book length essays

An Introduction to the Book-Length Essay

Rebecca Hussey

Rebecca holds a PhD in English and is a professor at Norwalk Community College in Connecticut. She teaches courses in composition, literature, and the arts. When she’s not reading or grading papers, she’s hanging out with her husband and son and/or riding her bike and/or buying books. She can't get enough of reading and writing about books, so she writes the bookish newsletter "Reading Indie," focusing on small press books and translations. Newsletter: Reading Indie Twitter: @ofbooksandbikes

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You might be wondering, “I didn’t think there was such a thing as the book-length essay! Aren’t essays short pieces, like the kind you wrote in school, or the kind they collect in the Best American Essays series? Aren’t they the nonfiction equivalent of the short story?” The answer is yes, and, of course, no. We do usually think of essays as short pieces that we read in magazines or online and that get gathered together into collections. But the essay as a genre is more expansive than that, and the book-length essay is, indeed, a thing that exists and that is a pleasure to read.

What Is a Book-Length Essay?

It’s easy to say that a book-length essay is simply an essay that goes on for a long time, enough to fit the usual length requirements of a standalone book. What is more complicated is distinguishing the book-length essay from other forms of nonfiction. The question becomes how this form is different from, say, memoir, biography, criticism, history, political science, or sociology.

The essay can incorporate some or all of these genres and more, but it is in itself fundamentally different. Essays, no matter their length, explore ideas, facts, and experiences, with an emphasis on explore . They are not definitive: they aren’t researched journalism or academic scholarship complete with explanatory footnotes. Instead, they attempt to look at problems, address questions, or analyze experiences. Emphasis on attempt !

Essayists write in order to discover what they think. An essay is then a record of a thought process. Part of the pleasure of reading them comes from following the writer’s thinking as it develops: we get to see the twists and turns of the writer’s mind as it works through a problem. Essays are looser than other genres, and weirder. They can flit from idea to idea and can incorporate literally anything. Upon first reading, they sometimes appear to be disorganized (although often an organizational system lies underneath). They can contradict themselves or show the writer changing their mind.

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The essay is a genre that is weirdly anti-genre. It doesn’t want to settle down and fit in anywhere; it refuses categories and rules. I think of essays as nonfiction, but there is even room for elements of fiction.

Book-length essays are the kind of books that make bookstore owners puzzle over where to shelve them, unless they have a section called “Literary Nonfiction” or similar. Sure, these books could go in the essay section, if there is one, but they could also fit in memoir, current events, cultural studies, art, music, philosophy, etc. They fit everywhere and nowhere. They are a delightfully expansive hybrid form.

Six Examples of the Book-Length Essay

Below are some examples of my favorite book-length essays. Check them out and discover some really great books and writers.

Time is the Thing the Body Moves Through by T Fleischmann

This book is personal, intellectual, challenging, and strange. It’s partly about the art of Félix González-Torres, especially a work called  “Untitled” (Placebo – Landscape – for Roni)  with its endless supply of candy in gold wrappers that viewers/participants can freely take. It’s also about being queer and trans, and about friendship, love, sex, and radical politics. Fleischmann interweaves narratives from different times to create a sense of movement and change; there’s a fluidity to the narrative which meanders while maintaining a sense of urgency.

The Face: A Time Code by Ruth Ozeki

This book is part of a series from Restless Books where authors write about their own faces. Ozeki decided to approach this task by spending three hours staring at her face in the mirror and writing about the experience. The three hours were, as it turns out, boring, but the resulting book is wonderful. Ozeki keeps track of the three hours minute by minute, following her thoughts as they wander throughout that time. Descriptions of her feelings about her face are the jumping off point for personal stories and thoughts.

On Immunity by Eula Biss

I wish I could make everyone read this book right now! On Immunity combines memoir, science, medicine, criticism, parenting, and cultural critique to explore what immunity means. Eula Biss examines people’s fear of vaccines and the origin and implications of that fear. She considers what our attitudes toward immunity can tell us about how we understand our selves and our place in community. It’s a short book that is wide-ranging, and, if more people read and pondered it, potentially revolutionary.

This Little Art by Kate Briggs

This Little Art is published by Fitzcarraldo Editions, which has a series of nonfiction books it simply calls “Essays.” Those who want to read more book-length essays will find that series a great resource. This volume examines the art of translation. Kate Briggs translates Roland Barthes, and she writes beautifully about her love for his work. She writes about theories of translation and the ways translation work is gendered. The book contemplates language and writing itself. It’s absorbing, thought-provoking, and gorgeously written.

In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri, Translated by Ann Goldstein

In Other Words explores and celebrates Jhumpa Lahiri’s love of the Italian language. This is her first book written in Italian after she moved to Italy to immerse herself in the language and culture. The book examines what it is like to learn a new language with all the accompanying frustrations and joys. Lahiri writes autobiographically, but the book expands into a meditation on language, writing, and what it’s like to think in entirely new ways.

Ongoingness: The End of a Diary by Sarah Manguso

Ongoingness takes up many subjects, including diaries, memory, parenting, and the practice of writing. Manguso kept a lengthy, detailed diary for many years, a text this book circles around but never quotes. Instead, she contemplates what the diary meant to her, why she kept it and why she stopped. She writes about the feelings of early motherhood and how her relationship to writing and memory changed. Manguso writes in short, meditative sections that are both autobiographical and philosophical.

Looking for more essays to read? Check out this list of 100 Must-Read Essay Collections . If you like genre-bending memoirs (which have a lot in common with the book-length essay), check out these recommendations .

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• How long is an essay? Guidelines for different types of essay

How Long is an Essay? Guidelines for Different Types of Essay

Published on January 28, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 23, 2023.

The length of an academic essay varies depending on your level and subject of study, departmental guidelines, and specific course requirements. In general, an essay is a shorter piece of writing than a research paper  or thesis .

In most cases, your assignment will include clear guidelines on the number of words or pages you are expected to write. Often this will be a range rather than an exact number (for example, 2500–3000 words, or 10–12 pages). If you’re not sure, always check with your instructor.

In this article you’ll find some general guidelines for the length of different types of essay. But keep in mind that quality is more important than quantity – focus on making a strong argument or analysis, not on hitting a specific word count.

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Table of contents

Essay length guidelines, how long is each part of an essay, using length as a guide to topic and complexity, can i go under the suggested length, can i go over the suggested length, other interesting articles.

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In an academic essay, the main body should always take up the most space. This is where you make your arguments, give your evidence, and develop your ideas.

The introduction should be proportional to the essay’s length. In an essay under 3000 words, the introduction is usually just one paragraph. In longer and more complex essays, you might need to lay out the background and introduce your argument over two or three paragraphs.

The conclusion of an essay is often a single paragraph, even in longer essays. It doesn’t have to summarize every step of your essay, but should tie together your main points in a concise, convincing way.

The suggested word count doesn’t only tell you how long your essay should be – it also helps you work out how much information and complexity you can fit into the given space. This should guide the development of your thesis statement , which identifies the main topic of your essay and sets the boundaries of your overall argument.

A short essay will need a focused, specific topic and a clear, straightforward line of argument. A longer essay should still be focused, but it might call for a broader approach to the topic or a more complex, ambitious argument.

As you make an outline of your essay , make sure you have a clear idea of how much evidence, detail and argumentation will be needed to support your thesis. If you find that you don’t have enough ideas to fill out the word count, or that you need more space to make a convincing case, then consider revising your thesis to be more general or more specific.

The length of the essay also influences how much time you will need to spend on editing and proofreading .

You should always aim to meet the minimum length given in your assignment. If you are struggling to reach the word count:

• Add more evidence and examples to each paragraph to clarify or strengthen your points.
• Make sure you have fully explained or analyzed each example, and try to develop your points in more detail.
• Address a different aspect of your topic in a new paragraph. This might involve revising your thesis statement to make a more ambitious argument.
• Don’t use filler. Adding unnecessary words or complicated sentences will make your essay weaker and your argument less clear.
• Don’t fixate on an exact number. Your marker probably won’t care about 50 or 100 words – it’s more important that your argument is convincing and adequately developed for an essay of the suggested length.

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In some cases, you are allowed to exceed the upper word limit by 10% – so for an assignment of 2500–3000 words, you could write an absolute maximum of 3300 words. However, the rules depend on your course and institution, so always check with your instructor if you’re unsure.

Only exceed the word count if it’s really necessary to complete your argument. Longer essays take longer to grade, so avoid annoying your marker with extra work! If you are struggling to edit down:

• Check that every paragraph is relevant to your argument, and cut out irrelevant or out-of-place information.
• Make sure each paragraph focuses on one point and doesn’t meander.
• Cut out filler words and make sure each sentence is clear, concise, and related to the paragraph’s point.
• Don’t cut anything that is necessary to the logic of your argument. If you remove a paragraph, make sure to revise your transitions and fit all your points together.
• Don’t sacrifice the introduction or conclusion . These paragraphs are crucial to an effective essay –make sure you leave enough space to thoroughly introduce your topic and decisively wrap up your argument.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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What are the six different essay lengths?

This is the second of three chapters about Essays . To complete this reader, read each chapter carefully and then unlock and complete our materials to check your understanding.   

– Discuss why essays might vary in length

– Outline the six major lengths of academic essay

– Provide defining features for each essay length

Chapter 1: What is an academic essay?

Chapter 2: What are the six different essay lengths?

Chapter 3: What are the seven different types of academic essay?

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The length of essay you’re assigned will likely depend on where you are exactly in your academic course. Generally, assignments at the start of a bachelor’s degree will be shorter than those required in a student’s final years, just like master’s  and doctoral-level essays will continue to increase in both length and difficulty.

1. The One-Paragraph Essay

Generally about 150 to 250 words in length, the one-paragraph essay may be assigned by academic tutors simply in order to practise the basic concepts of paragraph writing, or it may also be used for specific purposes such as to practise summarising an article that’s been read in class or to write an extended definition of a concept. Additionally, one-paragraph essays may also be used as a diagnostic to quickly determine the level of a student’s writing. Unlike other essay lengths, for the one-paragraph essay, you’ll need to include at least some introductory, body and conclusive elements within the same paragraph.    

2. The Three-Paragraph Essay

Usually around 500 words in length, the three-paragraph essay is generally used to introduce students to the concept that all essays should maintain an introduction , body section and conclusion if the writer wishes to produce cohesive and a logical writing. The introduction and conclusion will be the first and last paragraphs and tend to be a little shorter in length, while the central body paragraph will contain the essay’s content or argument. A simple table explaining the balance of content in a three-paragraph essay has been provided below:

3. The Five-Paragraph Essay

Around 1,000 words in length, the five-paragraph essay is generally set by tutors who are content that their students understand the introduction-body-conclusion essay  structure and wish to allow more freedom to expand the ideas and arguments presented by the writer in the body section of the essay. This length of essay still only dedicates one paragraph to the introduction and conclusion , but allows three paragraphs to be dedicated to the exploration of the theme in the essay’s body. At this length, certain essay types such as cause and effect essays or compare and contrast essays may now be utilised. The following is a simple diagram of the balance of paragraph lengths in a five-paragraph essay.

4. The Extended Essay

The extended essay is the most common type of essay that’s assigned during a bachelor’s or master’s degree , and it may be of any length – although it’s unusual for such essays to be above 5,000 words. The most common lengths for an extended essay are 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000 words, with a word count allowance of plus or minus 10%. Such essay types will most certainly require research and referencing skills , and may also begin to follow more complex structures such as are found in dissertations and theses rather than simply following the introduction-body-conclusion structure of shorter essays.

