How Many Words Are In a Novel? | Breaking Down Word Counts

[@amypeasewrites]

It seems like there are more 55-60k (200-ish pages) novels out there lately. Curious to know your thoughts on this.

[@JustBCWi]

Depending on the genre, that's not an issue. Horror and Romance are two markets that have high volumes and the 50-70Kword book length. In my observation (20 years), the market length of books has dropped, especially after the Kindle made ebooks popular.

[@jonaetra6221]

My book is 60k but it becomes just 100 pages in word😭

[@debbielarps]

@@jonaetra6221 You may want to check your spacing and font size, it should be more pages than that!

[@catlinejade3672]

My problem is not finishing the damn manuscript lol I always get demotivated around the second third

[@thoryan3057]

Glad that I'm not alone. Let's both hang in there! :)

[@ownwritings2854]

😂😂😂 Same lol

[@acadiadesign4450]

One thing I wished you would've commented on here is HOW to determine word count. Many writers simply use the word count tool in their word processing program, but industry formulas for determining word count were developed long ago before this perk. The formula typically depends on document formatting, which should be: 12 pt. Times New Roman, 1" margins all around, left justified only, double-spaced, and widow/orphan control turned off. Using this formatting standard, the formula assumes an average of 250 words per page, so to determine word count, you multiply 250 words by the total number of pages. (Example: 250 words x 300 pages = 75,000 words total.) This usually results in a lower word count than MS Word (etc.) tracks, except perhaps when there's significantly more dialog than narration. Using this formula is a good way to stay within accepted genre word counts, especially in high word count genres, like thrillers, sci-fi, and fantasy.

[@thoryan3057]

I've been in writer's block for well over 2 years now after having finished approximately half of my science fiction novel, give or take. I'm at 38,500 words, so if I write another 38,500 words I'll be at 77,000 words, which would be short for a science fiction novel. Assuming that my novel does end up too short, it's less to do with the pacing and more to do that I am not very good at writing anything other than dialogue. So it is hard to find the right words to improve the flow of my novel. You using the word "underwriter" hit home. Not just because I seem to be underwriting my own novel, but because I'm literally a mortgage underwriter.

[@thoryan3057]

The entire first draft has now been completed (about 75,000 words). Next up is editing!

[@inkwyvern5171]

@@thoryan3057 you actually came back two years later to update! Congrats! Care to share the synopsis?

[@thoryan3057]

@@inkwyvern5171 My story includes space travel, time travel, and alternate universes within an overarching theme that brings these all together.

[@inkwyvern5171]

@@thoryan3057 interesting, are you self publishing on Amazon? I love scifi

[@thoryan3057]

@@inkwyvern5171 I'm going to try going the traditional publishing route. I need to do a lot of editing, so it could still be many years from now

[@joshuafurtado2299]

So far, if I continue my trend, each chapter is roughly 2000-2100 words and I have 30 chapters in my outline, so I'm looking at 60,000-63,000 words for a M/M adult Romance. I may need to add a few chapters or find a way to lengthen the chapters. I have 12 chapters completed, and I haven't done an edit yet, so I will see what it looks like after a few edit runs. If it's still under 70k, I might add some information. I do find that my descriptions are not as vivid as they might be (aside from chapter one which I had a professional critique to help me make sure I'm giving my best), so I might need to do that. Thank you for your videos. They are extremely helpful.

[@JasonGreenslopes]

Excellent video! Thank you for sharing!

[@Ejcarab]

You have answered my question with such a shirt video. Thank you for sharing

[@paulemerick8661]

My last book I self-published, "Swordbane", had a word count of 180K words (452 pages). It was a long epic fantasy book but I felt that I had to publish it as one complete story/book versus breaking it into 2 or 3 separate books.

[@jessicagrzado8664]

I'm definitely an underwriter.

[@RoshenRodesh]

Better to underwrite, than to overwrite. Overwriting means you have to cut things out, which can be a deep pain. Underwriting means you have to add, and build to the story. That's my take, anyway. :)

[@TroyGrey]

I am an underwriter too, as I always try to make every word count. I don’t write for the sake of just adding words. It’s a challenge when writing a novel though. I’m now near at 50.000 words and I literally have to squeeze out the words every day when I start writing because I want each and every word to have a purpose. I’m aiming towards 65.000 to 70.000 words so, being an underwriter, that will still take quite an amount of time. I do feel that in the end my book will not need much editing as in being an underwriter I actually edit everything myself already while writing. I’m in the process of writing a mystery novel by the way.

[@thoryan3057]

I'm an underwriter too, both in my science fiction novel and in the mortgage industry. :)

[@bubbalong7646]

More than in a short story or novella?

[@Reedsy]

Yes, short stories usually fall around 1500-8000 words, and novellas around 18k-40k.

[@rajmore4222]

I still haven't reached my 40k count 😭 and even when I do I don't know if anyone will publish it....... Not sure what genre is either just writing a story as it comes to me😒 which just makes chances even thiner

[@GlassFullIsh]

I wish I was a knowledgeable young, earning professional like this instead of a clueless,failed,unemployed adult.

