Average number of pages in a non-fiction book

Generally speaking, a shorter book of 150 finished pages or 40k words or less typically commands a lower price. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. Aug 05, 2019 writers digest recommends 80,000 to 89,999 words as a 100% safe range for literary, mainstream, womens, romance, mystery, suspense, thriller and horror. It may be cheaper to print a 224page book instead of a 216page book. If the content is stepbystep and high quality, 15 pages is enough for a 99 cent kindle book or a freebie used for lead generation. Other publishers are not interested in advance queries at all. I read a lot, and i mean a lot, and im interested in everything, so i read everything from chemistry, pharmacy, psychology, philosophy, eastern religion, quantum physics im really interested in all these fields, to popular novels stories, mos. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about. The word count at big five publishers had a slightly narrower range. When planning your nonfiction book it helps to have an idea of how long a book needs to be to be marketable. If you stick to these when youre writing your nonfiction book, youll be fine. I have about 19,000 words for lower and middle grades. Today, however, while the physical size of a book may still matter in a bookstore, ebooks have no dimensions. Never pad your manuscript just to meet a wordcount guideline.

The graph shows the average length of the top 100 bestsellers in each of the 30 main amazon kindle categories, measured in terms of the number of pages. They want you to send the novel or nonfiction book or proposal, period. Aug 14, 20 remember that because our margins arent even, our pages are asymmetrical, although if you look at your book as a series of twopage spreads, the whole layout is neatly and symmetrically arranged around the spine at the center. A book can be 25,000 words and still be of incredible value if it is priced appropriately. How to set the retail price for your nonfiction book. By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages. Know your content, know your mainline pitch and some.

Writers digest recommends 80,000 to 89,999 words as a 100% safe range for literary, mainstream, womens, romance, mystery, suspense, thriller and horror. If youre concerned about the final page count for your book, you should know that the average 6. As you know, print on demand vendors like createspace, lightning source, and others base their printing fees on the number of pages in your book. I guess 50,000 is a short novel and some early novels before goes as low as 40,000 which can be considered to be a novella. One rule of thumb is you can get 60 percent of a manuscript page into one typeset page said manuscript being in 12point type, doublespaced, preferably times new roman, with oneinch margins on an 8. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. Pages by paperback uses an industry standard formula for english language publishing of taking the average number of words per page and multiplying it by the average number of characters per word five including a space, for six total, the product of which is then used to divide against the total character count of the project. This is about the length readers want for general nonfiction, and it keeps publishers happy given the high cost of paper. One of the questions that new writers always ask is how long should my nonfiction book be.

What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a non fiction book. The ten awful truths and the ten wonderful truths about. They want you to send the novel or non fiction book or proposal, period. Most traditional publishers will place restrictions on an author and require that the manuscript not exceed a specified word count, unless special concessions are made.

Any selfhelp or motivational nonfiction book should be between 30,000 and 70,000 words. Calculate book page count using the word count from your word document. I agree with you totally, 100% of the sales is the way to go thats why i suggested thats my ebook, its free to promote your book and you still keep 100% of the sales. Though the average word count of a chapter is around 2,000 5,000 words, it all depends on your story. We explain two easy methods to estimate your book s page count. Jul 24, 2006 20 years ago, the maxium number was 200 pages. Now that you know the average number of words per page in your book, you can calculate the page count with a little arithmetic.

So, you may see board books at 16 or 24 pages, and picture books at 32, 40 or 48 pages. Basic book designnumber of pages wikibooks, open books. Estimate your page count book designer linda parke. In this article im going to attempt to answer that question. Indeed, most traditional publishers limit nonfiction authors to 80,000 words for standard 6 x 9 books, between 240 and 280. But, most non fiction publishers want to be sold the concept, and therefore be able to discuss the direction of the project, before you write the book. Simply divide the total word count from your word document by the number of words per page. A non fiction book attractive to publishers of bestsellers starts at around 75,000 words. The total word and page count will vary from book to book and is dependent on your writing and overall book formatting average time to write this book. Food and pop science together made up over half of nonfiction sales on the list, with food books taking the.

With longer books, you can get a rough count by adding up the number of words on an average page and multiplying by the total number of pages. Basic book designnumber of pages wikibooks, open books for. Writing middle grade a look at the numbers hannah holt. In my opinion, if your nonfiction book is fewer than about 30,000 words 120 pages, it does not feel substantial enough to be real book. 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. But over the last 5 years, the number of pages has regressed to the point where only 200400 pages is now considered the upper limit of the bookpublishing spectrum.

Nov 07, 2016 generally speaking, a shorter book of 150 finished pages or 40k words or less typically commands a lower price. Calculate the number of pages using your current word count and the appropriate formula below, calculate the number of pages you can expect in your finished book. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing stack. Long book length at the other end of the spectrum a book of 80,000 to 100,000 words has significant heft, 320400 pages. If you want to experiment with book sizes and the way they might impact your typesetting choices, the reedsy book editor allows you to do so for free. In this article youll discover the average number of pages for four different types of book. Mind you that great classic, the little prince, was such a work. This is because book values depend upon both supply and demand, the value of a book doesnt usually have a direct relation to the number of books in print. Did you know you can estimate how many sales any ebook or print book on amazon is currently selling just by looking at its listing on amazon. Some publishers want advance queries about novels or non fiction, but rarely about picture books. It only takes a quick scan of a handful of ebooks, say in the kindle store, to notice that the number of pages that constitutes an ebook is almost as wide as the pacific.

