7458 i'm at 25k words and began act two about few pages ago... my story has 4 acts filled with stuff. I hope I won't break 100k and still put everything I want in it😅

[@r.brooks5287]

My novel was 55k and I didn't want to add filler. I got it critiqued and found out that I lacked subplots and my characters were being misunderstood. I've now added and built up my subplots, using these areas to add more characterisation. I'm now looking at about 80k and none of it filler. It's a mystery/thriller.

[@urorazbojnik5678]

I had the beginning on mute by accident but I swear I could hear hello everyone Alexa Donne here haha. Love that intro

[@Star-ie8br]

Lmaoo

[@linzlsleepy1627]

In many ways a cap is a blessing. If you overwrite your draft, you're forced to cut what's not important. IMHO, it can strengthen the novel as a whole.

[@reamdelrey]

Alexa complaining about writers being arrogant not wanting to cut their 160k Words Count novels and I’m here sitting on top of 20k Words Count short story thinking it’s a novel. 😭

[@justthatoneemogirl]

relatable Writing poem books is NOT EASY TO GET WORDS IN

[@jak_93]

I think most people forget or don’t know is that classics like War and Peace, Little Women, and Dickens while sold in single volume tomes today may not have originated as such. War and Peace was serialised before being published as a single novel, same with much of Dickens’ work, and Little Women was published as two volumes originally. So it’s not even accurately reflecting the publishing industry of the time to say that these authors could just publish 600-1000 page tomes, because it ignores what the industry was actually like back then and that serialisation and other publishing practices of the time contributed to their larger word counts compared to today’s standards. But your main point is right; the market is completely different than what it was back than - for traditional publishing in the western market. And knowing your market is the most important thing whatever publishing route you choose.

[@MsGreenwalls]

really puts fanfiction into perspective, doesn't it

[@AlexaDonne]

Ha, yes. When I started writing novels, the longest fic I had written was 40K and I thought I was a GIANT OF LITERATURE with that word count lol. Now with novels I can write 90K easy and it's so bizarre haha.

[@missmermade9331]

That's kind of funny... it's the other way around for me. I've written fanfiction that stood at around 110k words before, but every original work of mine never got past 60k

[@aidenbarello2452]

My 173k fanfic sitting on archive yelling at me to actually finish my novel lol

[@gtfoffmyproperty]

honestly the fact that a lot of fanfics have like the double or more words than the original series or book is just- and then there is me thinking that only reading stuff over 500k words is normal (I read 100k words in like 3h because I'm a fast reader 😭)

[@akatie888]

So I was gonna put my book on wattage and AO3 because it was just a hobby, but then I put A LOT of effort into it (it was originally gonna be some plain paranormal romance at 1 150,000 word fic), but now I've built a whole pentalogy story line with romance as a tiny background piece... I aim to query in June

[@jasminef6810]

I always struggle with word counts, I’m such an underwriter and even that goal of 80,000 words for a historical novel is too high for me 😬

[@totallyanonymousbish9599]

Have you finished your first draft yet?

[@jasminef6810]

snowwhitewitch yes I’m currently writing my fourth book. My first draft word count of my three previous books were 60,000, 65,000 and 70,000. I mean at least there’s a positive growth, but my third one was supposed to be much longer, and my fourth one is a bit of a shorter story, so I don’t have too much hope for 80,000 words now :/

[@totallyanonymousbish9599]

Love_always_matters One thing I learned from writing my first book is that your word count during editing phase will always increase.

[@jasminef6810]

snowwhitewitch yeah I hope that happens for me. Some people say their books shrinks when they edit. I’ve never got far into the editing phase because I’ve been so eager to start the next book. I’m not planning to publish (or try lol) but I probably should practice editing more. Will keep your comment in mind, thanks

[@totallyanonymousbish9599]

Love_always_matters You're welcome!

[@booksvsmovies]

This may just be the fanfic reader in me but I think word counts are a much more effective way of communicating the length of a book than page count.

