For full titles, authors and descriptions of these books, see whats on my travel memoir bookshelf. Aug 05, 2019 he used the 270,000word memoir as an example because 1 memoirs are close to impossible to traditionally publish, so a word count that long wont get past the agent, and 2 its very, very hard to sell a memoir even through selfpublishing, let alone at that word count. This is probably the quickest method for doing a word count on selected text from a powerpoint file. While its important that every story find its natural length, it takes time to develop an instinct as. Of course, rules are made to be broken, especially in literature. King james version bible breakdown books, chapters. Use a lambda function to tick off each occurrence of a word. In this post, id like to share some thoughts on word count considerations.
How many words are there in the harry potter book series. I dont need one of those equations to help calculate word count based on the number of pages times whatever. Basically, instead of applying a formula for word count, we apply the final format and see what results. At times the readers of books may be interested in discovering how many words they read.
Many, yes, but there are exceptions due to the layout and font size of a particular book. I do track this from time to time, to make sure im on target for the 75,000 words im supposed to shoot for. Then select advanced properties and click on the statistics page. At the same time, your value goes up along with your earnings.
Theyre very short in terms of manuscript length 1,500 words max but are broken up into either chapters or vignettes that will give the reader the feeling of reading a book with real chapters in it. These include using published information about the book to determine an exact word count, estimating the number of words based on industry standards and. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or. The perfect word count for your ebook ghost ebook writers. If a word appears in the stream, a record with the count of 1 is added for that word and for every other instance the word appears, new records with the same count of 1 are added. Sharp objects has a word count of 80,565 and my utility calculates it at 80,7.
We dont recommend inserting text boxes and shapes to create. Ive been researching the word countspages of ya novels to make sure im not under or over. If youre writing fiction 80,000 to 100,000 is the sweet spot. But depending on the ereading device and the font size setting, it varies significantly. I built one logos word list like this for every single book of the bible. While there may be no definitive right or wrong answer to this question, there are certainly a lot of. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. If yours is too short, restructure it and add more tightly written stuff. These were to do with whether the book would be categorised as a novel or a novella or an epic or something else.
Smashwords gives a precise word count for each and every b. Once you know your word count, follow one of our two methods below to estimate your page count. An ebook could be 3,000 words or as long as a fulllength book. As a nonfiction writer myself, i know this is tough. Jun 19, 2018 it depends on the topic and the genre. Jan 08, 2018 calculate book page count using your word count. Word count 1 genesis 50 1,533 38,262 2 exodus 40 1,2 32,685 3 leviticus 27 859 24,541 4 numbers 36 1,288 32,896 5 deuteronomy 34 959 28,352 6. Is the word count an attribute that calibre can display. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count.
Even with the wiggle room allowed by ebooks, authors follow commonlyaccepted book word count. Have you ever wondered how the average ebook page length or word count differs by book genre. If anyone sees anything they know is false, let me know. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. Not only writing, there are platforms like twitter, facebook, etc. Theres no point in obsessing about word choice if your story has whole scenes and whole subplots you can axe. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. Youll use the word count in your word document to calculate book page count. The harry potter books are popular, and once someone reads the first book in the series, they often end up reading the entire series. Search for word count totals in books word counters. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or short, perkins says. Amazon cannot count the kindle words per page readers read, the number of pages readers flip, or the time readers spend on reading an ebook. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. Also, heres another list i may swipe and add in here.
Its an approximation because the manuscript you wrote is your best effort. There were rumors in 20 that amazon had set a minimum word count of 2,500 words for a textbased ebook, which was reported by many blogs, including galleycat. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. Word counts feed into reader expectations while in a bookstore, where the reader can seefeel how bigheavy a book is. Certain publishers of very specific genres like love inspired, harlequin will require a set word count or range, but my first bit of advice is to plot out a strong, solid story using timetested structure, write the book with careful and expert crafting learn to be a great wordsmith and develop your unique voice, and ignore the constraints. You can copy the text from the powerpoint file and paste it into a word document. The actual word count for the hunger games is 99,750 and my utility calculates 94,743 words. You can set your own price for your books in the kindle ebookstore. 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. Compare word count between print and electronic books so you can plan your ebook. Jun 16, 2017 the rules for word count are nothing if not flexible, in both traditional and indie publishing. For you dear authors, the only time you should take note about the word count is probably when you are hiring someone for editing and formatting because the more word count you have, the more the service is going to cost you. How to write a highquality ebook in 30 days copyblogger.
Calculate book page count using word count for book design. On the macro level in any type of edit, but especially a wordtrimming one, you always want to start with the big picture. A nonfiction book attractive to publishers of bestsellers starts at around 75,000 words. You too can write ebooks and articles word count tool. Amazon ebook page length by genre kindle page length klytics. It seems like ya novels are getting longer and longer nowadays, but maybe my attention span is getting shorter. What if, 30 days from now, you had a finished, wellcrafted ebook sitting. For website visitors or to subscribe to content 3,0006,000 words. Natalie harding cant believe that her absolutely gorgeous work colleague stephano romano is attracted to her.
