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. Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. I was a middle school english teacher, so know i know mg pretty well, and i am. Find out what the definition of a chapter book is and what age groups theyre for. I was quickly flooded with emails from many an angry author for daring to put a word count on a level of book. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. How to write and publish early readers and chapter books. But my story was getting longertoo long for a picture book, and i found myself writing chapter one, chapter two. Kudos to you for writing an entire book and beginning on volume 2 before. Maybe it would be a beginning reader, but my cinder rabbit story seemed beyond the limited word count, and. The word count to aim for with this type of book is usually between 500 and 600 words. They have 32 to 64 pages, with simple, repetitive text.
All of these are average book word count ranges and should not be taken as the definitive word count you must reach in your book. For example, if youre writing for genres that have a word count range of 80,00089,999 words i. In some cases, these books will have no words at all, such as for the very small child who likes to feel the fluffy cotton tail. I know that this is considered long but i really cant cut anything, it is all integral to the story. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common.
Even if you think you have a great early reader idea, it has to be a very precise fit for a publishers established vocabsentenceword count. Your article was a welcome relief to me since i cannot justify writing for the sake of adding to my word count if the story is already complete. I consider myself a student of life, so i selected student and continued on. These are the i can read type of booklets that enable an early reader to begin reading a novellike book all on their own. Jun 05, 2017 childrens book manuscript chapter length consistency is what sort of keeps the engine of your pacing going. Novelty books include popups, puzzles, pulltabs and other interactive features. In itself, no measure is perfect but personally i find word count the most useful.
To help everyone out, i have done a quick breakdown of what having 31 days to write your novel means in terms of your daily word count goal. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. Agent jennifer laughran gives the word count for books for beginning readers as 100 and 2,000 words, depending on reading level. Ive rechecked my word count of my childrens fiction book and i have just under 7500. Jan 11, 2016 your story wouldnt automatically be an early reader or chapter book just because of word count. To view word count in pages on a mac, go to the toolbar and click view show word count. This book list is just right for enhanching your classroom librarys early chapter book selection and watching your students reading confidence grow. Twilight has 24 titled chapters, or 26 if you count the preface and epilogue, and about 4580 words per chapter. Oct 22, 2010 how to write and publish early readers and chapter books. Types of books for children and teens formats explained. I definitely notice when a chapter is a lot shorter or a lot longer than sort of what has been established. How to write early readers, easy chapter books, and. If the book offers more complicated instructions such as for creating an origami bird or a fashionable paper doll, the word count can extend as high as 1,500 words. Before middle grade came along as a category, chapter books were the only.
I suspect youre a student of life too, so perhaps you should choose the same. From this point, search for your book, click on the title within the list of results, and on the following page youll find the book s word count. Taking your child to the library and having him or her pick her own chapter books can be a great way to engage them in reading. For example, hyperion chapter book manuscripts must currently be 2,5005,000 words maximum. Childrens book writers must adhere to strict industry standards for word counts. Jun 28, 2010 word counts ill get straight into it, starting with books for grown ups. Some publishers have series of books with a maximum of pages. Early chapter books are mostly published in series, because new readers who finish a. Harry potter and the sorcerers stone has 17 chapters with titles, and about 4560 words per chapter. But more than word count, its content and reading difficulty that will better define what you have.
As jane yolen says, should be, what an awful concept. Much has changed in childrens fiction in the past twenty years. 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. First, well look at the number of words for each book in the series. Of course, when youre writing the first draft of your story, you want to just get your words out on paper. I write picture book texts and my fellow scoobies in my critique group often comment that although my stories dont feel too long on reading, they realise there is no point sending them off to publishers or agents until they are cut. Chapter books have a tight word count but are complex enough to be divided into chapters with accompanying illustrations. Stephen king word count 112263 274,672 bag of bones 203,3 black house 252,270 blockade billy 15,917 carrie 60,718 cell 121,931 christine 193,602 cujo 121,150 cycle of the werewolf 15,955 desperation 195,011 doctor sleep. And when im reading, i definitely notice, you know, with my editorial clients, i have manuscripts in front of me all the time. Reading chapter books is an important milestone for children. For novels specifically in the young adult genre, the typical range is between 55,000 79,999 words. Early readers are books with slightly more text than found in your average picture book.