[@Диана-я5э1к]

Yesss! My other writers friends are all like: I wrote 10 pages today. And I'm like: ??? How many words? I think it's because I end up having to filter my fanfics by they word count, so the numbers are all so clear in my head regarding to perspective. 5k=painfully short, 10k=read quick, 20k=worth investing time, 30k=oh that's ebook worthy, 50k=long ride, def download

[@Someone-fn3ij]

i think this is true especially in POV switch books/books with chapters when you break up a whole page and start the next text 1 or 2 pages later because that alters the final page count *a lot*

[@Iainttrynadoxxmyself]

Mhm. I love a loooong read. At least 100k but for published books I don’t want that to read more than a 100k unless I’ve read the authors work before.

[@gtfoffmyproperty]

@@Диана-я5э1к you find 50k long? for me if it's bellow the 100k I won't even read it, 50k is painfully short, over 180k is worth it, 250k-750k good length, 750k+ (preferably 1m+) perfect length

[@Fyrsiel]

At least in terms of publishing, I think yes and no, tbh. Word count can give you a good ballpark of how long the book will be. But the thing about page counts is that they can be extended by many short paragraphs, blank or half pages, and a lot of dialogue with hard returns... and at the end of the day, it's the physical pages that cost more money to be printed and the physical weight of the book that causes higher shipping costs.

[@misteryA555]

"You are not JK Rowling" Thank GOD

[@AlexaDonne]

A blessing, really. lol

[@MissSkyscraper]

Best comment I’ve seen in a while haha

[@TheKnightOfPeanuts]

Funny though, HP's first book was around 80K long so JK Rowling had a pretty decent word count as well (for YA fantasy)

[@benawesomebw1197]

Alexa Donne Yeah, but then if I’m not a billionaire. :(

[@BookishScribe]

I also like to think that JK Rowling grew the books as her readers grew as well. As they were reading the series they were getting older and could handle the longer reads.

[@Mitcham28]

This is honestly the video I needed. I’ve been writing fan fiction for years and so when I transitioned into original work, I went at it with the same mindset. Spent a whole year writing this book, only for recently my friend to tell me “Dude, I thought all of this was 3 books in a series!” And he told me the same things you did. I was blown away, I accidentally ended up writing three whole books in one, and the whole time I’m thinking I’m about to sell this 300,000 word book as my debut. Holy hell. You are a godsend for making this video. It truly opened my eyes to how the industry works and the very practical reasons behind word count and publishing. And honestly, it’s a big weight off my shoulders. The fact that I have three books worth of content, which obviously guarantees nothing, but it makes me feel like I can accomplish my goal of finishing book way sooner than I would have thought. Thank you so very much for this video, you are truly one of the most helpful people in this community and KZbin.

[@iferawhite7661]

Ugh I'm such an overwriter. In the middle of a story that's currently 50k words and not even near the midpoint turn... I can't wait until my first revision, like 70% of the story is gonna get deleted because I can't stop writing filler istg hahaha Thanks Alexa, this was super helpful!

[@benawesomebw1197]

Same. I might have to cut the 7,000 word chapter that’s dedicated to finding out one piece of information.

[@bestgamer5427]

😂 thank god i was thinking i was the only one who suffers from that

[@ketrakrelek2347]

also another point with classics being longer; often at the time they were originally published in serialised form (thinking of dickens here) or even in multiple book "volumes"...

[@nicolersands]

And even THEN they got criticism for being too long (Middlemarch I’m looking at you)

[@DesperationLasts]

To me, another hold up for publishers buying super long debut novels is a lot of potential readers aren't going to be willing to read a behemoth novel from an author they are unfamiliar with.

[@Disgrace_917]

I am not one of those people 😂😂 if I see a big book and it interests me/has some good reviews, idc who you are, I am getting it.

[@gamewriteeye769]

For all I know with my current story structure, it feels like six parts of a series with six story arcs(I've got the idea for a book trilogy). I considered cutting the story in half with roughly I'd estimate going through the draft process about 500 pages by a final turnout, but that's only half the story; gonna see the whole thing through-read It, edit to trim it down without losing the "content" but trimming out unnecessary things here and there, then... I need a beta reader.

