Word counts for children, mg, ya, and adult books, by. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. Famous books and their word counts freelance writing jobs. This list is classified as a best book list that does not include ya. With books like twilight at 118,975 words and divergent at 105,143 words, this genre has been trending higher. For now im only going to focus on picture books, middle grade, and young adult fiction.
Perhaps more than any other, ya is the one category where word count is very flexible. For others, making sure that they dont go over the word count can be a chore especially if their editor is strict about not going over that number. Word count picture book, middle grade, ya lisa lewis tyre. The acceptance of a more ambitious word count in these two genres is the need to describe whole new worlds and presumably original. Harlequin enterprises ulc is located at bay adelaide centre, east tower, 22 adelaide street west, 41st floor, toronto, ontario, canada m5h 4e3 and sends informational and promotional emails on behalf of itself and harlequin digital sales corporation.
Ya books that start with n score a books total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book. The highest word count was 115,000, the lowest was 47,000, and the average was 75,000. My point is that your genre will likely dictate your word count. Search for word count totals in books word counters. Because it allows me to check out length for published books in my genre. Do you want to publish a wide format bookwith inspiring quotes down the side margins. Put a title the exact title in the search engine, then click on the title, or one of the titles if more than one comes up.
Only word counts are below, not page counts, as some novels vary between editions. Count the pages in each chapter and divide by 250 to get an answer for what is the average number of words per chapter. Jun 12, 2015 what is the best word count for your genre. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. You dont see to many ya going lower these days, though. These pages counts are based on the american standard sized paper using the standard manuscript expectations see above.
Count up the total number of words on 10 random full lines from different places and divide by 10 to get the average wordsperline count the number of lines on each page to get the linesperpage check that the book actually starts on page 1 sometimes the stuff before it starts is counted then. Focus on friends, family and the characters immediate world and relationship to it. With books like twilight at 118,975 words and divergent at 105,143 words, this genre has been. The last two years have demonstrated the same as traditionally published works on average tend to be longer than indie published work though there are exceptions. Sharp objects has a word count of 80,565 and my utility calculates it at 80,7. There are some easy ways to find the word count for a published bookonline bookstores. Now these books are aimed at teenagers or the younger reader not ready to move into ya just yet. Word count picture book, middle grade, ya when i finished my first middlegrade novel, last in a long line of rebels, it sat on my desk at 68,000 words. Up to 6070k is probably safe though there are even longer exceptions. Many, yes, but there are exceptions due to the layout and font size of a particular book. Scott fitzgerald were alive today and wrote the great gatsby for nanowrimo, he would have fallen short of the minimum length it clocks in at 47, 094 words. Therefore a perfect bridge between middle grade and ya. The word count range for young adult is 55,000 to 90,000. I have tried searching the words word count plus the title of a novel, like the lovely bones, and all i get is the word count of essays and articles about the book in question, not for the book itself.
Around 3500 to 4500 words, but it depends on the genre see more ideas about words, writing tips and cool words. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. In uk, this section includes books for readers aged 10 up. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. And as youve probably guessed it is sitting pretty right in between middle grade and adult. Well, most young adult authors in the survey didnt sell a book last year, and.
Each rifle you own should have its own dedicated round count book. Alexie uses a racial slur the n word and stronger language the f. Ya manuscripts can have a word count anywhere from 55k to 90k. In my opinion, this is better for my ten month old daughter right now than the writers more well known book the very hungry caterpillar. This video is all about word counts for your novel, in particular word counts for ya novels. I put in anne of green gables and clicked on the first entry, and it listed the word count as 17,129. Litreactor is a destination for writers to improve their craft. 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. Cs lewis the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe 38,421 prince caspian 46,290 the voyage of the dawn treader 53,960 chuck palaniuk choke 70,562 fight club 53,267 rant 75,223 invisible monsters 60,930 lullaby 64,737 philip k. There are exceptions, like ya books that exceed 250,000 words, but those tend to be outliers, and firsttime authors rarely, if ever, get to be an outlier. As you can see, established authors get much more flexibility when it comes to the length of their book. Seven ya novels that show the lives of teens across the. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. Where can i find a database of all published books word.
Go to the library and look at the top you define top ya books similar to what you are writing. And since word count information isnt easily available, some of these numbers may have been estimated based on page counts and may not be. Learn the differences between middle grade and young adult fiction. Typically age 10 for a younger mg novel, and up to age for older, more complex books. Word count for book series the first book in each series below was the authors first. In general, illustrated stories are more about page count than word count.