My middle grade novel is complete at 250,000 words, and have five sequels planned which will each be approximately the same length. If youre thinking longer than a picture book but shorter than a middle grade novel then youre on the right track. The best way to find out how many pages will be in your book is to use this calculation method. Heres what you need to know about this often overlooked genre. Your chapter length has to work well with the overall word count of the book short chapters create an even distribution of both content and action. These popular chapter books offer all these things and more. Apr 08, 2019 picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to be broken. When writing for the younger ages especially, every word must count. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. Turning on a television, or even an audiobook, doesnt count.
You cant throw too much at a person when theyre still learning how to decode the words. We are also going to look at how harry potter is comparable to other young adult novels in regards to word count. But the word count of a chapter matters if you want your story to flow right. A reasonable word count for a nonfiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words. The creation of hilow books to help children with low reading levels and readers with additional learning difficulties develop their reading confidence. The art in chapter books, on the other hand, is more decorative or. Use these numbers to help you figure out what a manuscript might be, not as rules for writing.
Aug 05, 2019 all of these are average book word count ranges and should not be taken as the definitive word count you must reach in your book. For writing i would conclude, that some readers like my mother use chapters to plan the time for reading. Understanding childrens book genres by laura backes, childrens book insider. The typical range is 3565 pages for a chapter book, 4590 for a lowmiddlegrade, 90120 for a middlegrade, 150200 for a young, young adult, but these are just averages. Students, teachers, parents, and librarians can search in english or spanish using criteria such as atos book level or a lexile measure, interest level, title, author, fictionnonfiction, subject, awardwinners, state lists, ccss exemplars, and more. Providing them with an assortment of stories and types of books can increase their interest and keep them learning. Mainstream, thriller, horror, romance, suspense, mystery, and literary and you want to adhere to the 3,0005,000 word count range per chapter, then that would probably entail about 16 to 30 chapters. Its true you can read three different books on writing. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. On average, how long is a childrens book for children. With that in mind, ive tried to put together the definitive post on word count for fiction novels, young adult, middle grade, childrens books and even memoir. If youre using open office, the word count is visible in the bottom left corner. Writing chapter books for 69 year olds australian writers.
Early readers 200 to 3,500 words, but most of us will be writing the longer ones, so, for the purposes of this challenge, we will go with the high word count in the breakdown. I recently had a client who was confused about the different childrens book formats. How to raise a reader books guides the new york times. Best book series for early readers when kids graduate from picture books to chapter books, its a great moment. In the first book i tried to write my chapters were about 500 words long. However, writers hoping to tap this market need to be very familiar with language, vocabulary, sentence structure, reading levels, and all the other strict guidelines in effect for these books. Ali, 9000 words is on the upper end of the chapter book spectrum. The page count is 32 or 40 pages with a word count of under 1,500. You are welcome to share 65 bestselling word counts with other writers. This is why many books for this age contain nonsense words or animal sounds theyre. Best book series for early readers common sense media.
The princess in black by shannon hale, mercy watson to the rescue by kate dicamillo, dory fantasmagory by abby hanl. The first book, harry potter and the sorcerers stone. Sometimes called early readers or chapter books, these books bridge the gap between picture books and novels with plenty of line drawings within the text and can be 615,000 words long. Information on writing and publishing in the early reader and chapter book market. Picture story books for older children between the ages of 6 and 10 include more text with each picture. It should be enough to communicate your message effectively. Can be publisher specific, ranging from 3,000 to absolute max 5,000. I think there is a definite gap in the market between picture books with a low word count and chapter books. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. A scholastic book list of popular chapter books for beginning readers, including cam jansen, frog and toad, junie b. As you write more and more your word count will probably go up for each chapter because you become a stronger writer and are able to go more in depth in each chapter. While early readers and chapter books are a down market right now, theyre not an absolutely closed door.
Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book. Oct 18, 2017 therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading. Writing chapter books a look at the numbers hannah holt. As you can see, established authors get much more flexibility when it comes to the length of their book.
Heres what you need to know about this often overlooked. Only if youre a major celebrity can you blow right through that word count and just keep going. Your story wouldnt automatically be an early reader or chapter book just because of word count. For children who love to read, they will likely dive into chapter books without much hesitation. Mgs are usually around 2545k, even longer if its a fantasy. A book should be as long as it needs to be, not some arbitrary length. Yes, chapter books have lower word counts, but also very importantly much simpler language, and less complex content. Heres a list of some of our favorite books for early readers they all have engaging stories and relatable characters to help make the chapter book transition easier. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals. Heres how i worked out the word count i literally counted the words in a cathy kelly book, a sheila oflanagan book and a marian. Does the plot take off early in the story with an incident that raises a problem for your.
Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. Word count for book series the first book in each series below was the authors first. Now that weve covered how many words are in a novel, its time to break it down even further by finding out the ideal number of chapters in a novel and how many words are used in a typical chapter depending on the writing genre, word count in book chapters can vary considerably. I just received a letter from a writer who said, alas, i find myself adrift in a sea of unexplained andor contradictory publishing terms. How long are the chapters in books by famous authors. Aug 08, 2016 i think there is a definite gap in the market between picture books with a low word count and chapter books. Word counts ill get straight into it, starting with books for grown ups. Chapter books often have illustrations, too, but they are not as large or as prevalent as early reading material. Stephen king word count 112263 274,672 bag of bones 203,3 black house 252,270 blockade billy 15,917 carrie 60,718 cell 121,931 christine 193,602 cujo 121,150 cycle of the werewolf 15,955 desperation. Heres a list of some of our favorite books for early readers they all have engaging stories and relatable characters to help make the chapterbook transition easier.
Most memoirs need to be in the 70,000 to 100,000word range. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to. My first book, three times a lady was roughly 100,000 words. Board books are meant to be read to children who are early emerging readers. This is a lot harder because its not a specific field im receiving back i have to scrape the results and do some crazy parsing of the data. I use a book mark to remember where i was, but stop reading also in the middle of a chapter. From series classics like fox and friends and frog and toad to newer favorites like eerie elementary and olive and beatrix, theres something for every early chapter book reader in this diverse collection. The first book in each series below was the authors first. Jun 15, 2017 this is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. Search for word count totals in books word counters.
Childrens book manuscript chapter length consistency is what sort of keeps the engine of your pacing going. Before you decide your average chapter length, its a good idea to think about the. As previously discussed, there are different requirements for both fiction and nonfiction genres. Nov, 2015 much has changed in childrens fiction in the past twenty years. If the word count of twilight is disregarded, the average becomes around 88,625. But chapter word count is something that you want to keep in mind for future edits.
Now, they dont offer word count or running time for books, but they do have a search api. The 57 year old reading range straddles a few different categories of books. Line count varies depending on page size, font size, etc. The word count doesnt rise above 3500 words on the high end. Its true you can read three different books on writing and find three different definitions of picture book. Usually every page or every other page has an illustration. How to write early readers, easy chapter books, and chapter.
If you want to make it comfortable for them, count the length of a chapter in novels you like. Word counts for chapter books and middle grade can range from 1,50030,000 or more. I am writing the last chapter of my childrens chapter book manuscript and am currently just shy of 23k. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to be. If youve read our related article on how many words are in a novel youll recall that the typical word count for a novel according to is 80,000 to 109,000 words. When i started writing three years ago, the mg word count i kept hearing was no more than 30,000 words.
From this point, search for your book, click on the title within the list of results, and on the following page youll find the books word count. Therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. Popular early chapter books shelf goodreads share book. Im a little confused about the word count for chapter books. Youll read a lot about word count and page length in this chapter. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook.