Popular ya novel word count

Although the median word count of those novels was 73,000 right around where conventional wisdom would suggest the existence of. But i cant edit any more out otherwise the story line is going to be way to fast paced or important plot threads are going to be missed, which is going to ruin the book and the sequel. As a general guideline, chapters should be between 3,000 to 5,000 words. Feb 09, 2015 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. Put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be around 8090k. Both queries would earn a swift rejection, based on both inappropriate manuscript lengths and on content thats either too. I started this blog as a resource for myself, using wordpress so i could access my word count data from anywhere in the world, and easily share this data with friends. Therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. But at the end of the day, you have to write the novel you want to write.

From picture books to ya information to get you started at. But for mainstream ya it is always best to stick to under 80k. That gives us a rough range of 61,00089,000 words, with about 3 out of 4 queried ya books falling into that range. While i realize word count would be a more reliable measure of true length, i found it difficult to get what i considered reliable data regarding word count of all fantasy series, so i settled for number of pages in series, which. You know this, i know this, and ive done my damndest to cut it i shaved 12k off in the past two weeks. Of course, when youre writing the first draft of your story, you want to just get your words out on paper. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. 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. Since some things change at warp speed in the publishing industry, be sure to choose books from the library thereby reading lots without zeroing out your wallet. Or when one states, in my 20,000word ya novel, a 14yearold holds her first sleepover and learns the meaning of true friendship.

Generally, 50,000 would be considered the minimum word count, and ideally a novel should be over 70,000 words. I just did a word count of my ya novel in courier new 60,705. Most agree that under 1,000 words would be rather short and that over 5,000 might be rather too long. 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. But i cant edit any more out otherwise the story line is going to be way to fast paced or important plot threads are going to be. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. There are a number of factors deciding the word count, topmost being what sort of book it is.

Aug 07, 2014 or when one states, in my 20,000word ya novel, a 14yearold holds her first sleepover and learns the meaning of true friendship. How many words does it take to write a young adult book. 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. There are a lot of books that fit nicely into this range, such as enders game with 100,609 words and the martian with 104,588 words.

A single novel can be longer, but once the length is above 110,000 words publishers may look at cutting it back, unless it is a particular kind of book books over the 110k word count are usually considered epics. But the thing is, that thick book that you see in a bookstore may actually contain fewer words than you think. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. The word counts of some popular ya novels we often go around thinking that fat, thick books with huge word counts are the best. You have just discovered the wonderful world of bibliographic metadata. Thats the level where publishers may suggest dividing a story into multiple volumes. The average mean word count was about 73,000 words. Also, heres another list i may swipe and add in here. With books like twilight at 118,975 words and divergent at 105,143 words, this. Now, the page count was dramatically higher using the courier font, but word count didnt change. Its so off that an agent will see the word count and stop reading your query. Bestselling author caleb carr may write novels of 250,000 words, but when you pitch your novel and offer up that number, be prepared for a glacial reception.

If youre like me, you obsess over the word count of your novel. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. With this in mind, i did some research and came up with thirty of the longest fantasy series ever published. Recent high school grad savannah never felt trapped by the boundaries of her tiny new. I am on the record as saying i dont really care about word counts unless they are so offthe wall out of bounds that it is absurd. There are exceptions, like ya books that exceed 250,000 words, but. Writing for young adults a look at the numbers hannah holt. Each genre and subgenre has its own word count range. Now that weve covered how many words are in a novel, its time to break it down even further by finding out the ideal number of chapters in a novel and how many words are used in a typical chapter depending on the writing genre, word count in book chapters can vary considerably. Word count for famous novels organized word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. Dec 04, 2014 see how your word count stacks up against these popular best sellers.

