Books under 30 000 words

This format generally averages about 300 words per page, thus about 30,000 words per 100 pages. Here i sit with my book at 30,000 words and it suddenly gets hard. Ya young adult novels are much shorter, depending, again, on the genre. This of course will depend on your word processor settings and how you format your work, however, with standard margins and arial or times new roman 12 point font your results should be about the same. Nov 10, 2009 and using those words in daily life gave kids verbal fluency skillsin other words, they dont just observe people talking, they practice. Under 20,000 words to go on the novel president of. The old man and the sea was about 25 to 30,000 words, tops. Ultimately, if they have five other books in your genre that are as good. I think that the newness of the book has worn off, plot holes become more apparent, character arcs more challenging and then there is that voice in our heads. That said, if your book is around 40, 000 words, youre in good company. This book is a staple to my practice as a speechlanguage pathologist slp. Due to wide variation between definitions, it is always a good idea to put a word count at the bottom of your product description when selling an unusuallength book. But as to if the length of this book is enough, ask yourself these questions.

In outlining your book in 3 easy steps, editor shawn coyne says, the average novel today is about 90,000 words. Find a book thats formatted in the way you imagine your book as being, and count the number of words on a typical page. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80, 000 words. A child with talkative parents heard 45 million words spoken to them during their first four years, while a child with taciturn parents heard million words, resulting in a cumulative 30 million word gap after 4 years. The teachers word book of 30, 000 words, thorndike, edward l on. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. A published author in 10,000 words or less writeraccess. How to write 50,000 words in 30 days, and survive to tell. Young adult is a category more than a genre, but its important to keep this in mind when writing a book in any genre. Your debut novel is 20000 words long how not to selfpublish. You know that voice, the one that says, what were you thinking. How to write 50,000 words in 30 days, and survive to tell your story. If so, the common trim size for these books is 6 x 9. Fantasy can push up to 110,000 but for a debut, its going to be tough if the word count is higher.

Sep 20, 2019 young adult books range between 60,000 and 90,000 words. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. If a book was 30,000 words long, how many pages would that be. If you get an assignment to write four pages, one of the first questions that will likely come to mind is, how many words are in four pages. Their research, published in the benchmark book, meaningful differences, shows a direct link between a childs academic performance in third grade, and the amount of words spoken in their home from birth to age three. My intention is for us to vote on the widespread influence of the books, not whether we liked them.

List of 50,000 word novels the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy by douglas adams 46,333 words. Can be publisher specific, ranging from 3,000 to absolute max 5,000. Unless youre writing a young adult epic fantasy, which can go up to 150,000 words. A story that is over 40, 000 words is generally considered a novel. I wrote a 30, 000 words book, how many pages is that. I think the fewest words i have in a book is about 15,000. Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. Most young adult novels fall between 55, 000 and 70, 000 words. Most influential books under 100 pages to qualify for this list each bookedition must have fewer than 100 pages, according to goodreads data. If you want to write for the harlequin love inspired romance or suspense. As ebooks became a viable business model, the rise in popularity of books in the 20,000word range opened the door for authors to publish books about topics that didnt require a full 60,000 word treatment.

Its the perfect reference to reach for when i need to come up with words targeting certain sounds in specific positions of words as well as number of syllables needed. If youre in the mood to read from cover to cover in just a few hours or less, pick up one of these books under 100 pages for your next afternoon off. On average, an adult person reads 300 words per minute, or 18k words per hour. Will my book be enough at 30,000 words for publication. However, it will be on the short side, as the average length of a novel hovers around 50, 000 70, 000 words.

So you simply have a better shot of getting published if your novel is under 100,000 words. Jun 04, 2012 a little more research showed me that 30,000 words is a very common place to find trouble. When i started writing three years ago, the mg word count i kept hearing was no more than 30,000 words. Big, epic stories get anywhere from 120,000 to 200,000 words. However, in my struggle to just get the words on the page, im not pleased with the quality. A good editor could probably cut 30 000 words without breaking a sweat. Aug 05, 2019 ive also read it costs considerably less for a publishing house to produce a novel under 100,000 words. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan. The red badge of courage by stephen crane 50,776 words. Recently an author proposed a 30,000 word book to a publisher. Whether youre creating a memoir or event guide, these settings let you create a beautiful book or.