If your manuscript is on the short side, make this clear when pitching to a publisher and give solid. Be aware that the word average means that for every book that sells 15,000, there is one that sells 5,000. But i also know of others who have sold over 500,000 copies. If yours is too short, restructure it and add more tightly written stuff.

There are plenty of books that purposefully play with the word counts of their chapters. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000. Jul 23, 2012 so 50,000 words is the minimum for a non fiction book. So lets say you want your book to match your competitors at 240 pages. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. When talking about the page layout for a picture book story, there are two options. Oct 10, 2016 most of the data ill be using throughout this article was sourced from writers digest and the manuscript appraisal agency, with any differences split to find the average. I have a narrative nonfiction at 60k words and would like to use a 6 by 9in layout. Aug 02, 2008 so, you may see board books at 16 or 24 pages, and picture books at 32, 40 or 48 pages. Now that you know how the average nonfiction book is laid out, you are ready to move forward with learning how to increase your reading speed. Book length average length of four types of non fiction book. The length of your book will depend on a number of considerations.

Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. Nonfiction requires more thinking time from your reader, so you need to consider the role of your book. Jun 24, 2019 be aware that the word average means that for every book that sells 15,000, there is one that sells 5,000. As a reader, ive never felt a good book was too long, even more than a thousand pages. You definitely dont need to write the equivalent of the 300,000 word novel that you might pick up when youre going on holiday. But the gold standard for picture books is 32 pages. Well, different publishers continue reading below share 289. I heard 10,000 words can be accepted as an e book at a short length at least for non fiction. Jun 07, 2017 in my opinion, if your nonfiction book is fewer than about 30,000 words 120 pages, it does not feel substantial enough to be real book. Id guesstimate that nonfiction books generally yes, this is very. Some publishers want advance queries about novels or nonfiction, but rarely about picture books.

Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. When talking about book length, its common to talk about word count rather than page count. I heard 10,000 words can be accepted as an ebook at a short length at least for nonfiction. But over the last 5 years, the number of pages has regressed to the point where only 200400 pages is now considered the upper limit of the book publishing spectrum.

For a printed book, 37,000 words is definitely on the short side less than 150 pages so publishers may not be interested as pricing will be low and volumes needing to be correspondingly high. That being said, this range is true for most booksalways do the research into comparable books and price your book accordingly. How to determine a books initial press run empty mirror. All book publishers and book designers have a standard they go by to estimate page length. It is a story poem format with a short introduction before each poem to help with some additional history information. And for every book that sells 20,000, there is one that is a disaster. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. And remember, keeping to word counts is important, but what makes or breaks your chances with a publisher is the quality of your manuscript. As with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. With digital as well as print books available, the length of books varies.

One of the questions that new writers always ask is how long should my non fiction book be. The average mean word count was about 53,000 words. And conversely, a longer book of over 60k words or 200 pages can command a higher price. Hi out there, ive just about finished a nonfiction book about little known young and other heroes of the american revolution. Hi out there, ive just about finished a non fiction book about little known young and other heroes of the american revolution. Thats approximately 300 pages of doublespaced type. Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words. It only takes a quick scan of a handful of ebooks, say in the kindle store, to notice that the number of pages that constitutes an. This format generally averages about 300 words per page, thus about 30,000 words per 100 pages. This means your book will be between 100 and 230 pages in total. Your guide to book word counts 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. Add screenshots or other graphics and youve got a nicesized ebook. In outlining your book in 3 easy steps, editor shawn coyne says, the average novel today is about 90,000 words.

I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. Most middle grade novels are between 40,000 and 69,000 words long. The retail price you set for your book impacts your profit margin. Jan 08, 2018 wondering how many word pages equal a book page. How to make a living with your writing is my shortest non fiction book at 27,000 words and looks fine in print. Estimate a small reduction for the linesperpage and the numberofpages values. Having some reallife examples at your side, you should get a better sense of. When planning your non fiction book it helps to have an idea of how long a book needs to be to be marketable.

Just remember, with so much diversity in nonfiction, you have even less of. Generally speaking, traditional publishers expect completed nonfiction book manuscripts to be between 50,000 to 75,000 words. This reduction will be very small, like maybe 12 lines less per page, and 510 pages less for the book. I know of an author with a very large publisher whose novel has sold only 1,087 copies in its lifetime. The editor also provides four popular trim sizes for formatting 4. Just remember, with so much diversity in non fiction, you have even less of a reason to get hung up on length. Do this for several books in your niche to get a targeted range. Check the childrens book council members list to find out who wants what. The most important factor in considering whether a book is a success is comparing the size of the advance to the number of copies sold. The figure was found through looking at a number of books text stats, until brave new worlds 64,531 word count landed in the exact center of all books50% of books have fewer words and 50% of books have more words. So 50,000 words is the minimum for a nonfiction book. Oct 18, 2017 as with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. May 11, 2009 for a printed book, 37,000 words is definitely on the short side less than 150 pages so publishers may not be interested as pricing will be low and volumes needing to be correspondingly high. All you have to do is find the amazon sales rank for any ebook or print book on amazon and type that number in to our simple amazon book sales calculator below.