On Word Count and Novel Length

[wgjones3]

Lori Copeland touched on the subject (http://charisconnection.blogspot.com/2005/12/lc-how-many-words.html) over at Charis (http://charisconnection.blogspot.com/), and her responce has been praised (http://terrywhalin.blogspot.com/2005/12/standard-word-length-for-novels.html) by Howard Publishing aquisitions editor Terry Whalin. Since he saw fit to refer his blog readers (http://terrywhalin.blogspot.com/) to it, it only seems fitting that this would make a good guideline.

A book can have any amount of words: I once read a popular highly-touted diet book (paid good money for this thing) that had one word in it. Think. But the books most of us write have a definite range and it goes roughly like this:

Novella
20-25,000 words
80-100 pages
10-12 pages per chapter

Short Contemporary
50,000-60,000 words
200-240 pages
18-20 pages per chapter

Long Contemporary
70,000-80,000 words
280-320 pages
18-20 pages per chapter

Short Historical /Mainstream
90-100,000 words
360-400 pages
18-20 pages per chapter

Long Historical/ Mainstream
108,000-120,000
432-480 pages
18-20 pages per chapter


So aspiring writers, ready set go! Pick a length, dig out your imagination, and get to work!

Notice, if you do the math, this advice supports the convention 250 words / page.

[DrRita]

Thanks WG for the info. !thumbsup! So far my novel is about 37,000 wds and I'm about half way through more or less. So I guess it would fall into the long contempory when finished, or maybe short contempory when the final edit is done:eek:

[Gumpngreen]

My first book is almost Long Historical/Mainstream. Of course, I originally designed my story as a single book before deciding to split it up. But that'd be in the "War & Peace" category.

[patches]

Hey thanks for that! I find myself continually checking out the page count while I am writing and wondering if it's long enough to be considered a book.

[Kaylyn63]

Does anyone know the recommended word count for children's chapter books? Say grades 1-3, 4-6, and a YA novel?