Word count — it’s a simple enough thing — write the words and count them. But do word counts really matter when you are writing your novel, and is book length an important thing to consider before publishing? Although there’s no absolute answer, and there’s always an example of that one book in that one genre that was super-short (or super-long) but still made it to the Top 10, the answer is that, yeah, word counts still kinda matter.
If you want to publish your novel — print it on paper and bind it and place it on a shelf for someone to purchase or check out of a library — then you’ll likely want to follow certain word count limits to fit on the shelf with other books of that genre. And whether you’re writing a Novella or a Fantasy, a Literary Fiction or a Mystery, the typically well-read fan of any particular genre will expect a certain length and size for the books they choose to read. Essentially, word count guidelines come from a steady history of hard-copy examples resulting in hive-mind preferences.
Back in 2018, published author and fellow blogger Nathan Bransford had pulled from his experience as a former literary agent and shared his perspective regarding word counts — or as he put it, his “rough stab at word counts by genre.” (1)
Listed below are his examples, but keep in mind that these numbers will vary from source to source, and that within each genre, counts can also vary by sub-genre. Therefore, please simply consider this list our attempt at pouring a general foundation for you, on which you can set your thesaurus.
Chapter Books (i.e., pre-Middle Grade): 5,000 – 20,000
Fantasy: 80,000 – 120,000
General Fiction: 75,000 – 100,000
Historical Fiction: 80,000 – 120,000
Literary Fiction: 50,000 – 120,000
Middle Grade: 30,000 – 60,000
Mystery: 75,000 – 90,000
Novella : 20,000 – 40,000
Romance : 50,000 – 90,000
Science Fiction : 90,000 – 120,000
Thriller : 80,000 – 100,000
Young Adult: 60,000 – 80,000
Whether you are self-publishing your book or trying for the old-fashioned agented route, the above list can help you stay on target.
Finally, always keep in mind that word counts in books, whether self-published or considered by agents (if that’s the direction you are taking with your authorship), tend to be considered as a “ballpark” figure, and the real goal is to publish a book that is well-written and just really good. And if you do plan to try and get an agent’s attention, a top-notch query letter is essential (but that’s another post for another day).
By: Deana Rodriguez
Deana is a Senior Editor at Technica Editorial
https://nathanbransford.com/blog/2018/04/all-about-novel-word-counts, Accessed 27 January 2023