5. The Dissertation

Generally assigned as the final project for both bachelor’s   and master’s degree , the typical length of an academic dissertation is 10,000 or 15,000 words. Unlike shorter essay types , dissertations have more complex structures and are almost always based around primary research (original research that the writer has conducted themselves). The following table demonstrates some of the key parts of a dissertation as well as the rough word count  percentages for each section:

6. The Thesis

Finally, the thesis is the longest academic essay type and the one that’s reserved for doctorate students studying PhDs. Generally between 40,000 and 60,000 words in length, the doctorate thesis may contain all the elements of a dissertation but in much more detail and with more careful investigation. Such essays  are almost certainly original and are based on primary research , with a larger focus on the accuracy of the literature review , data collection and data analysis . Many students will never encounter this essay type. 

Once you can recognise which essay length you’ve been assigned, the next question covered in Chapter 3 is about determining the type of essay you have to write. This is because each essay type will require particular styles, structures, foci and language.

To reference this reader:

Academic Marker (2022) Essays . Available at: https://academicmarker.com/academic-guidance/assignments/essays/ (Accessed: Date Month Year).

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The ideal length for different book types: novels, non-fiction, short stories and more

• by Daniel Cleary
• March 12, 2023

Book length is a common topic of discussion among writers and publishers, as the length of a book can affect its accessibility, appeal, and marketability. But how long should a book be? Here is everything you’ll need to know about each of the book types.

The answer to the book-length question comes down to a few different factors. It will often vary depending on the type of book, its intended audience, and its genre.

The exact length of each piece of writing will always depend on the overall narrative. But here are some guidelines for each of the different types of books: Novels, non-fiction, short stories, comics, and picture books.

How many words for different book types?

Novels are typically the longest type of book, with the average length ranging from 80,000 to 100,000 words. However, there is no strict rule for the length of a novel, as long as the story is well-structured, engaging, and well-developed. Some novels can be as short as 50,000 words, while others can be much longer, reaching up to 200,000 words or more.

For first-time novelists, it’s recommended to aim for a length of 80,000 to 100,000 words, as this length is more manageable for both the writer and the reader. However, some genres, such as epic fantasy and historical fiction, may require a longer word count to fully develop the world and characters.

Short Stories and Novellas

Short stories are typically between 1,500 and 7,500 words, while novellas are between 20,000 and 50,000 words.

These shorter works are often used as stepping stones for writers looking to publish their first work, and they also provide an opportunity for writers to experiment with different styles and genres.

Comic Books/ Graphic novels

Comic books and graphic novels are heavily supplemented with images and illustrations that help tell a story. As pictures and artwork make it easier to shape a narrative, these types of books will require fewer words than the average short stories.

In general, you will want to aim for about 500 to 1,000 words in comic books. Graphic novels will require a bit more writing, about 1,000 to 2,500 words should be a good target for you to follow. If you’re looking for examples, DC and Marvel comics usually set the standard for stories of this length with their superhero books.

Non-Fiction book types

The length of non-fiction books can vary greatly, depending on the topic and intended audience. For example, a self-help book may be between 50,000 and 80,000 words, while a comprehensive history book can be much longer, reaching up to 200,000 words or more.

For non-fiction works, the length should be determined by the depth and breadth of the topic being covered. A comprehensive guide to a specific topic may require a longer word count, while focused work on a single aspect of the topic can be much shorter.

Picture Books

These are typically shorter than other types of books, with average lengths of 100 to 1,000 words. Picture books are meant to be read to young children and are often used to teach early literacy skills, so the focus is on the illustrations and the story’s overall impact, rather than the length.

The length of a book is determined by a variety of factors, including the genre, intended audience, and the story itself. While there is no strict rule for the length of a book, writers and publishers should aim for a length that is manageable for the reader and that accurately reflects the content of the book.

Whether you’re writing a novel, a short story, a non-fiction book, or a picture book, the most important thing is to focus on telling a compelling and engaging story.

If you’re looking for more narrative guides feel free to check out some of our other blog posts.

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Friday, February 19, 2010

The book-length essay, 8 comments:.

Have you read Maggie Nelson's *bluets*? I'm just wondering how you might categorize it, given the parameters that you're thinking about. I'd be interested to know what you conclude. It's a great read. I taught it in my Graduate Poetry course and my undergraduate Advanced Nonfiction Theory course.

To my mind, one of the classic book-length essays is the James Agee / Walker Evans text, /Let Us Now Praise Famous Men/. For a book to qualify for this reader there has to be a real sense of book as its own project, with its own sense of structure. Far too often writers seem happy to just throw together a bunch of essays and call it a collection, as if there's not art in the compilation, the ordering, and the editing that should talk place after you assemble essays. I read John's book as a book-length essay, albeit, yeah, it's divided into sections/chapters. It doesn't really read as a memoir in any real way, though there's memoir components working in it. And polemic. I haven't read that Maggie Nelson book though this is the second time this week somebody's mentioned it which suggests it's about time to pick it up. Does the book-length essay have to be short in order to consider it an essay? The one thing I like about this discussion is that it seems like, for a lot of mfa types and other students of writing (esp nf) the options appear to them to be (1) memoir; (2) collection of essays; and (3) uhhhh... so thinking about book-essays is helpful.

Oh, I think I'd argue for a couple of Lisa Robertson's books (particularly THE WEATHER) being pretty good examples of the book-length essay, albeit on the lyric side of the tracks, which we all know is the uncool side of the tracks.

John was in town last night. We decided "font size."

J- Excellent, I haven't read this yet, but I just ordered a copy (I'll probably report back on here with some thoughts). A- It's funny you mention /Let us Now Praise Famous Men/, as I started re-reading it about a week ago. I don't think it necessarily has to be short, but I do think it needs to read like it's short, if that makes sense. I think the essay, despite it's ability to meander, still feels more focused in the moment than memoir. You don't see as much set up/exposition ("Looking back, I...") in an essay, for example. Agreeing with the 3rd point as well: my thesis is a collection of essays that feel connected to me, but apparently they don't read that way to anyone else. I've been thinking a lot about book-length essays lately, mainly because I'm trying to figure out the best way to weave my shorter works into something that better accumulates. N- bigger=better? I'll start submitting work in 36-point!

Why does it have to read like it's short? Do you mean that it should have some kind of formal element that unifies it? Or that it simply has to read like a /project,/ and not a bunch of projects stuck together?

Yeah, mainly I think it has to read like a project. I fear I may be venturing into more of an essay/memoir comparison, but the essay (including book-length) usually feels like a series of events that gradually build in some unexpected fashion. Memoir, although also a series of events, typically seems to build toward a foregone conclusion. For example, I can read the first 15 pages of /The Duke of Deception/ and tell you, regardless of any surprises along the way, that I'm going to be reading primarily about a complicated father/son relationship. I think it's the essay's ability to jump around that makes it "read like it's short," since individual scenes/sections tend to feel more self-contained.

I'm thinking it has to do with the capacity of a brain, too. And the essay has a lot to do with brain, in that it is the form that most accurately models the way in which we think (or maybe I should say it most accurately simulates the way that a particular essayist's brain does its thinking thing). So if we think of a book as an essay we might want to think of it as (possibly) being held within one brain, possibly in one sitting, possibly in one movement. Which is why it's easier for this reader anyhow to track some more poetic essays, since the style can act as a clear formal unifier. I agree with you that the movement of an essay is different than the movement of a memoir. That it is more brainlike. Which means probably (or apparently) unpredictable. Which makes stream of consciousness as a fictional technique a very essayish move.

How Long Should a Book Be And Do Length & Word Count Matter?

A lot has been written in recent years about the average readers’ shrinking attention span. 

We all know that the non-stop news cycle and round-the-clock social media have sped up our consumption habits. But do these same habits translate to books?

We decided to find out.

To get straight to the point — As recently as 2011, the average book length of the #1 non-fiction bestseller was 467 pages. By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages.

What was our methodology?

We gathered a list of every New York Times #1 Non-Fiction Bestseller for the past 7 years and analyzed how the average length has evolved.

The answer was clear: our collective cultural ADD is impacting our reading habits.

The Average Bestseller Length Is Falling Fast

Since 2011, the average length of a bestseller has dropped steadily from year to year.

The average #1 bestselling book length has fallen by 42% in just 7 years.

And this doesn’t seem to be an anomaly. The drop comes as part of a larger downward trend:

• In 2011, the list’s average length peaked at 467 pages.
• In 2012, that average fell to 410.
• In 2013, it fell further to 367.
• In 2014, it recovered slightly to 382 on the back of three 600+ page books.
• In 2015, the drop resumed as the average fell to 345.
• In 2016, the drop lessened, falling only to 342.
• In 2017, the downward trend has continued, with an average book length of 273 pages.

This isn’t to say that long books are no longer succeeding. In 2016’s list, Ron Chernow’s 816-page Alexander Hamilton managed to crack the top spot.

However, the drop in the overall average length of bestsellers over the last 7 years points to a marked trend in the overall preferences of the average reader.

#1 Bestsellers Have A Wide Range, But A Narrow Average

Since the New York Times Non-Fiction Bestseller List began in 2000, books of all sizes have claimed the top spot.

The shortest book to hit the #1 spot was Harry Frankfurt’s 80-page On Bullshit .

The longest? Robert Caro’s 1232-page tome, Master of the Senate .

Looking at this, a hopeful author might believe that length plays no role in the likelihood of a book becoming a bestseller. But while books of all sizes have cracked the list at one point or another, the vast majority of #1 bestsellers fall into a much smaller range.

Over 64% of the #1 bestsellers since the list began have fallen in the 200 to 400 page range.

In recent years (2015-2017), the trend has become even more pronounced, with over 50% of #1 bestsellers falling into the narrower 250-350 page range:

Shockingly, the 450+ page length that held the average book length just 7 short years ago, now makes up just 13% of the books in the top spot.

How to explain this dramatic shift, and whether the trend will continue, remains to be seen.

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Top 10 unconventional essays

Taking in everything from town planning to cruising for sex, this mongrel genre claims an eccentric free range not available to other kinds of writing

T o call an essay unconventional is a bit of a redundancy, in that the essay typically resists convention. At any length it is a mongrel genre that roves freely across the territory of other genres. Book-length essays are somewhat rarer, and maybe even wilder. They tend to be slim books that somehow do everything, that borrow from journalism, from poetry, from memoir, and from a range of academic disciplines. They draw from historical practices, too, from the commonplace book, from the Japanese zuihitsu , from the African American art of oratory, and from Montaigne’s Essais .

I have collected here 10 book-length essays that appeal to me in their style, and that informed my writing of Having and Being Had , which I think of as a book-length essay. I have left out works that read like essays but that are entirely fictional, such as Claire-Louise Bennett’s wonderful Pond , and Anne Carson’s The Beauty of the Husband . I have also left out works that were published as poetry, such as A Pillow Book , Suzanne Buffam’s lovely homage to the zuihitsu of the 10th-century writer Sei Shōnagon. Even so, many of these books are only arguably essays. I find all of them difficult to describe and hard to categorise. This is a genre made up of works that frustrate the very concept of genre.