Do check your comparable titlesrecent debuts onlyto make sure your story falls in that range. Finally, youll find i prefer the compound word wordcount as opposed to splitting the word into two. This video is all about word counts for your novel, in particular word counts for ya novels. Word count picture book, middle grade, ya lisa lewis tyre. First, many of these word counts are based on published books, not queries. Also remember because there are a bunch of new novel imprints opening their doors, a novella is 40k or less. There are no hardandfast rules when it comes to what word count a novel in a particular genre should be. A reasonable word count for a nonfiction book would be between 30,000 to 50,000 words.

Right now, when it comes to novellength word count, its all about 90,000 words. Popular novel word count the worlds largest word count. My ya fantasy clocks in at 71k but looking at popular ya fantasy today. A word count guide for 18 book genres, including fiction and nonfiction. Coyne uses the nanowrimo wordcount length of 50,000 words for his examples, calling 50,000 words a good foundation to build upon. She is currently querying her epic fantasy novel heirs of war with a word count at 7k. Yes, having a book that is overly short or overly long for its genre will incrementally decrease your odds of finding traditional publication. Words counts of bestselling novels better novel project. 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. Which is totally understandable, since length can be an important factor that agents and publishers look at when they receive your query letter. List of popular ya novels word counts authorial intent.

For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. 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. Where can i find a database of all published books word. Word count for young adult books the word count range for young adult is 55,000 to 90,000. Generally a 50,000word novel would be the minimum word count. 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. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. Im one of those writers who constantly worries about word count. That information isnt usually available to the reader unless the author wanted to boast of it, but i once read a visual novel that said it had around 40k words and it took me and my friend about 22.

Jan 08, 2018 word count suggestions will vary from agent to agent, for example janet reid a literary agent with a fantastic blog suggests 150k minimum for sweeping epic fantasy, saying you cant do it right in less and 65100k for ya, whereas nathan bransford thinks your odds of attracting an agent with a debut novel over 150k are probably lower. As i stated previously, some ya agents wont even look at novels exceeding 80,000 words. My ya fantasy clocks in at 71k but looking at popular ya fantasy today red queen, an ember in the ashes, etc. This is due in large part to the variety of subgenres within it and the trend for a book series with an ever greater word count. May 14, 2018 bestselling author caleb carr may write novels of 250,000 words, but when you pitch your novel and offer up that number, be prepared for a glacial reception. Counting chickens a few words about word counts at hope vestergaards site. Aug 03, 2017 the average novel is usually between 80,000 and 100,000 words. Mg novels run 20,00040,000 words, while ya is 40,00065,000 words. By most peoples standards, 40,000 words would be pretty short for a novel. Sep 18, 2017 im one of those writers who constantly worries about word count. I then did a word count after switching to times new roman 60,705. List of popular ya novels word counts if youre like me, you obsess over the word count of your novel. Sep 20, 2019 if youre writing a young adult fantasy novel, you should keep your word count below 90,000 words or 300 book pages.

The word count range for young adult is 55,000 to 90,000. Your chapter length has to work well with the overall word count of the book short chapters create an even distribution of both content and action. Jan 18, 2012 list of popular ya novels word counts if youre like me, you obsess over the word count of your novel. Yes, you should go through the novel revision checklist and take out anything extraneous no matter what. Oct 23, 2017 9 what is the typical word count for a young adult novel. With books like twilight at 118,975 words and divergent at 105,143 words, this genre has been. This presents a problem for those writing fantasy, for example, as books in this genre are typically longer. No more than 90,000 words seems to be the editors mantra these days. With books like twilight at 118,975 words and divergent at 105,143 words, this genre has been trending higher. If youre writing an adult fantasy novel or an epic fantasy novel like game of thrones, your word count can skew higher at 90,000 200,000 words. As previously discussed, there are different requirements for both fiction and nonfiction genres. List of popular ya novels word counts if youre like me. Shorter novels such as fahrenheit 451, the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, the great gatsby, and slaughterhousefive are between 4050,000 words. In general, you usually wouldnt want a 125,000 word middle grade first novel or a 20,000 word first ya novel unless there is a specific reason the book should be nonstandard.