The books with the white titles are still on my list of a. November is national novel writing month, a usbased initiative that sees wouldbe authors around the world pledge to complete a 50,000 word work in 30 days. There are instances when youre given an assignment, not by word count, but assigned by the number of pages. I worked one year without this book and had to find one to have in my office again. That dreaded 30,000 word wall the writing cooperative.

Depending on your word processor and preferences the page count may vary slightly, but with typical margins and 12 point arial or times new roman font you should expect a similar number of pages. How to write 50,000 words in a month books the guardian. File this handpainted masterpiece under books for kids that every adult needs to. A word count guide for 18 book genres, including fiction and nonfiction.

I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading. By the time theyre three, kids in the least talkative american families accumulate less than 4 million words of expressive language practice, while the most talkative round up over 12 million words. The old man and the sea was about 25 to 30,000 words. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257, 000 words. But, he also mentions that the wizard of oz was 40,000 words. Books of smaller word counts were more common in the 1800s and early 1900s, but the trend for books became longer with the rise of modern printing techniques. You can find here books by previously unpublished authors, but also from big names, such as stephen king, jodi picoult, or chuck palahniuk. Wictionary top 100,000 most frequentlyused english words. The teachers word book of 30,000 words by edward lee. Wictionary top 100,000 most frequentlyused english words for john the ripper wiki100k. It becomes more expensive to produce a novel when it is that long. The other day i was feeling pretty exasperated with myself.

Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50, 000 words are quite common. Indeed, most traditional publishers limit nonfiction authors to 80,000 words for standard 6 x 9 books, between 240 and 280 pages. You can write anything from 70 000 to 110 000 words, but this is out of the average range. What category would a book of 20,00030,000 words fall. Your number could be higher or lower, but writing the first 30000 words of a. That said, youll probably get a number somewhere between 250 and 350, so your story would come out at between 85 and 120 pages. Microsoft word comes with prebuilt page settings for creating books. Single spaced, 3000 words yields about 6 pages, while double spacing produces around 12 pages. This is how stephen king writes and if its good enough for him. Curated by amazon, its a collection of quality reads between 5,000 and 30,000 words. Childrens books, however, are allowed a lower word count than comparable books for adults. November is national novel writing month, a usbased initiative that sees wouldbe authors around the world pledge to complete a 50, 000 word work in 30 days. Apparently they use seperate templates for underover 100,000.

May 22, 2015 curated by amazon, its a collection of quality reads between 5,000 and 30,000 words. Aug 11, 2014 childrens books, however, are allowed a lower word count than comparable books for adults. If you need to figure out words per page, you can use. And if your book is going to be longer than 50,000 words, and therefore not finished by november 30, keep on writing, even if you won nanowrimo. So lets say you want your book to match your competitors at 240 pages. Jun 15, 2017 this is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. Thus, 100 pages 40,000 to 45,000 words and 200 pages yields 80,000 to 90,000 words for the main body of the text this excludes the words used in the quotations down the sides of the books margins. Most sophisticated readers expect layered plots with at least 70, 000 words. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. I have 15 books selling in the amazon kindle store of varying lengths.

Standard word length is usually between 70,000 to 100,000 words for a novel. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. For a young adult book, that would have been a short novel but jk rowling made ya books longer, so the lines arent as clear. It is very rare for a crime or a love story to need to push on beyond the 110 000word epic mark. Read dr seuss the cat in the hat 18 times and youll be in the vicinity. Understand that, in 1944, this all had to be done manually. Jan 01, 2011 there are too many factors that affect the number of words on a page for a meaningful answer. Some books with heavy worldbuilding may require over 100, 000 words to satisfy readers. Nov 18, 2014 so if your book is less than 50,000 words and you finish it before the end of the month, start writing a new one. This post covers why word count matters for novels, the standard word.

The words were blocked into meaningful frequency groups, and the author suggests how many words should be understood by each school grade, k through 12. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. And i mean rockandahardplace, upacreekwithoutapaddle hard. Your debut novel is 20,000 words long how not to self. Ive been pushing myself to write every single night in order to get to my goal on time and overcome my procrastination when it comes to writing.

What category would a book of 20,00030,000 words fall into. For a middle reader aimed at preteens it would be a fulllength book. If so, these books need to be the 7 x 9 trim size, and the slightly larger pages can hold 400 to 450 words per page. I plan to giveaway a 25,000 30,000 word ebook as a bribe for my email list plus a few more shorter books. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. Ask them if there was a scene they really wanted to see and didnt, or if they felt connected with the characters. I havent had one reader, in thousands of sales, write to tell me that one of my books was too short.