1. Holy Land by DJ Waldie This book artfully documents the planning and construction of a blue-collar suburb in California, as well as a life lived in that suburb from infancy to middle age. It is composed of several hundred numbered sections, most no longer than a page and some no longer than a sentence, all of them quietly poetic. One reads: “In a suburb that is not exactly middle class, the necessary illusion is predictability.” This work invites the reader to consider how our lives are shaped by the structures we live within, and to wonder what it might mean to live a “good life”, in both material and spiritual terms. These questions were often on my mind as I was writing Having and Being Had.

2. Times Square Red, Times Square Blue by Samuel R Delany This book is an essay in two parts, and it makes its argument in two different ways, once through a personal recollection of sexual encounters in Times Square, and then through an academic exploration of how gentrification degrades urban life. The essay genre is sometimes divided into two major categories – the formal, or academic essay, and the informal, or personal essay. Here the author leverages both, the two halves making one intriguing book. It is a moving elegy for a Times Square that is now lost, and a spirited appreciation of the porn cinemas and peep shows that brought together men of various races and classes.

3. The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson Written in a series of free-standing paragraphs that range from quotation to anecdote to meditation, this book choreographs an inventive dance between theoretical questions and lived experience. The lightly sketched backdrop for that dance is a love story between two people undergoing transformation. The author is pregnant and her partner has just begun to take testosterone. He is not transitioning from female to male – “I’m not on my way anywhere,” he says – just choosing to live between genders in a new way. Meanwhile, the author wonders if there isn’t “something inherently queer about pregnancy itself”. This intellectual romp through pregnancy, new motherhood, and queer family-making leaves the reader with a life-affirming sense of expanded possibilities.

4. The Women by Hilton Als In this three-part reckoning with race, gender, and sexuality, Als writes about his mother, an immigrant from Barbados, about Malcolm X’s mother, about the brilliant Harvard-educated “fag hag” Dorothy Dean, and about the writer Owen Dodson, who was his mentor and his lover. The book is both a love song and a cautionary tale, as the author identifies with all these complicated people, who exceeded the confines of their own identities, but is also determined not to live out their fates as his own.

5. Suite for Barbara Loden by Nathalie Léger This book explores the life and work of Barbara Loden, who based her film Wanda on the life of a woman she had never met, a woman whose life was not like her own, but whose story offered a way to tell the story of her own experience as a woman. In turn, the author finds her own experience, and her mother’s, in both Barbara Loden’s life and in Wanda. The true pleasure of reading this book is in the way Léger writes, which feels like the unfolding of consciousness itself.

6. The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavits Dismayed by the artlessness of her childhood diaries, Julavits decided to write a diary that would read like a work of art. The result subverts many of the conventions of a diary – the entries are not in chronological order, for one, and the book is far less tedious than an actual diary. Each entry begins with “Today I …” and many are charmingly eclectic, as in, “Today I found a Rolodex in a trash can at JFK”. This work is devoted to style and sensibility, and the prose is masterfully rendered, with every sentence perfect in its own way.

7. The Unquiet Grave by Cyril Connolly Like a commonplace book, this is a loosely organised collection of quotations, aphorisms, dreams and questions. The sentences are gloriously wrought and the prose is full of music. What holds the fragments together is a midlife reckoning in which the author interrogates his relationship to pleasure, comfort and material goods. “Unsatisfied Materialists,” he writes, “we are as common as clay.” Not quite a materialist, but close enough to feel the danger, I was drawn to this book during my own midlife reckoning.

8. This Is Not a Novel by David Markson Something of the everyday frustration of working as a writer is captured for me in an Amazon review of This is Not A Novel, which begins, “This is not really a novel …” This book is an exquisite meditation on art-making and mortality, rendered in a series of carefully curated details from the lives and deaths of various artists. Throughout, the author offers suggestions of what this work might be – a “heap of riddles”, “an epic poem”, “a mural”, “an autobiography” and, most intriguing to me, “a kind of verbal fugue”.

9. Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Dictee captures the haunting reverberations of colonialism in a collage of photographs, film stills, maps, letters, bits of dictation, blank spaces and passages of prose written in many styles and several languages. The women who appear, sometimes glancingly, include Joan of Arc, the Korean revolutionary Yu Kwan-sun, the Greek goddesses Demeter and Persephone and Cha’s mother Hyun Soon Huo, who was born in China to Korean exiles. Dictee is a challenging read, but this book is about the struggle to speak, to claim a language and to make sense of a fractured world.

10. Calamities by Renee Gladman Composed of a delightful series of diary-like entries that all start with the phrase, “I began the day …”, this book offers glimpses into the everyday life of a writer, but obliquely. The mind of the author is more openly revealed. Heady, playful and occasionally abstract, this reads as an essay in parts, rather than a collection of them. “It’s funny to call them essays anyway,” Gladman says of the work, “because they fail as essays. They don’t sustain an argument, they don’t go anywhere, they don’t conclude anything.” In writing Having and Being Had, I found myself drawn to this sort of failure, the failure to do what is expected – the sort of failure that is, in the context of the essay, a success.

• Autobiography and memoir

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How long an essay can be?

I was sure that even the longest essays are about 20-25 pages. But Eric Gill's "An Essay on Typography" is more than 150 pages. And here it becomes unclear to me where is a difference between an essay and a book? How long an essay can be?

• 1 Well, Wikipedia calls An Essay on Typography "a book". –  Anyon Commented Jun 21, 2023 at 14:28
• 2 You can write a 1000 page book titled "An Essay on X" where X is something you like to write about. –  Nobody Commented Jun 21, 2023 at 14:31
• A book can have 20-25 pages. –  EarlGrey Commented Jun 21, 2023 at 15:20
• Merriam-Webster says an essay is "an analytic or interpretative literary composition usually dealing with its subject from a limited or personal point of view". Some other places have 'usually short'. 150 pages is short compared with many other pieces of writing. –  Jon Custer Commented Jun 21, 2023 at 18:36

There is no limit. An essay is only vaguely defined, typically by its focus of topic and length, but there is no hard limit for how short an essay must be to be called an essay. I think most would agree that 150 pages is unusually long for an essay, but still possible. A highly focused persuasive piece of writing could still be called an essay even if very long.

A book is a form factor for a piece of writing, it doesn't describe the type or style of writing itself. Pretty much any piece of writing can be published in book form, whether that's an essay, a novel, technical manual, or biography. "Essay" describes a piece of writing with particular characteristics of purpose, style, and length, while "book" describes a physical object with pages and text.

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How Long Is an Essay? The Ultimate Essay Length Guide

It’s safe to say that most students struggle with the word limit within an essay. Sometimes, it’s hard to find ideas for a text and meet the word requirement for every part of the paper. With so many factors influencing essay length, it’s easy to get confused.

Luckily, our custom-writing team has your back. In this article, our custom-writing experts will answer all your questions regarding essay length. We will also help you write papers with an ideal number of words!

📜 Is Essay Length Important?

📏 essay parts: recommended length.

• 🤔 How to Make Essays Shorter or Longer
• 📑 Essay Length & Formatting
• ❓ Different Academic Levels FAQ
• 📚 Essay Length: Different Types
• ⭐ Other Aspects
• 📝 Essay Examples

🔍 References

Often, the phrase “word limit” causes panic among students. After all, if an essay is too long or too short, your grade will be lowered. However, in reality, there’s nothing to worry about. When it comes to words, limitations are beneficial for both the students and the professors.

Let’s see what exactly it means.

Many people believe that the longer an essay is, the better. However, according to Frontiers, research shows that it’s a bias that couldn’t be further from the truth. A perfect-length paper is one that allows students to express their ideas and showcase their knowledge fully while keeping it clean and simple.

What Influences Essay Length

Various factors determine the length of an essay. Here are the most important ones:

Let’s start with the essentials. Usually, assignment length is given as a number of words rather than pages. Unless your supervisor or instructor mentions any specific limitations, it’s acceptable to be 10% below or above the word limit.

It’s also worth knowing the 80/20 rule . According to it, the body should constitute 80% of the text, while the intro and the conclusion take up the remaining 20%.

Keep reading to learn more about the recommended length of each essay part. The main numbers are shown in the table below:

How Long Should an Introduction Be?

An introduction is the first section and the face of your essay. For that reason, it needs to be compelling and well-thought-out. Usually, it consists of 3 to 5 sentences or 50 to 80 words .

An introduction must have a hook, some background information, and a thesis statement. While the attention grabber and the thesis are usually brief, you may need 2 to 3 sentences for the background. To avoid going overboard, try to stay on topic and don’t add any filler.

How Long Is a Body Paragraph in an Essay?

The length of a body paragraph may vary. Sometimes, it can be limited to a single sentence. In other cases, it may take up a whole page. Usually, it’s recommended to have between 80 and 200 words (5-8 sentences) per body paragraph.

Since the paper’s body contains the most information, it’s necessary to explain and support your ideas properly. That’s why it’s no big deal if your body paragraphs go slightly over the word limit.

How Many Body Paragraphs Should Be in an Essay?

Like the word count, the number of paragraphs is determined by the type of paper and its topic. The minimum is 1. Generally, however, the body consists of 3-5 paragraphs , 1 for each argument.

To improve your paper’s structure, ensure that there are as many paragraphs as there are points in your thesis statement. Each one should have a purpose and support your arguments. If there’s any fluff, it’s better to get rid of it.

How Long Should a Conclusion Be?

Like the introduction, the conclusion consists of 50-80 words . It’s essential to keep it simple and only mention the central ideas. A weak concluding sentence may affect the reader’s understanding of the topic and spoil the overall impression of your paper.

🤔 How to Make Essays Shorter or Longer: Best Tips

Undoubtedly the essay’s content is more important than the number of words you use. But there are times when students go more than 10-15% below or over the limit. Is there a solution to this problem?

Yes, there is! In this section, we will share the most useful tips to help you stay on point with your paper’s word count.

How to Make Essays Longer

Since having enough words is essential for a good grade, we’ve collected the best tips that can help you lengthen your essay without teachers noticing:

• Use relevant quotations.  You don’t need to litter your essay with citations, but using them whenever appropriate is a great idea. For instance, if you’re working on a book analysis, referencing a couple of direct quotes from the source text will make your essay more credible and increase the word count.

• Give examples.  Go through the claims in your paper and provide additional evidence where possible. It will make your essay longer and more informative.

• Use transitional expressions.  Adding transition words and phrases is a natural way of increasing the number of words. It will also improve your essay’s readability. 

• Add more references.  Providing references is always a good idea when writing a formal essay. That way, you will increase the number of words and make your paper more credible.

• Work on your descriptions.  If you struggle to develop new ideas, go over what you’ve already written and consider adding some descriptive words. It’s a great idea for creative essays to include more imagery. 

How to Shorten an Essay

Another struggle of academic writing is cutting down the number of words in your essay to meet a set limit. We are here to tell you that it’s not that hard. Writing straightforwardly and keeping your sentences short is a key to concise content. Here are several strategies you may use to tighten a lengthy essay:

• Choose the active voice.  It takes up less space than passive voice. Using it also makes your writing more professional and compelling.

• Remove needless transitions.  Transitions can indeed maintain the flow of the paper. But some transitional phrases can be easily removed.

• Get rid of unnecessary adverbs and adjectives.  Some students tend to overuse adjectives and adverbs. It adds wordiness to their writing.