[@rebeccatrusty7003]

I’ve been waiting for this video! I’m a classic over writer and have been trying to trim 10k off my psychological thriller to reach a safe 95-100k. Thanks for making this!

[@kimberlyleo3895]

This was immensely helpful. Watching all your videos has collectively helped me write, finish, and prep to query my first novel. Thank you x100!

[@akultisgod5538]

all i got was "im not george orwell so dont worry about it". okay- got it!

[@jayramirez7038]

Honestly, I am so happy that middle grade is gettin he some longer books. I moved up to reading YA at eight because middle grade was too short for me. Ngl, I was kinda stripped of some innocence when I was young. Some middle grade readers are ready for harder books, so I am so happy that middle grade is welcoming longer and more challenging books.

[@gloop7458]

Did everyone else not start in YA. Books that got me into reading were like Percy Jackson and Warriors. (I didn’t do the pretending to be a cat in elementary school lol) but of course there were also stuff like Magic Tree House and Narnia.

[@jayramirez7038]

Nature Kit Percy Jackson and Warriors are both upper middle grade, which is what I was talking about. YA is all more mature stuff than that. Of course, had it not been for the rest of the books, some of the spinoffs might have been able to qualify as YA.

[@brittneysbookshelf9491]

I was in a writing group that I had joined off of Wattpad. I had posted a little infographic about word counts for debut that an agent had posted on twitter. I got attacked by people telling me that "writing doesn't have rules" and they were all "going to be the exception".

[@aestover91]

LMAO that face you made after you said "you aren't _____" has me DEAD btw: (idk if you've done something like this already, but...!!) have you considered holding a writing workshop/live writing session through zoom? I think a lot of us would be willing to participate in something like that 🤞

[@liegeman717]

Made me feel good that I’m right on track, I think. Just went over 50,000 words but am where I wanted to be at the half way point in story. Will probably come in right under 100,000. Thanks for this. Also your filler word video was a godsend! Thank you!

[@livb268]

This is so helpful! I always struggle with word counts and what I should be aiming for😬 Could you do a video talking about chapter structure, chapter word counts and what you need to make a full chapter? I always struggle knowing when to stop and when to keep going?

[@madisonmaya94]

Yes please! And scenes within a chapter

[@mw1476]

This is a great idea! I would love to see a video on this

[@ryanb3665]

@Liv B Try the Writing Excuses podcast. They just did an episode on chapters and chapter lengths. Highly recommend that podcast to all aspiring writers. It’s hosted by NYT bestselling fantasy author Brandon Sanderson with some of his writing friends. Look at Season 15 episode 7, Creating Chapters.

[@Loach461]

Me, sitting on a 160k SciFi novel: *sucks air through teeth

[@e_n_hand]

Don't know what your story is but if you don't want to cut down, you could add another 20,000 and break it into two books. Just a thought.

[@Beefcakes1288]

;) self-pub? It might be beneficial to you. Do the research and I’m sure you’ll be impressed, indie publishing is a lot more successful in today’s market than it used to be, if you do the work, but most of all: freedoooooooom!! Also, To Sleep In A Sea of Stars by Paolini - massive ;)

[@brittanydiamond6772]

Wanted to add to Bastianelli's comment that 'doing the work' means starting an entire small business, plus you invest in the book out of pocket (and between marketing and hiring an editor, it's expensive if you want to have a prayer against the competition). Food for thought. (Also your high word count could just mean it needs some heavy editing, or splitting it in two like someone mentioned. Assuming your work is perfect as is and running off to self pub is one of the pitfalls implied by Alexa in the vid.)

[@ImaginaryMdA]

Chop chop!