Harry potter and the sorcerers stone is about 77,500 words total. Try not to completely tether yourself to word counts. Aug 05, 2019 for most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. If youre writing a young adult fantasy novel, you should keep your word count below. Agent jennifer laughrans word count guidelines for childrens books includes picture books, early readers, chapter books, middle grade, and ya. The harry potter books are young adult titles, and ya publishers generally look for manuscripts in the 50,000 to 80,000word range. Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words. Knowing how many words in a novel is the first step toward writing a book. If youre writing a young adult fantasy novel, you should keep your word count below 90,000 words or 300 book pages. A 90,000 word count signals to professionals that you know what you are doing. Now that i have a very bro ad idea of what the novel will be a young adult otherwordly adventure, its time to understand the general shape that the master outline will take. But the word count of a chapter matters if you want your story to flow right. For childrens fiction, the general rule is the younger the audience the shorter the book, and for ya novels the average is 50,00070,000 words. Virtually every book i try to shop by a debut author thats any longer than thatregardless of categoryreceives the same response from editors.

Ya manuscripts can have a word count anywhere from 55k to 90k. This is due to the audience youre reaching preferring that length. Popular novels word count 200k 250k books goodreads. It should be enough to communicate your message effectively. Here are some popular scifi novels and their word counts. On the upper end, a novel over 110,000 words is considered an epic. Word count suggestions will vary from agent to agent, for example janet reid a literary agent with a fantastic blog suggests 150k minimum for sweeping epic fantasy, saying you cant do it right in less and 65100k for ya, whereas nathan bransford thinks your odds of attracting an agent with a debut novel over 150k are probably lower. This will help determine what kind of length readers expect in popular novels, and also will give me a word count goal for writing the scenes and assignments. Word count for novels and childrens books at the guide to literary agents blog. Lets look at how harry potter, twilight, and the hunger games are structured based on total word counts and chapters this will help determine what kind of length readers expect in popular novels, and also will. I started this blog as a resource for myself, using wordpress so i could access my wordcount data from anywhere in the world, and easily share this data with friends. The highest word count was 115,000, the lowest was 47,000, and the average was 75,000.

Word counts for children, mg, ya, and adult books, by genre. Both queries would earn a swift rejection, based on both inappropriate manuscript lengths and on content thats either too mature or too young for the audience theyre targeting. 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. Oct 11, 2012 she is currently querying her epic fantasy novel heirs of war with a word count at 7k. This is a list of the novels over 500,000 words published through a mainstream publisher. The problem im having is that im thinking its to long. This 90,000word guideline for how many words in a novel is just that, a guideline. Jun 27, 2019 put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be around 8090k. That said, this figure differs from book to book and organization to. The key differences between middle grade vs young adult.

Is 109,000 words to long for a ya adult fantasy novel. See how your word count stacks up against these popular best sellers. Some will tell you 2,500 words is the average, while others will say that 3,000 to 5,000 word chapters are more likely to be the norm. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. Aug 25, 2011 finally, youll find i prefer the compound word wordcount as opposed to splitting the word into two. Oct 02, 2014 with this in mind, i did some research and came up with thirty of the longest fantasy series ever published. How to slash the odds of getting your ya novel published. However, there are averages and rough word counts expected by publishers. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan. If youre working on a novellength book, aim for 50,000 words at the very least but its better to aim for 90,000. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. Podos sophomore novel, after 2016s the mystery of hollow places, is a complicated coming of age that glitters with sensory descriptions of swimming, of sex, of first love and aquatic performance and seeing the person youre crazy about out in the wild. At a writers conference i recently attended, publishing veteran jane friedman said 80,000 words is good for most fiction, below 60,000 isnt novel length territory, and above 120,000 is likely too much. As i started drafting my new wip a ya scifi thriller i began wondering what word count i should aim for.