• Avoid running starts.  Some students like to start their sentences with long phrases like: “there are,” “it is believed,” or “the fact that.” Getting rid of them makes texts much more concise.

• Delete “that.”  In most cases, the word “that” can often be easily removed from texts.

Another cool trick is to use our summarizing tool as essay shortener. Try it out!

📑 How Long Is an Essay Depending on Formatting?

As we mentioned earlier, the essay’s length is usually limited by the number of words. But sometimes, a teacher may ask you to write a specific number of pages. This is trickier because the amount of text you can place on the page depends on the formatting. By using the font size and spacing properly, it’s possible to make the paper visually longer or shorter. Let’s discuss it in more detail.

Essay Spacing: How Does It Affect the Length?

• Adjusting the spacing between lines.  Try to make the changes as slight as possible. For instance, if you were asked to double-space the paper, use 2.1 or 2.2 spacing instead. Another option is to slightly extend spaces between paragraphs.
• Extending the margin size.  You can increase the right and bottom margins by a quarter to make very subtle changes in length. For example, if the margins are 1 inch , you can set them at 1.25 inches instead. 
• Increasing the spacing between characters.  It is less noticeable than the line spacing. Still, try not to overdo it and keep the numbers between 1.2 and 1.5 . 
• Adjusting the footer.  Add a footer with page numbers to stretch the bottom margin even further.
• Lengthening the header.  You can extend your header by adding your name, e-mail address, or other relevant information. Another option is double-spacing it.

Length of an Essay: Font and Size

• Using the right type of font.  If your instructor didn’t specify which font you should use, go for the bigger ones. We suggest Arial, Bangla Sangam MN, Cambria, or Quicksand. They will make your text look longer without being too on the nose.  
• Using a bigger font size.  This is another technique that can come in handy. However, be careful and don’t increase your font by more than 0.1-0.5 pt.  
• Increasing the size of periods and commas.   This is one of the less noticeable tricks you can use. For instance, if your paper’s font is 12 pt. , increase it to 14 pt. only for punctuation marks. Italicizing periods and commas will also add several lines of length to your essay. 

What to Do if There Are No Length Guidelines

Sometimes a teacher sets no word limit for a written work. What to do in that case? Well, first, you can ask your professor to confirm if they have simply forgotten to mention it. But if that’s not the case, here are a couple of helpful solutions:

• Think of the paragraph number.  Sometimes, you may be given the number of paragraphs instead of words. In that case, you can decide on the number of words depending on how many paragraphs you have. 
• Think about the topic’s complexity.  The length of your paper is also directly dependent on the theme. If the topic is simple, 4-5 paragraphs will be enough. A more complex issue may require an in-depth explanation, so your essay can be 6-8 paragraphs long.

❓ Essay Length for Different Academic Levels FAQ

The length of the elementary school essay is usually short. Usually, a paper needs to have around 3-5 paragraphs, with 4-5 sentences per paragraph. Primary school essays can be 1-2 paragraphs long.

The word limit for a middle school essay is usually between 300 to 1000 words. The most common essay length is 500 words, which is about 5 paragraphs. However, it may differ from school to school.

The length of the high school essay may differ depending on the school and the complexity of the task itself. Usually, however, a paper can be between 300 to 1000 words long.

The length of the undergraduate college essay often falls within the range of 1500 to 2100 words. It translates into roughly 5-7 pages. 5 pages is the most common essay length at this level.

When it comes to the graduate school admission essay, the word limit is usually between 500 and 1000 words. It’s possible to go slightly over or below the set limit; however, it’s best to stick to the requirements as close as possible.

📚 How Long Should an Essay Be: Different Types

Now, let’s talk about different types of essays. How long should they be? Keep reading to learn about the length of college essays, short and extended ones, scholarship essays, and research papers.

How Long Is a College Essay?

When it comes to a college essay, it’s more important to stick to the word limit than with any other paper. Some teachers may refuse to read it unless it meets all the requirements.

The shortest limit for a college essay is about 250 words which is the shortest length of a Common App personal statement. It’s also rare to see a good college essay with over 650 words . So, an average piece usually has between 150 and 650 words ; you can go over or below the limit by 50.

How Long Is a Paragraph in College Essays?

A college essay usually consists of 4-5 paragraphs . One paragraph takes about 1/3 of the page, which is roughly 5 sentences . Each sentence corresponds with one of the following components:

• Topic sentence.
• Explanation.
• Transitions.

College Essay Length Requirements: Top 5 Schools

To understand the requirements for a college application essay even better, take a look at the table below. It showcases the top 5 schools and their length criteria for personal statements. Keep it in mind when writing your college essay:

How Long Is a Short Essay?

A short essay is usually 500 words long. Using 12pt Times New Roman font with standard margins and double spacing should result in about 2 pages of text.

Extended Essay Length

An extended essay is different from a short or a standard one. It requires extensive research and thorough explanation. That’s why the upper limit for this kind of essay is 4000 words . In this case, a typical essay length is 3500 words or 18 paragraphs .

Scholarship Essay Length

Generally, scholarship papers have a limit of 500 words , which is 1 page in length. Most scholarship programs provide additional requirements that indicate the minimum number of words or pages. If there are no set limitations, you can stick to the limit.

How Long Is a Research Paper?

Typically, a research paper is between 4000 and 6000 words long. Sometimes, there are shorter papers, which have around 2000 words, or in-depth ones with over 10000 words.

⭐ Other Aspects of Essay Length

When it comes to essay length, many different aspects come into play. Here, we’ve gathered all the essential information regarding an essay’s number of pages, paragraphs, words, and references.

How Many Paragraphs Are in an Essay?

Sometimes, it is more convenient to count paragraphs rather than words. Let’s now figure out how many paragraphs are in essays of different lengths. You may also check out the examples to see what such an essay looks like:

How to Count Paragraphs in an Essay Based on Word Count

You can also count the number of body paragraphs for your essay using the formula below:

Number of body paragraphs (average) = (TWC – TWC*0.16)/100

• TWC – total word count
• 0.16 – an average percentage of total word count for introduction and conclusion
• 100 – an average number of words per paragraph

How Many Pages Are in an Essay?

The number of pages in your essay may vary from subject to subject. But it’s still possible to determine the number of pages based on word count. Check out the numbers below to see the conversions with bonus examples:

You can also use a specialized calculator such as Word Counter to determine a number of pages in your essay.

What Does an Essay Look Like when Typed?

You might be wondering: what do essays of different lengths look like when typed? Well, here’s the table where you can find out the metrics for single- and double-spaced papers.

How Many Pages Are in a Handwritten Essay?

In case you need to turn in a handwritten paper, you should check out the table below.

Counting Words in a Handwritten Essay

If you don’t have enough time to count the words in your handwritten essay one by one, here’s what you can do:

• Count how many words there are in one line. Take the first and last lines and a line in the middle of a page. Let’s say there are 15, 14, and 15 words in them. Then, the average number of words per line is 15.
• Next, count how many lines there are on one page. Let’s say there are 17 lines on a page.
• Take the number of words per line and multiply it by the number of lines per page. In our case, we multiply 15 by 17. So, there are 255 words per page on average.
• Finally, multiply the number of words per page by the number of pages. If your essay has 3 pages, it is approximately 765 words long.

How Long Does it Take to Write an Essay?

It is crucial to know how long writing will take you, especially if you are working on an exam essay or just short on time. Note that you need to consider the time for typing and researching necessary to complete a piece. Research time may vary. Usually, it’s 1-2 hours for 200-250 words .

Below, we’ve gathered the average writing time for average and slower writing speed:

And here are the results in pages:

How Many References Does an Essay Need?

Another essential part of any composition is the reference list. Different academic levels require different references. You’ll find out how many of them should be in your paper in the table below!

📝 Essay Examples: Different Length

Finally, we’ve gathered some excellent sample essays of different lengths. Make sure to check them out!

We also recommend you check out our free essay samples sorted by pages:

• 1-Page Essay Examples
• 2-Page Essay Examples
• 3-Page Essay Examples
• 4-Page Essay Examples
• 5-Page Essay Examples
• 10-Page Essay Examples
• 20-Page Essay Examples
• 30-Page Essay Examples
• 40-Page Essay Examples
• 50-Page Essay Examples

Now you know all about essay length, word limits, and ways to lengthen or shorten your text. If you know other interesting tricks, make sure to share them in a comment! Good luck with your writing assignments!

You may also like:

• How to Write a Process Analysis Essay: Examples & Outline
• How to Write a Precis: Definition, Guide, & Examples 
• How to Write a Critical Analysis Essay: Examples & Guide
• How to Write a Narrative Essay Outline: Template & Examples
• How to Write a Formal Essay: Format, Rules, & Example
• Word Limits and Assignment Length: Massey University
• The Paragraph in the College Essay: California State University, Long Beach
• Introductions & Conclusions: The University of Arizona Global Campus
• How Long Should a Paragraph Be?: Daily Writing Tips
• Paragraphing (Length Consistency): Purdue University
• Hitting the Target Word Count in Your College Admission Essay: Dummies.com
• How Long Should Your College Essay Be? What is the Ideal Length?: College Vine
• Writing Personal Statements Online: Issues of Length and Form: Penn State University
• Pen Admissions: Essays: University of Pennsylvania
• Essay Questions: University of Michigan
• Essay Structure: Harvard University
• Components of a Good Essay: University of Evansville
• Write Your Essay: UNSW Sydney
• College Writing: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 21 Helpful and Easy Tips to Make an Essay Longer: Seventeen
• How to Make a College Paper Longer: ThoughtCo
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How Long Should Your Book Be? The Complete Guide

The ‘how long?’ question has to be one of the most commonly asked by new authors – perhaps even experienced ones, too. It was certainly one of the first to pass my lips when I met my editor to discuss my first children’s book .

Type of book and target audience

Adult literary and commercial fiction:  80,000–100,000 words is considered to be the ‘Goldilocks’ zone, though you could get away with 70,000 words minimum and 109,000 words maximum if you’re feeling daring.

Comic books and manga

Graphic novel:  Essentially, ‘graphic novel’ is a fancier word for a longer comic book that is released as one volume rather than being segmented into issues. There’s also no set length.

Personal style

Don’t try to reinvent the wheel, 5 ways harlan ellison can help you improve your writing, david sedaris masterclass review: is it worth your money, what writers like you need to know about satire, pastiche, homage, and parody, joyce carol oates masterclass review: is it worth your money, how to write about your hobby (as an author), are you an elephant writer or a termite writer, hannah collins, 38 thoughts on “how long should your book be the complete guide”.

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The Average Length of a Book: By Age, Range, and Genre

Before writing and publishing a book, make sure you know the average length of a book in your chosen genre .

When a reader picks up a book, they expect the approximate length of that book. Word counts impact a book’s target audience , which publishers show interest in it, and how much you can charge for it.

So what is the  average length of a book ? This is a wide range, but the average novel aimed at adult readers is around 90,000 words, with a range between 80,000 and 110,000. For non-fiction works, the average is slightly less at between 50,000 and 80,000 words. That said, some indie authors publish shorter, more specific non- fiction books around 30,000 words.

Truthfully, though, the answer depends on the genre of the book you’re writing or reading. You can count book length based on either  average  word count or an average  number of pages, and this guide will help you determine what length is appropriate for a book you’re writing.

Average Length of a Book Depends on Genre

1. adult novels, 2. flash fiction stories, 3. short story, 4. novellas, 5. romance novels, 6. science fiction and fantasy novels, 7. historical fiction, 8. horror, mystery, crime and thriller novels , 9. young adult books, 10. picture books, 11. early reader books, 12. early chapter books, 13. middle-grade fiction books, 14. standard non-fiction work , 15. memoir books, 16. biographies, 17. self-help books, does word count matter, a final word on the average length of a book, how long should a nonfiction book be, how long should a fiction book be.

If you are considering writing a book or short story, you need to know the  average  word count before you start. This knowledge helps guide your story arc, ensuring you get the beginning, middle, and end in the right places. 

To determine the formatting and length of a book, you must look at the genre first. Children’s books have much different lengths than novellas and full-length novels . 

To keep things consistent, this guide will cover  average  word count rather than page count. Many factors affect the number of pages in the book, especially its formatting and the presence of illustrations, so word count is a better metric. Also, you can count words as you compose your document, and the number of pages of the finished work may change based on the publisher’s formatting.

Learn more about the types of genres for books.

Average Length for Adult Fiction Books

If you are writing fiction, here is the  average length to expect based on the type of fiction book you write.

Novel lengths typically fall between 50,000 and 110,000 words. The industry supports longer works, especially from established and trusted authors, but this is a good average range. Keep in mind that even among novels , genre impacts length.

Flash fiction works are short stories that convey universal truths or emotions. The  average length for these works is between 300 and 1500 words. 

A great short story  is slightly longer than a flash fiction piece. Aim for between 1,500 and 30,000 words for a story or book to fall in this genre .

Novellas are shorter books often published as sequels or prequels for popular books. They often give the backstory of a character in the main story arc. The  average length is between 30,000 and 50,000 words.

Romance novels include both mainstream romance and sub- genre  romance. These are between 40,000 and 100,000 words on average , with the sub- genre   novels being slightly shorter.

The fantasy and science fiction  novel  niche tends to be a bit longer than other types of novels , so the author can create a fantasy or sci-fi world. Aim for 90,000 to 120,000 words for this genre .

If you are writing historical fiction, you’ll find the average range falls within the  average  word count for novels . The best historical fiction books fall between 80,000 and 100,000 words.

Though there are exceptions, the horror and mystery genres tend to be shorter adult fiction books . Traditional publishing aims for 70,000 to 90,000 words for this genre . Because they move quickly and include a lot of action, these do not have as long a word count. The best crime thriller authors adopt a similar approach.

YA novel  writers often target adult readers. The sweet spot for the word length for these books is 50,000 to 80,000 words. Interestingly, many YA authors end up with a larger number of words in their sequels after they gain a bit of a following among their target readers.

Average Length for Children’s Fiction Books

Children have limited vocabularies and can’t read as long of books as their adult counterparts. Here are some publishing industry standards for children’s fiction works, based on age level.

Even though they often get read aloud, picture books have an industry-standard length. They tend to be between 300 and 800 words, with plenty of illustrations to help tell the story.

Early or easy reader books are for young, new readers. They feature minimal vocabulary that is in line with reading level, and they vary from 200 words to 3,500 words, increasing in word count as the reading level increases.

After easy reading, most children move to chapter books. These still have limited vocabulary to line up with their reading levels. The  average length, again depending on reading level, is between 4,000 to 10,000 words.

The middle grades, grades six through eight, need longer books but a limited vocabulary. The best word count for this age group is between 25,000 and 40,000 words. 

Average Length for Non-Fiction Books 

Non- fiction books  can follow similar guidelines as age-group specific books. However, for books reaching adults, there are specific word counts that the publishing industry considers standard. The kind of book affects the word count in non-fiction as well.

If a non-fiction work is not a self-help or a biography or memoir, it has a pretty narrow range of between 70,000 and 80,000 words. This type of book includes political works, business books, science books, and similar non-fiction topics.

A  memoir  is someone’s autobiographical account of something that happened in their own life. It may not be an entire biographical account, but it does cover something the writer experienced. The  average length for this type of fiction is 80,000 to 200,000 words.

A biography is a book with a long potential range depending on the details in the subject’s life. The average range for this is 80,000 to 200,000 words. 

A self-help book gives guidance on how to do something. It may be personal growth or physical action, like how to do a craft. The  average length for this is 40,000 to 50,000 words.

Word counts for books is a fluid thing, but it does matter. Readers expect how long a book will be, and most publishers are looking for books they publish to hit the sweet spot for their readers.

That said, exceptions exist. For example, the first book in the Harry Potter series was perfect for young adult  readers at  76,944 words . As the series progresses, the books get increasingly longer, and book five, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix topped the list at 257,045 words. 

Since the series was a New York Times Bestseller, the word count didn’t matter. The books flew off the shelf. However, most writers need to stick within word count recommendations, especially when seeking to publish a book for the first time.

The  average length of a book depends on the subject, age-range, and type of book you choose. Literary fiction is usually longer than non-fiction , but even in those general terms, word counts vary.

Word count matters in the publication world because publishers need to publish books that appeal to their target audiences. Thus, they look for books that hit a certain range based on the genre .

If you are hoping to become a published author, sticking to word count ranges will help. 

Want more? Check out our guide how to write a book .

FAQs About The Average Length Of A Book

A classic non-fiction book is usually between 70,000 and 80,000 words. Other types of non-fiction, like biographies, can be even longer, with upper limits of around 200,000 words.

The average length of a fiction book depends on the age of its audience and the type of book. Picture books, for instance, can be as short as 300 words, whereas a science fiction novel can have upper limits of around 120,000 words.

How Long Should Your Book Be? A Word Count Guide to Getting Published

Author: Natalie Harris-Spencer Updated: July 25, 2023

How long should your book be? Does it even matter? Isn’t the art as long as the art needs to be for you to tell your story? Book length is a technical question a world away from the craft , but yes, having a word count guide absolutely matters—even at the earliest stages of drafting your novel. A draft becomes a manuscript, which quickly becomes something to send to literary agents and then editors , and then suddenly, voila! It becomes a book. And a book is a product, and every page is a dollar amount and a time value investment to publishers . If you’re coming in way under or over, publishers won’t want to invest in your product. See why it matters to consider word count at the early stages, and to move away from thinking about book length in terms of “art”?

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule (more below), but publishing has standards which you should meet if you expect to be taken seriously as a professional author. Otherwise, it just screams maverick, lazy, or obtuse. As mentioned several times on Aspiring Author , publishing is a business, with rules to follow. If you submit a 30,000 or 130,000-word manuscript to an agent or publisher when the sweet spot is 80,000 words, you’re giving them a very easy reason to simply pass on your work (perhaps without even reading it).

When should you start thinking about your word count?

Don’t worry too much about word count before you have a first draft, otherwise you might get tripped up or get writer’s block. However, once you have that draft in your hands, now is the time! There’s no exact science behind the word count, but there is a sweet spot, which can vary by genre .  If you’re a couple of thousand words over: no big deal. Any more than 5,000 over or under, then it’s time to do some work. And if you’re way under or over, then something’s gone seriously wrong (see below for how to address). Additionally, as readers we have certain expectations—you might balk at reading a 100,000-word picture book (unless perhaps it was an adult graphic novel). You certainly wouldn’t buy it. Check out our word count guide to getting published below.

The sweet spot

When drafting your adult fiction manuscript, aim for 80,000 words. My first drafts tend to be around the 60,000-word mark, and then grow longer with each edit. I also know of writers whose first drafts go way over, after which they have some serious cutting to do. Let the warning bells sound at 90,000. Do not go over 100,000. This is the sweet spot for standard adult novels for a very good reason. That’s around 250-350 double-spaced, typed pages (which equates to about the same when printed, depending on font choice, font size, and whether the book is published in paperback, hardcover, or digitally). Studies have shown readers are most comfortable with this number of pages for a standard fiction book. So keep that 80,000 words echoing in your head like a mantra.

Word count guide for debut authors

If you’re a debut author , you should follow the sweet spot recommendation above especially closely. Ever notice how the first Harry Potter was considerably slimmer than those that followed? That’s because even J.K. Rowling was a debut author once, and publishers are less likely to publish a longer book written by an unestablished author. However, even Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was much longer than a standard middle grade book, at 79,000 words. Again, there are always exceptions to every rule.

Word count guide for novellas

Novellas fall somewhere between a short story and a novel and can range from 10,000 to 40,000 words. However, novellas are notoriously difficult to sell, which is why publishers buy far fewer novellas than novels. Unless you’ve been published by The New Yorker or are very well known, it’s highly unlikely you’ll get a debut book deal with a novella.

Word count guide for longer fiction

Despite the sweet spot argument above, audiences are still buying and reading very long books. Look at George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series , for example. When there’s hype or buzz around a series, publishers are willing to gamble on a longer tome. However, you have to prove yourself first, and you probably can’t do that if you’re a debut author . For anything else in adult fiction (that isn’t fantasy), agents and publishers might be concerned about the effort involved in editing such a meaty manuscript, or they might find a problem with the pacing, or exposition, or they simply might prefer to push a shorter, more marketable book out on to the shelves. There’s an inherent risk in writing longer fiction—this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, just that you should be wary.

Word count guide for shorter fiction and children’s books

• Picture books: 100-600 words; no more than 1,000 words
• Chapter books: (five-to-nine-year-olds): 4,000-20,000 words, with word count scaling by age
• Middle grade books (for eight-to-twelve-year-olds): 30,000-50,000 words, with word count scaling by age
• Young adult, or YA novels: 40,000-80,000 words, with YA fantasy at the top of the scale
• Graphic novels: 20,000-75,000 words

Word counts by genre

Fantasy, sci-fi, and the historical fiction genres can get away with more words due to the extensive world building involved. It’s acceptable to go up to 125,000 words in these genres (with plenty of bestseller authors going way over). However, debut authors should exercise caution and still consider keeping things to the 100,000-word mark, just at least while you’re querying literary agents or while your book is out on submission . Always err on the side of caution. Check out the word count guidelines per genre below:

• Commercial fiction: 70,000-100,000 words, with the sweet spot at 80,000
• Historical fiction: 80,000-110,000 words; absolute maximum is 125,000 words
• Literary fiction: 55,0000-100,000 words; the lower end will be a trickier sell
• Memoir and narrative non-fiction: 70,000-90,000 words
• Non-fiction (how-tos, self-help, and business): 50,000-70,000
• Romance: 50,000-100,000 words, with category romance on the lower end
• Science fiction and fantasy: 90,000-110,000; absolute maximum is 125,000 words
• Thriller and psychological suspense : 70,000-90,000 words, with the sweet spot at 80,000
• Women’s and upmarket fiction: 80,000-100,000 words

How long should your book be: Final thoughts

These are just guidelines intended to increase your success rate of getting published. There are always exceptions to the rules. However, if your manuscript falls way under or way over these brackets, it might be worth going back to your story’s structure, world building, and pace. Yes, you’re trying to get a book deal , but you’re also writing something that connects with your audience and conforms to their expectations. This is where the art and the product coalesce.

Recommended reading

Here at Aspiring Author , we love recommending bestsellers and fawning over hot new releases. On this real time recommended reading list, you will find a list of top rated books on the publishing industry, craft, and other books to help you elevate your writing career.