[@Beefcakes1288]

Brittany Reacts is right. Any work that gets published needs to be the best version possible for that manuscript. Indie publishing hard work includes heavy self editing and a professional editor, betas if you choose (recommended) and ARC reviews along with handling all the publishing and marketing for your work..etc But!- it is doable, and you don’t have to spend a fortune to get a nice product in the hands of readers as an indie author. Be wise, research(learn) and shop around. Bottom line I just want to encourage you to write what you want to write. Don’t let the confines of traditional publishing stop you from sharing your story with the world. There are pros and cons to both ways of publishing you have to make that call for yourself. If your final product is a 160k manuscript= that’s OKAY, you may just have more success going indie vs traditional, and that’s ok. You write your story, just remember theres more than one way to get it out into the masses. Don’t limit yourself bc of a word count. Your story matters, someone needs to read it. 😄👍

[@roberthoople]

My internet has been out since I got up, and I just got it back. I usually start my day with an Alexa video lately... It was like starting my day without coffee

[@becca5143]

this is why i stopped querying my 150k historical and am now working on my much more marketable 85-90k mystery/thriller it just makes more sense. the historical literally cannot be cut down so it can wait!!!

[@candicebissessar2549]

I really love how real you are about the subject. Spare no feelings. Certainly humbling to listen to. I don’t particularly have these issues but just in case it pops up in the future I’ll watch this again.

[@brandonalston1578]

Great point about upper middle grade fantasy. Sold mine at 90k words

[@deahalis7933]

Hey Alexa!! I really appreciate the work you put into your videos (and books lol) ... You are no doubt my favourite AuthorTuber!! I just wanted to ask: Could you make more videos dedicated to younger writers? Your insight on this would mean a ton to me!

[@AlexaDonne]

Of course! What kind of topics might be helpful?

[@deahalis7933]

@@AlexaDonne Personally, I would be most interested in the author-agent relationship (any tips, anything you should watch out for) and also what to write in a query bio if you have no job experience yet. These are very specific, I know, but I'm not sure what any other young writers might want to add! Also, sorry for my late reply :P

[@LariTanner]

I love how honest and candid you are, you tell it like it is and I love that!

[@rainsmom]

I laughed -- delighted -- when you went off about what high and low word counts mean. YOU GO, GIRL!

[@caitlynblake2773]

As an audiobook listener, I won’t even try a book that is over 15 hours if I’m not super interested in the premise or already familiar with the author. 10-12 hours are my favourite. I can get through them in a couple days without being worried about losing interest.

[@mushroomc0re]

After I watch videos like this I'm always glad I prefer writing shorter stuff instead of longer bc at least shorter things have there own categories

[@AlieUnscriptedTV]

This was sooo good. I started to feel bad that my Y/A contemporary novel was at 80,000. 😅 this made me feel better. 😂

[@TheCourtneyProject]

You can also check Kobo as well. Word counts are at the bottom, but keep in mind that front and back matter is counted in that as well. 🙂 Awesome video!

[@CelticShadows88]

Thank you for the advice. I needed to hear this. I wasn't sure what the word count was and was confused. I've been looking for answers and finally found it. Thank you so much!

[@amy-suewisniewski6451]

Girl, did you read my Google search history from last night???? This video is just in time for me, thanks so much!!! Was having a hard time getting a straight answer. I'm plotting my YA Fantasy and trying to figure out what I want to aim for.

[@matthewscorner2990]

I'm so glad I got recommended this video. Attempting to write a YA contemporary novel right now (my first attempt at writing anything that isn't fanfiction) and word count was definitely something I was concerned about.

[@JensLemonadeLife]

I've only written 1 full novel so far. Definitely an underwriter. Though I just got some beta reader feedback, so...looks like I'll be adding more words via additional foreshadowing.

[@amy-suewisniewski6451]

As an overwriter, do you mind me asking if you ever wish you were an overwriter instead? Becauas I wish I was an underwriter XD. Learning to love my style though.

[@JensLemonadeLife]

@@amy-suewisniewski6451 I absolutely wish I was an overwriter because I feel I could shave things down better, mold it to be more concise, rather than trying to add in things, justifying them and crafting them to that feel warranted in what I didn't originally feel was pertinent, and have to include more extreme edits for continuity.

[@amy-suewisniewski6451]

@@JensLemonadeLife That is so interesting!! I want to be an underwriter so I don't waste all this time rambling and writing things just to have them cut. Feels like baking five cakes and throwing out one every time XD.

[@JensLemonadeLife]

@@amy-suewisniewski6451 I can understand that line of thought. On the other hand, you have the opportunity of variety, you have a selection to choose from. Underwriting feels like squeezing blood out of a turnip lol. Maybe the grass is greener on the other side?

[@katemurray8201]

The fact that I’ve read fanfics over 200k words I-

[@jemimaaslana]

I'm relieved. I thought I'd be an "under achiever" at 90k. Gotta give that draft another shot then. Back to work! Thank you!

[@MatheusBenites]

Just wrote my first sci-fi novel. 41K words. Don't want to call it a novella. It's a novel!

[@steven.j.mepham]

Checked my outline for 180k fantasy.... slid the max target right down to 90,000.

[@teresagrabs488]

I love the JKR argument with MG writers. Her intended reader aged as Harry aged and that makes a difference too. (Love the edit break after mentioning her...thankfully we aren't all like JKR)

[@totallyanonymousbish9599]

She ain't transphobic, stop this nonsense already.

[@teresagrabs488]

@@totallyanonymousbish9599 Yes, she is, and her behavior on Twitter is unprofessional. However, you are entitled to your opinion as much as everyone else. Who you support and what you believe makes no difference to me.

[@totallyanonymousbish9599]

Teresa Grabs No she's not.

[@TheArtsy_]

@@totallyanonymousbish9599 Honestly, there's enough evidence to show she is... You just don't want to see it at this point. And if HP is holding you back, you can still love the books and be disappointed and admit the author has done something bad.

[@silvershadow797]

You are not this You are not that Don't worry about it Very motivating But mostly makes sense and very useful data you put up here.

[@jeffersonvillarta7941]

I don't skip ads for my favorite vlogger writer 💕

[@kristynheagberg1270]

This is helpful as I am editing/revising my fantasy novel. Right now I am just over 128,000 words.

[@kerrykingcreates]

Just pre-ordered The Ivies! Super excited to support you.

[@akittross]

Love your attitude! Thanks so much for dragging us down to earth.

[@vegasrenie]

Being a tech nerd, I am running each chapter through Grammarly, prowritingaid, and autocrit. I am also keeping the count of each chapter in an Excel spreadsheet. And then, after rereading everything, it will be sent to a human editor. I started off with 105,000 words and I am now down to 101,000 words. My goal is to get down to 98,000 words or lower. But it’s pretty hard getting rid of those sentences and paragraphs that you fell in love with!

[@Диана-я5э1к]

The reason why I can't write short stories is because I can't write anything short lol

[@gloop7458]

For me, I get frustrated with my short stories because I don’t feel like I explored the character(s). Sure the message is there but the message by far is the thing I care the least about. And sure some of their basic psychology is there but I want to dig into them and explore them as real people. See all their problems, their insecurities, how they may be toxic, the stuff that makes them smile, and the stuff that makes them really, truly laugh and be happy. And how they grow from that. And I want that for every single character. I want all of them to feel real and less like names and pawns to convey an idea. In a short story, you just don’t get that.

[@gloop7458]

And also the world. The world and the characters are my favorite things about writing. The message... I couldn’t care less about. And also I’m wordy, as you can see

[@Диана-я5э1к]

@@gloop7458 for me its like: I might have a story idea that fits the concept of "short story", but as soon as I start to write: "oh looks like this going to be novel length", and in the end I'll have a 30k story that is not quite short enough to be short and long enough to be a novel. I guess the reason I overwrite is the same of yours: I have always so much to say lol

[@Vannah272]

Fic: 2,750,000 words Fanfic Readers: Sounds cute, let's dig in! Book: 400 Pages Fanfic Readers: That's a bit too intimidating, better look for something else...

[@Fyrsiel]

The promise of being able to possibly add things back into the MS after getting an agent is niiiiiiiiiiice to hear.......

