When you set out to write anything for publication, one of the key things you should ask yourself is “how long should this be?” There are several things that factor into answering this question, from age demographic to genre to narrative form. No matter what you’re writing, or for whom, knowing the average word count for publications and adhering to them can heighten your chances of success.
Narrative Form
Probably the most important thing to consider regarding length when you set out to write your manuscript is the type of narrative piece you’re trying to produce: short story, novella, novel, etc. These different composition types have vastly different word count and can even factor into story structure and character development.
For example, a novella is typically between 17,500 and 40,000 words. Given this length, novellas usually only follow 1, maybe 2, points of view. There’s usually one main conflict without no sub-plots and fewer characters and a faster pace than in your typical novel. While character development is still important, it’s mostly focused on the protagonist.
Novels, on the other hand are at least 40,000 words. This length allows for anywhere from 1 to dozens of points of view depending on the scope. There may still be one primary conflict, but the longer length allows for complicated narratives and sub-plots as well as larger character lists and time to develop more of those characters.
Novels and novellas may be the most common composition forms, but others you may consider are:
Flash Fiction: <1,000 words
Short Story: 1,000 – 10,000 words
Novelette: 7,500 – 20,000 words
Age Demographic
The younger the age of your intended reader, the shorter their intention span is likely to be. You word count should match that.
The average adult novel should be 50,000+ words. For young adult readers, 13-18 year olds, you want to aim for 45,000 but you wouldn’t go over 80,000. Middle grade novels, for 8-12 year olds, will be substantially shorter at 22,000 with a max of 60,000. Average word count will get significantly lower, as your audience gets younger.
First Chapter Book (7-10yrs): 5,000 – 20,000 words
Early Reader (5-8yrs): 1,000+ words
Picture Book (4-8yrs): 250-750 words
Board Book (Infant – 4yrs): 25-200 words
Genre is Key:
Published novels average around 90,000 words, but this will vary by genre. Genres such as fantasy, historical fiction, and horror are usually 15% longer than most other genres, coming in at an average of 102-109K between them. On the lower end of the spectrum, you could get a religious fiction or erotic novel published with 75,000 or 58,000 respectively. Most other genres fall within 90-100,000 on average. A full breakdown average word counts by genre can be seen in the list below.
Fantasy: 109,000
Historical Fiction: 102K
Horror: 102K
Genre: 99k
Literary: 98K
Science Fiction: 98K
Action/adventure: 96K
Contemporary: 96K
Women’s fic: 94K
Mystery/thriller/suspense: 91K
Romance: 91K
Crime fic: 89K
Religious fic: 75K
Erotica: 58K
“How long should my novel be” is not as simple of a question as it sounds. Before it can be fully answered there are other questions you must be able to answer about your work. What form of manuscript are you writing? What age group are you writing for? What genre does your manuscript fall into? Once you’ve answered these questions you can find an idea of how long your piece should be. However, it should be noted that these rules are not set in stone. There are always outliers. Some works may be far shorter or longer than the average, but when starting out keeping these guidelines in mind will start you down the right path.
By: Makayla Smith