Turns Out My Online Friend is My Real-Life Boss! 2

Passion and Prejudice: A Family Memoir

How To Write A 5-Paragraph Essay: A No-Nonsense Step-By-Step Guide To Mastering Effective Essay Writing, Practical Study Skills, Easy Exercises & Simple Lessons for the Successful Student

Burn After Writing (Celestial)

Start Writing Your Book Today: A Step-by-Step Plan to Write Your Nonfiction Book, From First Draft to Finished Manuscript

About the author.

Natalie Harris-Spencer

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1 thought on “how long should your book be a word count guide to getting published”.

I wrote my biography in 22,000 words, it covers 83 years of my life. It is easy, fun and interesing to read. Is there a market for someting short and sweet to resd?

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The Memoir in Essays: A Reading List

Elizabeth kadetsky on the multiple ways we can look at the self.

While the personal essay has enjoyed continued popularity, a book-length collection of linked essays, centered on an author’s self or life, is less common than a traditional memoir or novel. A truly successful essay collection can reveal the author processing experiences at many different points in time and through many different lenses. As a writer, I’ve always been drawn to the essay as a form, for its concision, for its ability to highlight an intriguing gap between author and narrator that lends an inherent tension and self-questioning. A collection of essays treating the same or related inquiries multiplies this effect.

The distance afforded by those multivalent lenses can allow an author to regard one’s younger self as a different character, a different persona. This can create an unease or uncertainty that is exciting, and also very relatable to the reader. An author’s ability to forgive that earlier version of herself is especially prevalent in the memoir-in-essays, perhaps because of the extended time period covered as a writer composes essays across years or even decades.

We are lucky enough to be in the middle of a renaissance. Several recent and upcoming memoirs-in-essays use the inquisitive essay form to tell life stories from different vantage points and make the reader question and revel in unreliable narrators and new perspectives. The more traditional memoir focuses on seeking and attaining redemption. The nonlinear structure of an essay collection reveals that there is never easy redemption, never clear resolution: bad things happen for no reason; overcoming one trial does not lessen the need to adapt in the next.

These new, enchanting and powerful collections are a welcome reminder that in our collective state of unrest and unknown futures, there is a comfort in knowing that there is an inherent uncertainty in having the answers.

Emily Arnason Casey, Made Holy: Essays (University of Georgia Press)

In beautiful, scenic prose, Emily Arnason Casey probes her middle American childhood from the stance of different venues, times of life, and primary characters—a family cabin and repository for memories both happy and sad; a little sister who grew up and wasn’t a sidekick anymore; a mother who didn’t reveal the family propensity to alcoholism until it was too late; an aunt who succumbed to the illness’s lure. In a spiral-like structure that keeps returning to a central and unanswerable question—how, and why, must this family battle the draws and effects of alcohol addiction—Arnason Casey tells a poignant story of a “normal” family that through its quirks and desires must find a path to survival. The author finds solace in nostalgia and a way forward by examining the errors of the past and by embracing, as a mother, the promise of the future generation. Her probing and compulsive need to question reminds us that alcoholism has no simple etiology, and that its cures are as individual as they are elusive.

Sonja Livingston, The Virgin of Prince Street: Expeditions into Devotion } (University of Nebraska Press)

At a time of dwindling religiosity, Livingston finds herself wishing for greater connection to her Catholic roots while also exploring the physical space of the church in upstate New York that made memories for her as a child. Because of religious attrition, the church that she grew up in becomes the gathering space for dozens of rescued saint statues deaccessioned from other churches nearby. Livingston embarks upon a quest to find a missing Virgin Mary statue, that moves not in straight lines but elliptically, following a parallel physical and emotional journey that is an exploration into faith, Catholicism, and a desire for spiritual connection on modern terms. In examining the sustained power of a central icon of the Catholic church and an object of personal, sentimental attachment, Livingston’s linked essays highlight the irresolvable paradox of modern religiosity—that the seeker must follow an uncharted middle pathway when the old texts and their tropes, their patriarchy and their strictures, necessarily fall away.

Amy Long, Codependence (Cleveland State University Poetry Center)

In this haunting and troubling book, Long revisits scenes and anecdotes from her  boyfriend’s heroin addiction and her subsequent dependence on opioids for chronic pain. Formal experiments such as essays disguised as lists, prescription forms, and medical reports are interspersed among scene-driven recollections from different points in time: the author’s first introduction to the drug; the allure of an older addict; attempts at recovery. The grounding presence of the author’s supportive mother is offset by the narrative’s tragic other constant—the euphoria and escape offered by the drug. By eschewing a linear narrative structure, Long illustrates the difficulty of achieving recovery and puts lie to the myth that addiction is a logical disease that naturally ends with a cure. In its very form, this memoir undermines the narrative so prevalent in media treatments of this illness—that in order to trounce the beast, the individual suffering from addiction need only attend a recovery program. Having written about and witnessed my own sister’s decades’ long struggle to overcome opioid addiction, I was drawn to Long’s wisdom in portraying addiction not as a problem to be solved so much as a complexity to be observed and penetrated.

Sejal Shah, This Is One Way to Dance (University of Georgia Press)

The Indian-American author continually revisits her troubled relationship to her American identity through layered essays treating her bifurcated Indian and American past. Exploring her family’s immersion in Gujarati subculture when she was a child growing up in Rochester, New York; her experience as one of few people of color in her MFA creative writing program; and many family weddings in which she must confront her presumed future as a desi bride, Shah questions her place in both American culture and the thriving American-Gujarati subculture. By placing dates at the ends of the essays, it is suggested that her complicated and lifelong conflicts about race and cultural identity can be told chronologically. But, as she explains in her introduction, many essays had multiple end dates after having been revised and reconsidered as time moved forward. The multiple end dates elegantly upend the notion that a rational, hypothesis-thesis-synthesis structure can encompass the complexities of identity and belonging. Shah’s choice to write non-narratively about her conflicts of identity provide insight for anyone raised with a dual or multiple cultural identity—anyone who may, at different points of time, feel a greater allegiance to one culture, another, or a never straightforward amalgam of many. Who we understand ourselves to be, Shah’s book tells the reader in subtle ways, is not a fact so much as a moving target, an unending query.

Sue William Silverman, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences (University of Nebraska Press)

Silverman is the author of three previous memoirs. In How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences , she tells her life story through the lens of an obsession with death and the desire to come to terms with the inevitable but often avoided reality that in the end we are mortal. The essays begin with a chronological life story of growing up in New Jersey and encountering American culture’s death-avoidance, but then take a swerve when several brief but elusive mentions accrue into an account of a rape at a young age and a discovery that her memory of the event connects to her fixation on death. A chronological structure gives way to a thematic plot, in which Silverman seeks to confront her topic through reporting, immersion, and reflection—for instance by visiting a morgue, exploring mythological figures associated with death, and recollecting a family funeral. The sophisticated writing and structure make the whole greater than the sum of its many fascinating and worthy parts. Silverman’s essays continually reveal the irrational functioning of memory and how it connects our pasts to our worldviews. Honoring subconscious logic, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences makes the gambit that the mysteries of the self are both keys to understanding and uncertainties to be celebrated. We become who we are without being fully conscious of our choices—probing those choices won’t give us easy answers, but the discoveries along the way will be illuminating and well worth the necessary befuddlements.

__________________________________

Elizabeth Kadetsky’s memoir , The Memory Eaters, is available now from University of Massachusetts Press.

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Word Count by Genre: How Long Should a Book Be?

As a new author, breaking into publishing can be challenging. There are so many rules to learn and tips to follow. Meanwhile, you just want to tell your story, help others, express yourself, and achieve your dream. One industry standard to consider is the length of a book. How long should a book be, anyway? Let's look at why word count matters, standard word count by genre, and exceptions to the rule.

Why word count matters

As an aspiring author, you might be tired of hearing about all the rules in publishing. But word count ranges are not arbitrary numbers established only to trample your creativity. They are guidelines that exist for some important reasons. Here's why word count matters:

Agent and publisher expectations: Agents are less likely to take a risk on a first time author whose book is too long or short. If you want to find an agent and publisher, stick to the word count standards.

Publishing costs: Long books cost more to produce—and more for the customer to purchase. Whether you are publishing traditionally or independently, you may price yourself out of the market with a lengthy tome.

Bookshelf appeal: Books that are too long or short can look out of place on a bookstore shelf. Readers may overlook a book with a skinny spine, and may shy away from one that is extremely thick, especially if they're not familiar with the author.

Reader expectations: Readers invest their time and money in books, and they have expectations when they crack open a cover. They expect books to be a certain length, depending on the genre. Readers also expect the story to hold their attention throughout the entire book. That means that superfluous scenes, details, and descriptions have been cut. If a book goes far beyond the standard word count, there had better be a good reason for those extra words. Likewise, if a story is short, it should have the same weight as a full-length novel.

But writing is your art. Why conform? Literary agent Rachelle Gardner explains why word count matters by comparing book length to the length of other media. "Popular music consists of songs of a certain length. Popular movies fall within a certain range of lengths. TV shows have even stricter length guidelines, down to the second." She continues, "The simple fact is, if you want to be part of a massive and well-established commercial system, you’ll create your art so that it fits into that system."

Standard word count by genre

Most publishers and agents call anything over 40,000 words a novel, as opposed to a novella or short story. However, that doesn't mean that you should shoot for only 40,000 words.  An ideal word count for a full-length, adult novel is 80,000-90,000 words. However, the standard word count range changes depending on the genre of the book. Here are some of the standard ranges:

Adult Fiction

Literary and Commercial Fiction: 80,000-110,000 words

Romance: 80,000-100,000 words

Category Romance: 40,000-75,000 words

Mystery and Thriller: 70,000-110,000 words

Sci-Fi and Fantasy: 90,000-125,000 words

Historical Fiction: 80,000-120,000 words

Standard Nonfiction: 50,000-80,000 words

Self-help/How-to: 40,000-50,000 words

Memoir: 80,000-100,000 words

Children's Books

Young Adult: 45,000-80,000 words

Middle Grade: 20,000-50,000 words

Chapter Books: 4,000-10,000 words

Early Reader: 200-3,500 words

Picture Books: 400-700 words

Length of a book: Exceptions to the rule

There are, of course, exceptions to word count guidelines. It's easy to find bestselling books that are longer or shorter than the standard ranges, including A Game of Thrones (around 294,000 words), The Pillars of the Earth (about 400,000 words), The Great Gatsby (around 47,000 words), and Slaughterhouse-Five (about 49,500 words) .

It's often the case that outliers are by authors who are already successful. That's because there's a loophole to the word count standards—once you have established yourself as a successful writer, your publisher is more willing to overlook a nonstandard word count. For example, the later books in the Harry Potter series are quite long, but the first three books in the series are not.

When considering word count standards, there's one important thing to remember: it's your choice, it's your book, and no one can stop you from writing it the way you want. Just understand that as a new author, you might have a harder time getting the initial attention of agents, publishers, and readers with a nonstandard book.

• Lyuba Cherninkova</a> and <span class="who-likes">3 others</span> like this" data-format="<span class="count"><span class="icon"></span>{count}</span>" data-configuration="Format=%3Cspan%20class%3D%22count%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22icon%22%3E%3C%2Fspan%3E%7Bcount%7D%3C%2Fspan%3E&IncludeTip=true&LikeTypeId=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" >

Hi there, may I know does the number of words count here in a book include its Introduction, Epilogue etc?