[@amberklein6893]

Thank you. When I wrote +250k words in fanfiction, I wondered how many pages that was. I wondered how much more I would need to write if I ever decided to write something original. Writing 70 to 100k seems so doable. It gives me hope. Thank you again.

[@amenilahouar537]

Love your videos! Thank you for having my back!

[@Man-ej6uv]

my novel was around 200K words. a HUGE thing, i know, and i realized that after i wrote all. those. words. i don't regret it but i wish i stopped earlier maybe? lol. now i'm aiming for 90K words.

[@dahrrera]

Hi, Alexa. I just wanted to say thank you because you have certainly helped me loads when it comes to learning more about the writing community and writing in general. Thank you very much again, all the knowledge i have now is primarily thanks to you. You really know your stuff haha x

[@golbertron6507]

This was really useful thank you. I've been writing YA urban fantasy and I wasn't sure if it should come under YA or fantasy word counts.

[@amy-suewisniewski6451]

Question: For those who are attached to their long word count, would you recommend just shelving the project, even temporarily, and working on something new to debute with? Perhaps then, you can return to your 170K Fantasy and get it published later once you're more established. Just feels like so many people get attached to trying to be the exception on one book instead of moving on and thinking long term. One thing I've really enjoyed about watching you and your channel is that I've gotten to witness both you being excited for your releases, but also being able to go to the next thing. The wait times for traditional publishing are long, but following you and Liselle, it just seems that you're also able to get enough distance from your projects for a healthier mindset on release. You're not as wrapped up in any negative reviews and don't seem as salty about it as I've seen from the self-publishing side. (This isn't to throw shade on self publishing at all, I just feel I've seen that difference in mentality and mindset because of the time. Many might actually see it as a con to have that distance on release, but it's an extremely attractive mindset to me.) I absolutely loved "The Stars we Steal", there was much improvement in your writing (not that Brightly Burning was bad or anything. I enjoyed that too.) But what was also amazing was reading this great book, and seeing you being excited about your thriller. Waiting for Liselle's "Blood Like Magic", but then also seeing her progress and excitement for her YA Horror... I just really love how you guys are able to look to the next thing. It makes your content feel fresh too, because you have more to talk about. Your current releases, your next drafts... sometimes self-published authors can feel a bit stale to me because they often have only thr one project to talk about until release. (Again, no shade on self-publishing! I follow many authors and enjoy them, they do hard work.) I don't know if this something you could make a video on, and you've touched on it in multiple videos before. But would you ever consider talking about that release to next book gap that happens in traditional publishing, and just the feelings and mentality that come with it? Maybe even do a Collab with Liselle and Rosie Thor?

[@samantaluna3870]

I can't imagine writing something longer than a novella....well, wattpad it is, then.

[@readknitwithcheryl]

Thank you for this info! I just ordered your books and am impatiently waiting for them to arrive in the mail. Lol.

[@LadyNekoshema]

Thanks for this. I can hit the 50k in about 6 weeks of writing, then I shelve it for a few months, and during editing, I can hit around 70k-80k words, but I worry it's too short or too long, so I'm glad it's good.

[@leafhoff4321]

I just finished the first draft of my novel at almost 60k, but I’m an underwriter (not for everything), so I’m hoping it’ll end up at 70-90k

[@idongesitusen5764]

Thanks. Word count has always been a question for me.

[@jonneumann1917]

I love the honesty of your videos 👍🏼👍🏼

[@JasonGreenslopes]

Excellent video! Thank you for creating and sharing.

[@GameCat16]

I'm not trying to make my book long for the sake of being long; it just is. When it was under 90k, I received complaints that it was too quick and that the tension was strong enough. I decided to take my time to increase both the pacing and the tension, hitting 140k, and I've since editted it down to 120k.

[@shawnmatthews5118]

Novellas are ideal length for film conversion as they do not require being gutted for time consideration as, say, a Stephen King novel has to be, even when made into a miniseries. I despise people adding unnecessary fluff to their work to ‘pad’ the word count. For me, it’s an excursion into the realm of Moot without making the Point.