We limit title submissions to 1,000 per week per account. Your best bet is to figure out what books yours is comparable to, then sit down and count the words on 23 typical pages. But, most nonfiction publishers want to be sold the concept, and therefore be able to discuss the direction of the project, before you write the book. For example, atonement has a word count of 123,378 and my utility comes up with 110,765 words. But after one unexpected, totally hot friday evening encounter on her office desk of all places, shes convinced that maybe he returns the feeling shes harbored for him in the fifteen months theyve worked together. Your guide to book word counts fiction and nonfiction. A book length word count is already an approximation. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. Amazon estimates a page count in an ebook to be around 187 words. Perkins agency in new york says its much easier to market a firsttime novelists book if the word count falls between 80,000 and 100,000 words, or roughly 300 doublespaced, typed pagesthe average novel length. I agree that it seems like for a debut author, the agent really looks at that word count. Jun 12, 2009 as a nonfiction writer myself, i know this is tough. Im leaving this in the list to show that word count isnt offered for every book.
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. There are several methods for determining the word count of a given book. For indepth instructions, see creating reflowable books. How to find out the number of words in a book pen and. Jul 24, 20 one is word count the actual number of words. Never pad your manuscript just to meet a wordcount guideline. Plus i cant vouch for the accuracy of the word counter i used, although it seems to be right on the money. The kindle unlimited problem it cant count words or pages. The code is truly creating a new record for each word occurrence. Author eve tells me her book came in at 95,000 words. I just popped into my office and pulled a few books off the shelf. It is easy to include the size of the book, but with images and such that can be misleading. I can look at the word count and know that a 2500 word file is a quick read while a 40k word file is going. Know your content, know your mainline pitch and some.
The rules for word count are nothing if not flexible, in both traditional and indie publishing. They are reasonably easy to make and the cost is low. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. I did a word count of the full series if youre like me, youve probably wondered how long the animorphs series actually is. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. Word count, on the other hand, doesnt change from one device to another by more than 25 to 50 words a variance i can live with. Early readers are the earliest chapter stories that a kid can get.
Your target audience for these is kids ages 4 to 8. Make every word count was sparked by author dan coulters experiences growing up as a scififantasy fan, writing tv scripts and pr materials for years, and having asperger syndrome. Its word count will changeat least slightly, and maybe radicallybefore it appears in book form. And remember, keeping to word counts is important, but what makes or breaks your chances with a publisher is the quality of your manuscript. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. 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. 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.
I would say again that reader expectations matter much more than industry rules. These guidelines are intended for designers of paperbacks with black and white or color interiors, with fullcolor covers. Powerpoint 20 does not have a word count function like word has, but its still possible to do a word count using one of these methods. The ebook not only has the possibility to make money, but it may turn you into a famous person. Generally a 50,000word novel would be the minimum word count. Also, ebooks dont have headers and footers, so you dont need to add them to your file. After that, your agent will be able to help you more. First of all, find your word count in word by opening your document and looking at the bottom left of your screen. So if you write ebooks, blogs, or any other document, it is very essential to know the word count and maintain it according to the given value. Ive never been able to find this info online outside of rough estimates, so i took the cleanedup ebooks and threw them into a word counter to get something more exact. Average word count in a book book editing services. That left me with 66 logos word lists, each giving me every originallanguage word in a given book of the bible.
What isnt often considered is the sheer number of words a person who reads the entire series consumes. Of course, word count wont matter if a story doesnt hook the target audience. I publish my books first on smashwords and then, after they pass vetting for the smashwords premium catalog, i publish them on amazon as well. 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. This city of flowers by victory jones, rock by anyta sunday, from the ashes by marie brown, put out the light. Ebooks are paths to individual satisfaction and financial rewards. For help formatting your paperback manuscript, see our guides for microsoft word for windows, microsoft word for mac and pages for mac. Theres just a minimum cost of printing a book, trucking it to a store, marketing it, and everything else. As an indie author, you always have the freedom to play with word count, to modify, expand, compress, and assess what works best. It is still not clear if amazon has a defined minimum word count for kindle ebooks. Why you need to know your word or page count my next traditionally published book, the author training manual writers digest books, february 2014, was supposed to be around 50,000 wordsthats what i agreed to in my contract and what my publisher planned on when determining page count, design, expenses, profitandloss statement, etc. With ebooks, i think some of the simple sensations are gone, and the feel of the word count is gone as well.
Never pad your manuscript just to meet a word count guideline. So you may not want to tempt fate on the shortshortshort end of the scale. For those who like to keep track of their reading word count or those who want to encourage their kids to read more the harry potter books series is an. Given an epub file, do our best to count the number of words in it. I notice on smashwords they often include a word count in the books in the description. Mar 20, 2020 why you need to know your word or page count my next traditionally published book, the author training manual writers digest books, february 2014, was supposed to be around 50,000 wordsthats what i agreed to in my contract and what my publisher planned on when determining page count, design, expenses, profitandloss statement, etc. Dans science background includes explaining technology breakthroughs as a media relations director at bell labs.
Find out what you are passionate about and then turn it into ebooks. Then select properties on the right hand side of the screen. What is a good way to get the word count of a kindle book. Word count, with a little help from amazon alexis grant. To see the total number of words in a presentation, go to file. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. If those writers can do that, you can write a 20,000 word ebook in a month. May 14, 2018 literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. Technically, the minimum word count amazon will accept for a novel into kindle direct publishing kdp is 2,500. The best thing that you can do is look over comparable books and try to judge word count by their size, average wordspage, and illustration content.
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