Thanks!  I'm working on a Christian historical fiction book for teens right now.  It is based in Holland during the Holocaust, and the main character loses her parents but finds a Jewish baby she chooses to care for.  I was wondering how many words it has to be, as I am still working on the first draft and am almost near the end, with only 35,000 words.  But I guess I could add in more plot, because some parts of the story could become more developed.  By the way, message me if you would like to join my author circle to be a beta-reader for my book (a beta-reader can read my book for free and give me feedback).  —Kayla Wong, December 2020

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Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris

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March 18, 2018 By Anne R. Allen 66 Comments

How Long Should A Book Be? Word Count Guidelines by Genre.

Follow word count guidelines to keep from snoozifying your reader. 

by Anne R. Allen

A constant complaint I hear from agents, editors, writing teachers , and reviewers is that they see too many manuscripts with inappropriate word counts.

If you’re getting a lot of form rejections or simply silence from agents, reviewers and editors, this may be why.

Word count guidelines have been trending down in the last decade. Most editors won’t look at a debut manuscript longer than 100K words—a little longer if it’s fantasy or a non-romance historical. They were not so rigid ten years ago.

Now publishers—and many readers—won’t take a chance on any long book by an unproven author.

While readers will happily plunk down the big bux for an 819-page book by George R. R. Martin, they’ll turn up their noses at a book that long—even if it only costs 99c—if it’s written by Who R. R. You.

I know the “accepted wisdom” in the indie world is that if you self-publish, you can write whatever the heck you want and people will buy it. But that’s no longer the case. The wrong word count for your genre red-flags you as an amateur, and most readers don’t have time for amateurs.

Not when there’s so much professional-level stuff being self-published.

A decade after the beginning of the “Kindle Revolution,” too many readers have been burned by self-published bloated rough drafts. A reader is not likely to pick up a book that screams “I’ve been writing this in my spare time for the last 8 years and I refuse to rewrite and would never let an editor tamper with my genius.”

So don’t be that guy.

Word Count Guidelines By Genre

Word counts are generally agreed to be the count provided by MS Word’s “Word Count” tool. Some extremely old-school agents prefer that you use the formula of 250 words per page (double spaced, 12 pt. font) and calculate it yourself, which seems a silly waste of time, but always check agent websites for guidelines.

For debut authors, following these rules will seriously improve your chances of traditional publication and/or establishing a readership, no matter how you publish.

In other words, get famous first and break the rules later.

If you are a household name, you can publish a compendium of your shopping lists from the past two decades and your publisher will happily promote it and people will buy it.

Unfortunately, that’s not true for the rest of us.

Here is a summary of current word count guidelines. This is a composite taken from a number of publishing industry websites, so nothing is set in stone. Take these as target word counts.  Some publishers will accept longer or shorter books, so always check the website of an agent or publisher before you submit.

Note I say these are for “debut” fiction. Once you have a loyal fan base, you can break the rules with abandon.

Word Count Guidelines for Debut Fiction

Picture Book s—text: 500-1000 words (32 pages is ideal.)

Middle Grade fiction —20K to 40K. (Yes, we all know about Harry Potter. And when you’re as famous as J.K. Rowling you can write MG tomes, too.) “Upper Middle Grade” can be a bit longer.

Young Adult fiction —25K to 80K.

Chick Lit —60K-75K.

Cozy Mysteries —55K-70K. (BTW, Agatha Christie’s mysteries sometimes came in at 40K words. I think we may be going back in that direction.)

Fantasy —90K-110K. Definitely down from the epic tomes of yore. Self-publishers can get away with more. Fantasy readers like big books and they cannot lie. 🙂

Historical fiction —80K to 110K+. (You can still wax verbitudinous in this genre.)

Literary fiction —65K to 100K, trending away from the higher numbers. “Spare and elegant” is the mark of literary chic these days.

Standard Mysteries and Crime Fiction —70K to 100K.

Romance —55K-75K. For subgenres of romance, check publishers’ guidelines. Word counts for specific romance lines can be very strict. Some historicals can be longer, although Regencies tend to be short.

Science Fiction —75K—100K. When there’s world-building involved a book generally needs to be longer.

Thrillers —80K to 100K.

Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance —70K to 90K.

Westerns —50K-80K.

Women’s Fiction —70K-100K. The women’s fiction family saga has gone out of fashion recently, but they’re generally on the longer end.

Around 80K seems to be the magic number for most adult fiction. So if your ms. goes way over that, it may be time to put on your editor hat and get ruthless.

Word Count Guidelines for Nonfiction

Nonfiction books have shrunk drastically in the last decade. A study done last spring showed that the average length of a nonfiction bestseller has dropped 42% in the last seven years.

In 2011, the average length of a best-selling non-fiction book was 467 pages, but that dropped to 273 pages in 2017.

Nonfiction books get queried in the form of book proposals, so you don’t submit a complete manuscript (except for memoir, which you query like a novel.) That’s probably why word count guidelines for nonfiction are so hard to find. I’ve also found wildly different word count suggestions between agencies.

So treat these as word count “guestimates.”

Biography —80K-110K. These can be pretty long. Especially if your credentials are good.

Commentary —40K-60K. Not much info out there about word count guidelines for political and other opinion books. If you have appeared on cable TV news, you can probably get away with more verbiage.

Humor —20K-40K. For humorous memoir, follow memoir guidelines, and for funny novels, follow fiction guidelines, but for books like John Hodgman’s  The Areas of my Expertise , Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys or the classic 1066 and All That , (only 128 pages and still in print after 80 years) keep it to 40K words or less.

Memoir and Narrative Nonfiction —40K-70K. You’ll probably want to prune a memoir if it goes over 70K. Books in this genre tend to get bloated without heavy editing. Remember you can write many memoirs about different aspects of your life.

Self-Help & How-To —20K-50K. In the age of ebooks, these are getting shorter all the time. My publisher had me cut my book The Author Blog down from 40K.  (And these days some ebook how-to’s are only 3500 words long.)

Travel and Nature —40K-70K A lot of these books blur boundaries with memoir.

What if Your Ms. Doesn’t Fit Word Count Guidelines? 

With both fiction and nonfiction, it’s best to err on the side of brevity these days. To quote Chuck Sambuchino, editor of the Guide to Literary Agents :

“Agents have so many queries that they are looking for reasons to say no. They are looking for mistakes, chinks in the armor, to cut their query stack down by one. And if you adopt the mentality that your book has to be long, then you are giving them ammunition to reject you.”

If your word count goes over the limit:

• Consider splitting it into two books.
• Or a trilogy. You’ll triple your income. 🙂
• Are the extra words in there for world-building? Consider cutting some details and putting them on your blog.
• Do some ruthless editing. Are you repeating yourself? Can you say something with one word instead of ten?
• Can you condense some of those conversations with indirect dialogue ?

If your word count is under the limit:

• For literary fiction: Flesh out characters.
• Thrillers: Weave in another subplot.
• Crime fiction: Kill off a few more victims.
• Or…maybe you’ve got a novella.

Novellas are hot.

Yes, old-school Big Five publishers (and Bookbub) still aren’t much interested in novellas, and some agents will reject on low word count alone.

But readers love them! Jane Austen fan fiction authors have been practically minting money with 140-page or less “Pride and Prejudice variation” Regency novellas in the last few years.

And forward-looking agencies like Fuse Literary offer “assisted self-publishing” for their authors to write novellas in between big novel releases. Their Short Fuse Publishing produces digital-first novellas in a number of genres.

For more on the popularity of the novella, check out Paul Alan Fahey’s post for us on the subject. Next June we’ll have a post from actress and bestselling author Mara Purl on the difference between writing a novel and a novella.

by Anne R. Allen @annerallen March 18, 2018. Photo by Sage Ross.

What about you, scriveners? Do you have a problem keeping to word count guidelines? Do you tend to write over or under the standard word count? Have you ever turned a long book into two or three? 

On March 19th, Anne will be visiting Romance University, where she’ll be talking about the many benefits of having an author blog.

BOOK OF THE WEEK

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OPPORTUNITY ALERTS

Wergle Flomp Humorous Poetry Contest   NO FEE.  The First prize is $1,000 and there’s a second prize of $250. Also 10 Honorable Mentions will receive $100 each. The top 12 entries get published online. Judge: Jendi Reiter, assisted by Lauren Singer. Length limit: 250 lines. And there are no restrictions on age or country. DEADLINE APRIL 1st

Chautauqua’s Annual Editors’ Prize. $3 FEE .  $1000 prize for winning story, essay or poem, plus publication in Chautauqua’s annual journal.  The theme is “Moxie”. Using the online submission system, submit 3 poems totaling no more than 8 pages or up to 7,000 words of prose. Deadline April 15th. 

Sixfold  Poetry and Short Story Awards.  $5 entry FEE. Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in  Sixfold  are given quarterly for a group of poems and a short story. Using the online submission system, submit up to five poems totaling no more than 10 pages or up to 20 pages of prose. Deadline April 23 .

Red Hen Press annual Nonfiction Contest.    $25 entry FEE. $1,000 prize and publication by the prestigious Red Hen Press. They’re looking for an essay collection, memoir, or book of narrative nonfiction. Florencia Ramirez will judge. Using the online submission system, submit a manuscript of at least 150 pages.  Deadline April 30

CRAFT Literary Short Story contest. $20 FEE .  Short fiction up to 6000 words. $2000 first prize; the two runners-up will receive $500 and $300, respectively. plus publication in CRAFT  Literary Magazine. Deadline April 30th.

13 Imprints of Big 5 publishers who take unagented submissions. From the good people at Authors Publish Magazine.

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About Anne R. Allen

Anne writes funny mysteries and how-to-books for writers. She also writes poetry and short stories on occasion. Oh, yes, and she blogs. She's a contributor to Writer's Digest and the Novel and Short Story Writer's Market.

Her bestselling Camilla Randall Mystery RomCom Series features perennially down-on-her-luck former socialite Camilla Randall—who is a magnet for murder, mayhem and Mr. Wrong, but always solves the mystery in her quirky, but oh-so-polite way.

Anne lives on the Central Coast of California, near San Luis Obispo, the town Oprah called "The Happiest City in America."

March 18, 2018 at 10:06 am

Helpful information — once again. Thanks heaps. And I think I just may have to start submitting under the moniker Who R. R. You.

March 18, 2018 at 11:22 am

I also fell in love with the pseudonym, CS, it’s perfect for my career at this point.

I was very surprised, Anne, at the lower length of lit-fic these days, I thought that was still immune. But everything else, yeah I’m hearing the same thing from all my colleagues- perfect is 10k short than what you’re looking at now.

I think there’s a lot to be said for drawing out the characters/plot lines etc and making your tale into a series. If you can pull it off without seeming trite, you’ll hit two birds with the same stone because people still love themselves a series, right?

Thanks again for another informative, fun, funny and steal-able post!

March 18, 2018 at 11:30 am

CS and Will–I’m glad you liked the RR joke. I keep thinking I should add another R to my name and be Anne R. R. Allen. Will definitely do it if I decide to write fantasy. 🙂

Will–A series is the way to go for so many reasons. They sell better overall, plus you make more money selling individual titles. Plus you can make the first one free or very cheap to draw people in.

March 18, 2018 at 10:36 am

I second csperryess on both counts: There’s a whole heap of useful, and even interesting, information here. And Who R.R. You is a hoot!