Picture books 200500 words early readers 5002000 words chapter books 5,00010,000 words middle grade 25,00045,000 words, most averaging 35k. Word count guidelines for novels melissa janda a time. Word counts of popular ya books as i started drafting my new wip a ya scifi thriller i began wondering what word count i should aim for. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. For example, atonement has a word count of 123,378 and my utility comes up with 110,765 words. Go to that books page and scroll down to inside this book. These are books for adults who enjoy reading adult books. Science fiction and fantasy novels break the above word count rules and can be longer how many words are there in a scifi or fantasy novel. You have just discovered the wonderful world of bibliographic metadata. Young adult 55,00090,000 words ya contemporary tends to be on the shorter side, 6070k ya fantasy, scifi, and paranormal tends to fall on the longer side due to world building, 7090k. What is the average word count in a youngteenage novel.
Writing for young adults a look at the numbers hannah holt. At the end of this article, youre going to find a guide to suggested word count length for most every popular genre. This book should be passed on from owner to owner to insure and verify the actual round count on the barrel. But when it comes to ya books, i think that if the characters make it to the point of having sex, it shouldnt be explained in detail or anything like that. Towards the bottom, i also checked the ongoing epic fantasy series, a song of ice and fire and the original lord of the rings trilogy. Books words count samuel johnsons dictionary was published 250 years ago this month. Only you can know when to stop, and thats the best and worst part of all.
While page counts are a common but not universal feature of bibliographic metadata, word counts are much less frequently provided and are not at all mandatory. I clicked on the unabridged version, and it lists the word count as 97,364. Ive been getting a lot of word count questions from pitch wars hopefuls, so i though id write everything out in a post for ease and convenience. Find the word count for published ya and childrens books. After that, its really a question of what the publisher wants.
For some content writers or bloggers, hitting their word count is a pain. Im writing a novel about horses and riding, aimed at people from 1016ish. Writing towards a word count might not work for everybody, but having a rough goal in mind certainly helps me when im sketching out chapters and undertaking my first draft. A way to check word count of published books anita nolan. Word count, with a little help from amazon alexis grant. Use an estimate of 250 words per page to get a general idea. See how your word count stacks up against these popular best sellers.
These handy books easily fit inside your data book and they measure in at 5 12 x 4 14 inches. I would never have noticed the nword in a book because my direct family. I just popped into my office and pulled a few books off the shelf. Salman rushdies novel midnights children which won a booker prize and the prestigious booker of bookers is a much longer 208, 773 words. In 2011, a publisher released a version of huck finn with the nword replace by the term slave, but the book remains problematic. Thats what agents and publishers ask for when you query them.
I dont need one of those equations to help calculate word count based on the number of pages times whatever. 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. That gives us a rough range of 61,00089,000 words, with about 3 out of 4 queried ya books falling into that range. Below are several different ya series, their word counts per book and total word counts for the entire series. Matt mikalatos is the author of the ya fantasy the crescent stone.
Google book mentions of hello from 18601900 show a doubling of the words frequency. It costs a great deal of money to actually bind books. Young adult fiction allows for a lot of flexibility in word count. Word count for young adult books the word count range for young adult is 55,000 to 90,000. Sometimes thats warranted as a lot of ya coming out now are pretty complex compared to 510 years ago. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. A ya word count young adult is usually around 90,000. The key differences between middle grade vs young adult. Ive already written my first draft of the whole book, but its only 33,000 words. Science fiction and fantasy books should be 90,000 to 125,000 words. No profanity, graphic violence or sexuality romance, if any, is limited to a crush or a first kiss.
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. 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. Look at the success stories on a wonderful little tool, by the way which lists the genre and word count for each success story in the websites database. Word counts for children, mg, ya, and adult books, by genre. Some 6090k ya books get classified as hilo, but i dont think they were specifically written for the category. How many words should there be per chapter in the average. The more research i did, the more i realized one important thing. For a contemporary ya 60,000 isnt too bad, though they can go higher. Longer word counts allowed for fantasy, scifi, historical. Seven ya novels fiction that can provide students ages 1218 the. Beryl bainbridge describes how a failed teacher and celebrated hack worked for nine years in. A closer look at word counts for young adult novels. This is one of her favorite books at the moment and she loves it when i go through the book to look for the matching pages and count for her. Additionally, knowing your word count before you start writing can help you better plan your narrative arc as well as your writing schedule.
Word counts for children, mg, ya, and adult books, by genre august 7, 2017 august 3, 2018 sarahnicolas ive been getting a lot of word count questions from pitch wars hopefuls, so i though id write everything out in a post for ease and convenience. Coha shows a fivefold increase in print mentions between 1860 and 1900. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. How many words does it take to write a young adult book. The harry potter books are young adult titles, and ya publishers generally look for manuscripts in the 50,000 to 80,000word range. Rowlings recordbreaking series began with two titles on the high end of that spectrum and finished with five that left the guidelines in the dust.
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