Welcome to our book page count calculator! This tool is helpful for all authors everywhere who want to figure out how many pages their final book will contain based on their current word count.
It’s free and super easy to use!
How to Use Our Book Page Count Calculator
• Select your word print size
• Select the book genre
• Enter your book’s word count
• Press “Calculate Number of Pages”
Just 4 easy steps and you’re done!
Why We Created This Tool
Simple. We want to give authors an easy way to show how long their book or novel is. This may seem like a non-issue, but the truth is, every author has different questions about their book’s length.
Frequently, checking how many pages already are there helps them know when they are done, or if their books are too long or short compared to the average book in their chosen genre.
Believe it or not, we get asked A LOT about this. These are just some of the questions we get on almost a weekly basis:
• How long is a novel?
• How long should my book be?
• How many words is a 300-page book?
• How many words is my book?
• How many words is a novel?
• How many words are on an average page of a novel
These questions made us fill the need of a book page count calculator we put at the bottom of this page. It was created to answer all the questions you want to ask and more.
The above questions and more are the exact reasons we created the tool at the bottom of this page. It was designed to answer all your questions and some questions that you didn’t even think to ask.
I’ve heard people say you shouldn’t concern yourself with page counting while writing, and that it is an unneeded distraction. Still, it is impossible to not be interested or concerned.
Whether you are trying to track how far you have to go or just checking how many pages you’ve completed so far, there are many times that you wish to know an accurate page count.
Before our book page count calculator, you had to dig around through multiple sources to figure out how many words per page for your exact font size and then do the math.
It’s too much hassle and time-consuming– time you could’ve spent refining and perfecting your book content.
Well, now you don’t have to worry because we’ve created the perfect hassle-free tool for finding out how many pages are in your book.
Not only will our tool tell you how many pages your book is, but it will also tell you how you are doing compared to other books in your genre. This also covers whether the length of your book classifies as a Short Story, Novella, or Novel, etc.
We hope you get great use out of our tool. I know it saves us a lot of time!
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Now that we’ve let you on our very handy secret, it’s time to ask yourself the question: How long should my novel be?
If you’re a young author who has absolutely no idea on an ideal book-length, here are some helpful guidelines that can assist you in your book writing.
FIRST OF ALL, WHY SHOULD YOUR WORD COUNT MATTER AT ALL?
You may think that all these rules about word count may hinder you from showing all your artistic flow, but bear in mind that appropriate word count is just as important as content.
It doesn’t matter if you think your book is perfect. Following editorial guidelines such as word count may very well draw the line regarding your book’s success.
Of course, there is also the factor where if you want your manuscript to be represented by traditional publishing houses, you have to adhere to their standards.
Freelance Editor Jessica Hatch says, “In the New York agencies I worked for, it was rare to see a 120,000-word manuscript avoid the slush pile.
This is because we were groomed to understand that, even if a long manuscript is strong from start to finish, it would take considerable work to convince an editor to buy it at auction.”
You also have to take your readers’ perspective into account. Depending on the genre, readers looking for books at the bookstore check whether a particular book’s length suits their needs.
If they’re looking for a self-help book, they don’t want to read a 600-page turner. They’d often choose the shorter one that is more concise and direct to the point.
Reading a really long book takes so much time. This is the time they could spend on other productive tasks and responsibilities.
There is also the factor of publishing costs to consider. Unless you’re an industry legend like George R.R. Martin or J.R.R Tolkien, where their works are so coveted they could sell them at whatever price they like, you have to rein on your horns and keep your words short and sweet to be able to sell it at a reasonable price.
HOW MANY WORDS SHOULD MY BOOK CONTAIN TO CONSIDER IT A NOVEL?
Generally, your book needs to hit the mark of 40,000 words before it can be considered a novel. However, this figure really varies inside the industry.
For example, it is said that the most perfect word count for a novel is between 80-90k. If you only hit around 40,000, that’s okay.
It’s a bit on the shorter side. Still, some of the bestselling books in history didn’t even hit the 40,000 mark, such as Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
That doesn’t mean that your book will be an instant success if your novel word count is in its optimum number. There are still many factors to consider, like your genre.
STANDARD NOVEL WORD COUNT ACCORDING TO ITS GENRE
Here are the average novel word counts in the top five genres in the book publishing industry in no particular order:
- Young Adult Novel – 60,000 words
On average, young adult novels usually fall around 55,000 and 70,000 words. For a first-time novelist, it might be a little hard to pitch your YA manuscript to editors if your word count exceeds that number.
Nobody’s stopping you, of course– especially if you think your 100,000-word novel justifies the word count.
Usually, only great epics get away with more than 100,000 words because of the brilliance of the material and content, like J.K Rowling’s The Order of the Phoenix, which has a word count of 257,000 words.
- Memoir Novel – 80,000 words
The most common rule for a memoir is that it should not go more than 80,000 words.
A 40,000 to 80,000-word memoir is around 150-265 pages, a standard book-length for the genre. Most editors wouldn’t recommend going over 80,000, as it will inspire bad taste among readers.
However, this rule can be bent for the following reasons:
■ The memoir contains lots of personal messages and lessons
If the memoir is full of personal anecdotes, they can probably get away with writing more than 300 pages. However, it is much more recommended if the author just writes two separate memoirs, instead of a really long one.
■ The memoir is about a really famous person
If the subject of the memoir is a well-known individual, then it is okay to go more than the standard number of word count. This is because there’s already massive interest in the memoir with the person’s fans or admirers, and it would be wiser to give them more than less.
- Literary Fiction or General Fiction – 80,000 words
Traditionally published novels can go from 80,000 words to even as high as 110,000. However, longer than that may be considered too long by publishers, so you may need to cut down some of your content a little.
Some famous novels in this genre include:
• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (119,394 words)
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (85,199 words)
• Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (97,364 words)
• Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (119,394 words)
• The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (91,419 words)
- Mystery Novel – 60,000 words
You have to be careful about your word count when it comes to mystery novels, and hitting 80,000 is the longest you should probably go.
This is because the more words you write, the more you might give away the mystery in your novel. When it comes to this genre, you have to keep your readers on your toes.
You have to make sure they don’t decipher the clues and figure out the mystery right in the middle. So it’s recommended that you follow the average number of word count for this genre.
- Science Fiction and Fantasy Novel – 110,000 words
This genre is generally accepted to be longer in length compared to other books. There are various reasons for this, but mostly it’s what the market demands.
Fantasy novels, in particular, tend to run longer than 130,000 words. Here are two theories why:
• Because these types of books are usually part of a series, and readers prefer a more extended narration of what will happen next in the story.
• Because writing a decent fantasy/sci-fi novel requires longer words and more explanations to be coherent enough for an average reader.
CONCLUSION
We hope that this post answered some of your questions on how long should your novel be.
Happy writing! And remember, use our book page count calculator to help you write your book!