[@LeslieFlemons]

I honestly thought that I write too much. My story seems to go too slow-paced, but so far it's only 25,000 words. So I don't think I'm overwriting, but at the same time I feel like I do.

[@livewireOrourke]

I'm in the same boat, lol, also at about 25k words, half-way through, but I thought I was further along than that. Hope it worked out for you.

[@georgepalmer5497]

My problem is that I cut to the chase too quickly. I don't expound enough. I get good ideas, but I don't fully develop them.

[@newnamesameperson397]

I'm not gimping myself, I'm writing my extremely long fantasy book and I don't care if it's 300k words and growing. I'm writing my book for me. I might cut it up into separate books but then I look at game of thrones and eargon and a shadow of what was lost. Them some beefy books, I like beefy books packed with details. I just needed to rant because the editor I was working with gutted my work to some simple 91k story that cuts major plot points and characters to some abridge jump cut Frankenstein story, I'm not working with them again like they didn't even read it they just started cutting pages after certain points so I can't stress what a poor job they did. Like literally they literally read the first 50 pages then cut the stuff from chapters 4 to 11 and the story picks up again at page 192 I know because I wrote the stuff and compared the original VS what they sent me back. Bro you don't know how frustrated I am right now, 6 months for this bs I could of done myself. Be careful hiring freelance editors some of them suck ass and will do half ass work, take your money and disappear

[@wanderingman5516]

Hey mate, how you doing right now with your novel? I'm also about to get and editor for my first novel and kinda really stressed out, cz i feel they just might not get the plot

[@lydiacrouch5537]

I thought I was a REALLY bad underwriter when I was nearing the end of the first draft my book at 10k before I realised it was actually a Novella

[@michaelwilcox8187]

My book almost finished will be about 80k words. First chapter 6800k words.

[@harriet_frances]

I subscribed!

[@syenindiaa5888]

I'm an over write, it's already 63k and I just reach the midpoint of my story. And my story it's YA. What's your opinion about this? But I think I should edit it, so it'll get shorter(?).

[@incorrectaddress563]

No mention of nonfiction historical.

[@artastic_23]

Do you guys prefer longer or shorter books?

[@elliezerjohnsons869]

Longer, but most long novels are web novel.. No book appearances like those with 18 million word count novels🥺

[@ammarfahmi860]

Hello, my first manuscript was 260k, fantasy. But after research, I acknowledge the fact that I can't go more than 110k, it sucks. I feel that the story is ruined, so the hell with that, I'm going 150k, take it or leave it.

[@JustBCWi]

A good publishing company would tell you to split the 260Kword novel into a trilogy.

[@thoryan3057]

I'm not an expert but based on what is in this video, I would suggest turning it into 2 novels (an average of 130k words each) and then cutting unnecessary parts so that each of them are a max of 115k words. Or, fleshing them out more and turning it into a trilogy. It would really depend on what you personally think and if it would be more fitting to cut things out or to add things in. But cutting one 260k word novel is too much to cut.

[@elliezerjohnsons869]

@@thoryan3057 what do you think an 18 mil word count novel be turn into?

[@thoryan3057]

@@elliezerjohnsons869 A seven-part series with an HBO adaptation that ends horribly wrong.

[@elliezerjohnsons869]

@@thoryan3057 not that one

[@tazbird]

I wish I was an over-writer

[@Reedsy]

Haha sometimes I wish that myself!

[@willievaughn6474]

You Rock my Friend! Very intuitive! Jesus Christ Loves you. I'm glad I subscribed

[@Imperatorelite999]

What books have this girl published?

[@Reedsy]

No full books (they're in the works!) but I've published multiple short stories, the links are in the descriptions of recent videos on my personal channel (ShaelinWrites).

[@rizzypizzy]

You used "who" as a relative pronoun for books! Love it!

[@Clover429]

i have a 50k word fantasy novel (not published yet)

[@sandbagger1912]

My first book was 164K words. Safe to say, I was rejected seven ways from Sunday by agents. Probably partly due to word count. Eventually I had to self-publish. Same with my second book, sequel, at 137K words. My third book (not part of the trilogy) is coming in at around 80K. I am exploring the traditional publishing route to see if I fare better.

[@harshivgupta2393]

Underwriter.... currently written a book but it is still only a mere 20k words....I gues now it's not a novel it's "novela"😬

[@JustBCWi]

The "standard novel length" here is bogus. Length depends strongly on genre, which is reflected. Listening to what "industry standards" are without some confirmation with actual sales can be misleading. The best way for an author to identify the target length of their novel is to find 5-10 novels in their genre, count the page length, and multiply by 330. Thus, a 200-word novel would estimate around 66Kwords. However, this estimate is very sensitive to the SPECIFIC genre, which includes whether you're writing a standalone, trilogy or series. For example, my target genre's "industry standard" is 90-100Kwords. Based on comparisons, it's 95-105Kwords.

[@zhilubbae8707]

Am doing a 55k work, modern audience are easily bored and some A little lazy so I'd rather keep it short and sweet than long and "ok"

[@kenm.a.d.7196]

Hopefully an Upper Middle Grade Fantasy with about 70,000 words is okay

[@linettemendez70]

3:31

[@baadshah2770]

Okay so you are a girl