[@wattpadusergeek342]

Wrote a whole novella series thinking they were novels before i knew about word counts 😅. I’m writing my first novel and it looks like my word count will increase with my second draft because I’m not too focused on setting, description and atmosphere yet. I’m hoping to hit 75k in my first draft so that my revision is around the 90k sweet spot. 🤞 Thank you for this word count clarification. Especially breaking down the genres. I know NA isn’t a thing in trad pub, but my entry for Wattpad’s Wattys 2020 contest falls in that category. That’s why I’m aiming for that general 90k-100k sweet spot 😜

[@jenailogan9195]

This was exactly the video I needed to see❤️

[@asdfghjklasdfghjkl321]

Plot twist: omg this actually made me feel better not having to write a lot! (It's not like I can but I thought that, kind of, longer = better and my story will 100% be shorter than 120,00 words sooo??? I dunno but just thank you on this advice because now I can go and do all of the proper edits once I'm done writing my novel now and not have to worry if it doesn't even reach 150,000 words for example 😅🙈❤)

[@kusmalau4626]

An twit from editor on nov 2020 specifically for adult epic fantasy subgenre: sweet spot is between 125k - 175k. BUT he's based in england. Prince of thorns is a grimdark but i'm not sure it can be called epic since it's more on athmospheric/psychological aspects and doesn't feature various countries/cultures nor a broad scope of plotting. Examples of adult epic debuts are malice by john gwynne at 210k, and the darkness that comes before by r scott bakker (600pages). patrick rothfuss' adult epic debut ran at 250k. BUT he's patrick rothfuss. Be careful not to put your darling in a wrong subgenre though.. not everything with swords, elves & dragons are epic, something with a strong romance plot might belong to adult romance fantasy, and YA epic fantasy is of course a different path.

[@lauramccullagh980]

I would love some insights on low word counts...I know theres a gray area where things stop being novellas and start being novels, but Im in a place with my WIP where i thiiiiiiink im going to land somewhere around 50k. i dont want to pad my story, but i also dong want it to be too skeletal. Thoughts?

[@AlexaDonne]

Depends on the category/genre? If it's sci-fi or fantasy I'm worried. If it's contemporary, less so.

[@lauramccullagh980]

@@AlexaDonne its literary with a loose scifi flavor, thats why i have trouble putting it in one place or another. The scifi parts of it are more incidental.

[@jayramirez7038]

Omg I reeeaaaally need to cut down my 140k light fantasy debut (hopefully).

[@daabidaabi8851]

This makes me think that I should break my current work up into 3 parts instead of one with three Acts. I've made it so that they definitely could be read as separate books of a series. I know how hard it is to cut stuff out since a short story competition I sent my work into required it to be under 5 pages.

[@emhornerbooks]

If you're writing YA or MG, especially, check out arbookfind.com, the Accelerated Reader site, which has a ton of word counts for books. They have some current adult fiction as well, but not that much.

[@FrogKanna]

Fun fact, I’m writing a fanfiction in notes, it’s first chapter has 15.5k words and I’m currently working on chapter two which so far has roughly 5k words. I’m just writing for fun and I like how it’s going so far, I wanna make the fan fiction roughly as long as a novel.

[@blackhawksfan2525]

Hey, cutting down your word count isn't always bad, especially if you're writing a series. You have to swallow your pride a little bit, but it's definitely doable. I actually just finished the manuscript on my first novel (first of a series), and there isn't any filler. So simply cutting out a bunch of content wasn't really an option. It was a multi-POV adult dark fantasy at 160k words. As I've approached the querying process, I've been doing a lot of research on word count. I ended up pulling a bunch of it out, finding satisfying cutoff points for all my POV's (without any cliffhangers), and reducing the final word count to 112k by moving some of it back to the second book. In my mind, I'm far more likely to sell as a debut author with the shorter word count (at least I won't get auto rejects due to length), and I've already got half of my second book written, on the chance the first book is successful. Watching this video actually reinforced my suspicion that I made the right choice by reducing the size of book one.

