Average length non-fiction book

When planning your nonfiction book it helps to have an idea of how long a book needs to be to be marketable. I dont think there are any hard and fast rules, but keep in mind that a digital book only gets about 10% put up in the sample, so you dont want. The average length of a nonfiction book is 50,000 words, with some books falling at around 3540,000 words, and others running as long as 70,000. That number actually lines up pretty well with the data we have on this, but again, that number should neither be.

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site post navigation. I know fiction works on average come in at 60,000 but i really had no idea about non fiction. Indeed, most traditional publishers limit nonfiction authors to 80,000 words for standard 6 x 9 books, between 240 and 280 pages. How to set the retail price for your nonfiction book. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. That doesnt mean you can submit a manuscript twice the length a publisher. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction.

Theres nothing worse than a nonfiction book that doesnt engage the. Add screenshots or other graphics and youve got a nicesized ebook. Generally speaking, a shorter book of 150 finished pages or 40k words or less typically commands a lower price. It is feasible to count the number of words in a published chapter. And conversely, a longer book of over 60k words or 200 pages can command a higher price. 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. I heard 10,000 words can be accepted as an ebook at a short length at least for nonfiction. I am working on a book about my experience with losing a 9 year old cat to lymphoma. The length of your book should be determined by the content, whether it is a work.

If you stick to these when youre writing your nonfiction book, youll be fine. At 250 words per page using times roman 12 and oneinch margins, that means theyre usually six to eight pages long. Before diving into the specifics of genrebased word counts, lets look at the broader picture of average book length. Book length average length of a non fiction book 29th june 2018 posted in. 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. You can do anything you want with subsequent books, if you sell a gazillion copies of the first book or two. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. I noticed way too many nonfiction kindle books around 3040 pages. There are plenty of books that purposefully play with the word counts of their chapters. If the topic really justifies length and especially if your credentials are highly impressive you can go longer, but check that you remain interesting, even at length. You would be wise to come close to these suggested manuscript lengths. Written by max lakin posted on march 20, 2020 march 22, 2020 less than 0 min read saving.

I dont know what i can say to add to what has already been said. Coming in a bit low 7079k is not a terrible thing, as it shows you know how to focus on the most interesting parts of your life and avoid a billclintonesque tomelength book. I dont know if the question is meant as a mentalstatistical exorcise. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. At a writers conference i recently attended, publishing veteran jane friedman said 80,000 words is good for most fiction, below. Book length average length of a non fiction book a 10 minute training video from video discusses how to determine the av. One of the questions that new writers always ask is how long should my nonfiction book be. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. In fact, the average nonfiction book on amazon is 10,000 words, which translates to 80 pages. The length can vary greatly between genres, though. For most publishers, a book is novel length when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Kindle finally updated the page count to 276 from 114. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000. With that in mind, ive tried to put together the definitive post on word count for fiction novels, young adult, middle grade and even memoir.

Nonfiction requires more thinking time from your reader, so you need to consider the role of your book. That means 75,000 words equals 300 pages, which is just about perfect for a first novel. Recently an author proposed a 30,000 word book to a publisher. How long should an intro be typically for a nonfiction book. Not a very satisfying answer, i know, but i say it for a reason. 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 like all the numbers when discussing book length, you should think them as yardsticks rather than firm numbers. However part why the new writers, the answer is difficult to identify because the answer is so difficult. Shorter isnt necessarily better, but it can be an important consideration. I know of an author with a very large publisher whose novel has sold only 1,087 copies in its lifetime. Book size is often based on how thick the spine will be and how it will stand out in a bookstore although things are changing. Book length average length of a non fiction booki youtube.

According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. In this article youll discover the average number of pages for four different types of book. So, what is the average length of a nonfiction book. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures. With digital as well as print books available, the length of books varies. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. 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. In this article im going to attempt to answer that question. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 to 75,000 words, but this can vary depending upon category. Most print publishers prefer a minimum word count of around 70,000 words for a first novel, and some even hesitate for any work shorter than 80,000. The trade paperback is 314 which is at least 350 on a standard paper book. Though the average word count of a chapter is around 2,000 5,000 words, it all depends on your story. And for every book that sells 20,000, there is one that is a disaster.

In the publishing industry, 250 words is considered a printed page of text. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. Book length average length of four types of non fiction book. 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. The 1 thing you need to do to write a new york times. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. In 2011, the average length of a bestselling nonfiction book was 467 pages, but that dropped to 273 pages in 2017. I get asked this a lot, and my answer is always the same. As an interesting side note, amazons text stats show that the average length of all books on amazon is about 64,000 words. What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a nonfiction book. Is that a good length for your reader on this topic. So 50,000 words is the minimum for a nonfiction book.

As with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. Im going to write about my experience and not worry too much about the word count. This entry was posted on monday, may 11th, 2009 at 11. If youd like some guidelines, you can assume that the average nonfiction book is 50k words, and that they have 12 chapters, so around 4k words would be an average chapter length. By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages. In this writeup im mosting likely to try to respond to that inquiry. There are a few book word count guidelines for each genre, but these arent hard and.

However, many authors, frustrated with the low price of ebooks, have taken to writing ebooks that are between 40,000 and 50,000. The retail price you set for your book impacts your profit margin. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about 246 to 307 ebook pages. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. The book length on kindle is rather useless since you dont get a real book length. Be aware that the word average means that for every book that sells 15,000, there is one that sells 5,000. Book length average length of a non fiction book one of the questions that new writers always ask is how long should my nonfiction book be. Hi out there, ive just about finished a nonfiction book about little known young and other heroes of the american revolution. If yes, then most publishers still work on specific word count lengths for books so youll probably be aiming for around 60,00080,000 words for nonfiction. The average income from a published book bizfluent. But i also know of others who have sold over 500,000 copies. The question of fiction and nonfiction was not introduced into the story so that brings another question as to the length of nonfiction v fiction and whether there should be a separate category for nonfiction ebooks so that we can remove these ebooks from the general population for data assessment purposes or simply provide another set. You wont get exact, but youre wondering whether 35k is reasonable, so you dont need exact.

Word count is something i dont think about too often until i travel to a writers conference, and then someone asks a simple, innocent question and a firestorm follows. Nonfiction typically has longer sentences and less white space because it doesnt have dialogue. Until an author sells 5,000 copies of his book, he makes more from royalties than he will with a selfpublished book, according to authors. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length. If you have an idea for a nonfiction book, its better to write a couple of chapters and. You can follow any responses to this entry through the rss 2.

Id guesstimate that nonfiction books generally yes, this is very rough run perhaps 150450 pages, and at about 350 wdpage that works out to something like 50150k words. Easygoing, fairly light, userfriendly, nonfiction book for the masses. Generally speaking, traditional publishers expect completed nonfiction book. It is a story poem format with a short introduction before each poem to help with some additional history information. At the same time, you may want to consider the high end of memoir at 99,999. One of the concerns that brandnew authors constantly ask is how long should my nonfiction publication be. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing stack.