[@gail_blue]

I do find I pause before buying an audible book that's less than 11 hours long, (roughly 90k words) just because it's expensive. And again I pause if an audiobook is greater then 15 hours (130k words), because I'll get bored with it. Seems roughly in line with what you're saying.

[@theintrovertedaspie9095]

My debut is nearly 40K words. Im going for a 5 by 8 size. That'll be 250 words per page. Anywhere from 40k to 49,999 would be 160-199.996 pages.

[@mzcyberbat]

Great thing about digital books- not heavy. My favorite page count is between 250-350pages. Bigger books are expensive and can deter many readers as well.

[@musickel3718]

Are publishers actually interested in publishing novellas? Or if I have a novella, should I try to expand it into a novel? In the end, it would probably be on the low side if I expanded it, like 60k (it's in the action genre)

[@Rhyxelz]

mmmhhhhh this definitely makes me think about my fanfic reading habits,,

[@idrawanawfullot]

THIS IS SO HELPFUL. ALSO, Prince of Thorns is amazing!

[@nicholasrobertson4200]

As a trans guy, I love the little shade thrown at JK Rowling. Her Harry Potter books may have been what got me into reading, and then writing, but she is a truly awful person outside of her books! But this is helpful! Thank you for making this video!

[@leow.2162]

If you are George R. R. Martin, the only limitation you have is to make the book short enough so a person can carry it without ruining their backs.

[@DogWalkerBill]

Also, I heard, J K Rowlings agents & publishers started demanding she write longer books for the series.

[@gamewriteeye769]

Hahahaha by the time I'm done my first draft it'll be likely around the length of a song of ice and fire(it has a storyline of that epic caliber as well). Always room for improvement and speeding up the pacing... Although, I'm fairly confident in the story pitch that justifies that length.

[@JenniVander]

I've noticed that older (20-30 years) humorous SFF adult books were smaller than most adult SFF these days (or those days either). I don't see much humorous SFF these days though. I hadn't intended to write that combination, but it's ended up that way. It feels too long to me to have 80-100k humorous novel word counts. The industry seems to want a minimum of 80k these days, and I've been told that's more like 90k now.

[@seeninthedark]

It's 12:46 AM right now, I am a 15 year old hoping to aspire to be a writer and I am happy! Oh boy do I need sleep...

[@Sol-pc1jb]

This was very useful. Thank you so much!

[@andrebee1265]

Thanks you so much. This was really helpful. New subscriber here. :)

[@matthewakian2]

Scrivener's great for keeping an eye on your wordcount.

[@matthewakian2]

Thanks for the advice as ever.

[@Fae05]

My Ya Fantasy book has 108k words and so far none of my beta readers said they had a problem with pacing. Should I still look to cut?

[@AlexaDonne]

If you can I would trim but 108K isn't a total dealbreaker... but it's slso so close to 100K so why not do a little trim?

[@Fae05]

Alexa Donne Thanks for the reply. I’m really trying to trim. I’ve even asked beta readers if there were whole chapters they would remove and the reply has been no. I’ve also brought programs like grammarly to correct and possibly reduce the word count to no avail. But I’ll looked over it again for the 11th time to see lol. Thanks again.

[@ilyinska]

Usually they have Ukrainian automatic subtitles, and in this video it’s not available 😢 please Alexa, check your settings 🙏

[@kennethmontgomery1621]

thanks for all your help

[@7CAZ7]

Oh God, I mean I knew that I was an overwriter, but I did not realize that it was this bad 😅. Well, time to edit, I guess.

[@zeroisland7]

So a beginning book with proper formatting should not exceed 350 pages?

[@nicoleramos5964]

I think throne of glass was like 400 but IDK

[@DL-idk]

There are always exceptions, actually. But exceptions happen to people, and only to a few. Unrealistic expectations could be harmful.

[@wrigleyextra11]

How is this information and channel free? Absolutely amazing! Indebted to you.