March 18, 2018 at 11:31 am

Tricia–It’s so fun when a joke just appears on the page the way that one did. 🙂

March 18, 2018 at 10:39 am

Anne—Thanks for the useful, up-to-date info on word count! Since attention spans are shorter, seems like books should be, too. Is “bite size” the next trend?

March 18, 2018 at 11:34 am

Ruth–Bite Size is definitely a trend. James Patterson is having huge success with his “Bookshots”–books of 150 pages or less. http://bit.ly/2FR20nY

March 18, 2018 at 10:53 am

This post has it all… well, except a great salsa verde recipe. Thanks Anne. I shared this with my FB group of dead serious writers.

March 18, 2018 at 11:35 am

EJ–I hope the serious writers don’t mind my jokes. 🙂 Sorry about the salsa verde recipe. Maybe next time…

March 18, 2018 at 11:08 am

Thanks for researching and posting, Anne. But, I find this kind of “guideline” to be ineffably discouraging to actual writing, writers, storytellers, researchers and others who write to create rather than to sell, or who wish to do both without sacrificing either.

Arbitrary word counts (which is what every single one of these has to be) offend me and should give us all pause. According to whom? For what reasons? Why should we go along with this?

BTW: with the option of ebooks, publishers can’t even claim cost as the reason to force books to be shorter.

Finally, “fame” is no rationale for “earning” the “right” to have longer books and have them be acceptable. The WRITING is what should convey the meaning, and the value of the writing is what should dictate which books are “too long” or “too short.”

When editors/agents/publishers and authors stand up for each piece’s having the best format and length, acknowledging the uniqueness of each creative effort ,rather than bow to some idiotic idea of what each “genre” should “allow,” THEN we will have a book-lovers’ and book-writers’ realm worth inhabiting.

I write what my books seem to require for the story/characters to be well-presented. Standards of size should no more apply to books than to paintings, sculptures or poems.

Imagine these scenarios: — “Sorry, Michelangelo: even though this painting fits perfectly on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, current standards for ceiling paintings deem yours to be too large. You’ll have to eliminate some ceiling tiles. Try making God’s and Adam’s arms shorter.” Or, — “Sorry, Auguste Rodin: We like ‘The Thinker,’ but this year’s outdoor sculptures are not to exceed these dimensions: 6′ x 3′ x 4′ , by city of Paris decree, but your sculpture’s are 6′ 2″ x 3′ 3″ x 4′ 7″. Oh, you made it ‘life-sized’? Well, use a smaller model. Scrape some bronze off, all right?” Or, — “Sorry, Judy Chicago, but the Brooklyn Museum curators have decided that you’re only allowed to have 33 place settings for ‘The Dinner Party.’ Oh, you have 39? Well, you’ll have to disinvite some guests.”

Sure. That all makes perfect sense…about as much as allowing insurance companies to dictate eligible medical procedures and treatments.

Best to you,

Sally Ember, Ed.D. author, “The Spanners Series” (utopian sci-fi/romance in which each Volume is over 120 words) http://www.sallyember.com/Spanners

March 18, 2018 at 8:28 pm

Sally–Thanks for your input. I don’t know if you noticed that I said these are guidelines to help improve your chances of publication.

Of course you can translate the Epic of Gilgamesh into Klingon and write it in Wingdings and you could have the next Pride and Prejudice and Zombies on your hands.

But I would be lying if I didn’t point out the odds would be against you.

You need to know the rules before you can break them.

As I said these are only “guestimates” and that authors should always “check agents’ websites.”

Also, “if you’re famous (like Michelangelo, Rodin, and Judy Chicago) you can break rules with abandon.”

This is simply a list of the current standards of the business and meant to be helpful guidelines for writers who are interested in becoming professional authors. If you’re writing as a hobby, or for your own therapeutic needs, you can happily ignore it all!. 🙂

March 18, 2018 at 11:21 am

Thanks for posting this. I’ve been curious. At least I know I’m doing something right now.

March 18, 2018 at 11:37 am

Ryan–It’s always good to know you’re in line with standards in the industry, even if you’re working on your own.

I have to disagree on what to do if the book is too short. That’s the most common advice, and if you’re at 50K and have to get to 90K, you ain’t getting there by slapping in a subplot. If you’re going for indie, a novella is fine, but if you’re going for traditional publishing, you’re pretty much screwed. This was a weakness i spent years trying to fix, and beating myself over it, thinking my writing was flaws. I had trouble even getting one subplot into the story.

A better option first is to add setting and five senses into every scene. If it’s from the opinions of the character, it’s going to add characterization and keep the reader immersed. Many places don’t recommend doing it because writers do it badly, instead of trying to figure out how to do it right. I read Michael Connelly all the time, and he pulls me in with this no matter where I am in the book.

Also, a better understanding of what secondary plotlines are. Craft books generally do not describe them very well, and I suspect those writers may not understand them very well either. I just took a very eye opening course on it. As a result, I’ve come up with at least six secondary plots in my story, including two I would not have thought of as such.

March 18, 2018 at 11:45 am

Linda–I did suggest for literary books, fleshing out characters is the best way to expand a book. I’m not sure that adding a bunch of description will work for a thriller, but it can help with a literary novel.

But good subplots are the best way to flesh out a book. I do wish there was more info on subplots out there. My problem was always too many subplots. The course you took sounds great.

I think trad pub is going to be downsizing books as well. I read a Canadian writer whose trad publisher publishes her novellas. As I said in my response to Ruth, James Patterson is having a huge success with books under 150 pages. So if you’re querying right now, yes, you have to get over 50K for most genres but I think that will change.

March 18, 2018 at 11:40 am

Linda, that’s an interesting point about secondary plot lines. Maybe we can talk Anne or Ruth into writing a post about it–or maybe they’ll invite you to guest post it! I’d love to learn more about the subject.

March 18, 2018 at 1:09 pm

Tricia–We’ll have to look into that. 🙂

March 18, 2018 at 12:30 pm

I’m one of your readers who errs on the side of brevity, Anne, as you know. I adhere to Elmore Leonard’s response: “I leave out the parts I think readers will skip.” If you are going to do that, you need a LOT of plot to get to 80,000 words. More plot points, not just more description (in my opinion, and Leonard’s – grin). I think a lot of crime writers pad their novels these days. If you look at many good movies – the Great Gatsby comes to mind – they were sourced from novellas.

March 18, 2018 at 1:14 pm

Melodie–I love your short books. (I like the longer fantasy ones too) but I think your latest Goddaughter book is the future of books. It’s novella-length and just the right size to stick i a pocket and read on the bus. (In a font that is big enough to actually read.) Your publisher seems to be in the vanguard of publishing shorter books, and I’m sure the Big Five will follow eventually, especially with the huge success James Patterson is having with them.

And you’re right that it’s not just short-attention span syndrome that’s pushing this. The film industry is too. The novella is the perfect size to convert to a screenplay.

March 18, 2018 at 1:35 pm

Thanks for the kind words, Anne! I think you’ve said a bundle in the last line of your comment. We should probably all be writing screenplays if we want to be part of the future of ‘story’. 44 pages for one hour television show. 120 pages for 2 hour full length picture. Wish I had gone this route when I was a young thing 🙂

March 18, 2018 at 1:08 pm

This is so helpful! And for picture books I’ve heard they’re shying away even from 1000. I’ve heard under 500 is even better. But I’m particularly interested in this list of non-fiction. I’ve never seen word counts for nonfic before, and this is so helpful!

March 18, 2018 at 1:16 pm

Sarah–I think everything is downsizing, so those top numbers may not apply much longer for any genre.

The nonfic numbers really surprised me. I started looking when my publisher told me my ms. was too long for my Author Blog book. I had feared it was too short.

March 18, 2018 at 1:23 pm

Thank you, Anne, this is great information. I’m kind of okay with books getting a bit shorter–at least as a reader. And after having written my first novella, I find I like writing that length and plan to do more of it.

March 18, 2018 at 1:44 pm

Eve–I feel the same way as a reader. I like ones I can read in a few sittings. Congrats on your novella! I haven’t done one yet, but I want to.

It’s always good to be reminded of these. I read a lot of fantasy and yes, I love those long, long, big, heavy books. LOL

March 18, 2018 at 1:46 pm

Susan–Some agents are still willing to look at those 110K fantasy manuscripts, because they know fantasy readers love long books. But others want a standard 80-90 K for everything because they don’t want to read that much of a debut novel.

March 18, 2018 at 2:39 pm

More kismet in this post! In the past week I’ve had 4 authors, querying me for an edit, ask if their book is too long or not long enough. These are authors with a first book, who expect to self-publish.

I decided to do some research and found contemporary advice was to ‘go shorter’, so urged the 160k authors to start thinking about splitting their book, while telling the 120k authors to wait for an edit, since they just might have heavy-handed material, which could be tightened down by 20k or more.

So — really fun to hear your thoughts on this dilemma.

oyes — have encountered more novellas in the past year than in the 5 years prior, with authors apologetically noting that ‘this was all the story needed’ — and after their edit, I had to agree. Hoping publishers start to wake up to this shorty ‘trend’, cuz I don’t care whether people prefer long or short, just so they read. :O)

Thanks for sharing stuff that seems to always be ‘right in time’. Maria D’Marco

March 18, 2018 at 2:56 pm

Maria–Serendipity indeed! I think you gave them great advice.

It’s silly that novellas have been so out of favor for the past 50 years, so it’s time for them to make a comeback. Especially since they’re so perfect for adapting to film.

March 18, 2018 at 3:00 pm

The majority of my stuff clocks in at roughly 52k, give or take 2k. Very rarely do my stories get into that “rarefied” atmosphere of 70k+ words. Whenever a story of min hits that level, my first thought is “why did I pad out my story so much?”, which of course is a bunch of bull crap, but that is the end result of trying to follow the rules about word count.

I actually have a novel/novella that the reverse needs to be done, in that it clocked in at 52k, but a beta reader told me the chapters were too long, so I’ll have to spend some time turning 8 chapters into at least 15.

As a reader, I definitely balk at reading a 100k+ word tome, no matter what the genre. I’m sorry, but any book that clocks in @ 500+ pages gets the clove of garlic and the cross of silver pens thrown at it.

March 18, 2018 at 3:15 pm

G.B.–I’m reluctant to pick up a big book these days too. I’m not sure I rank them up there with vampires on the scary scale, but I know what you’re talking about. 52K would have been fine for a novel in the 1920s and 30s. I don’t know when things got so rigid about word counts. Probably the 1950s. Conformity ruled. 🙂

March 18, 2018 at 3:05 pm

Thank you, Anne. In this fast paced world, it seems that “less is more.” As for myself my nonfiction picture books all fall under 1000 words, but most fall within 500 to 700 as I am hitting the upper range of that audience. It’s a challenge to say a lot more with fewer words. I must say, however, that I find myself limiting the word length in the historical articles that I write for adults as well.

March 18, 2018 at 3:17 pm

BA–Writing picture books must be like composing a poem. Short word count takes more time.

It’s true that most news articles and features have shrunk considerably. People are on the go, reading on their phones and don’t have time to settle in for a “long read” article. Even the New Yorker has mostly short articles now.

March 18, 2018 at 4:10 pm

GREAT POST AS USUAL, ANNE! I just sent it to a friend who’s writing a self-help/memoir. Looks like she’s right on target for length. I’m looking forward to reading Mara Purl’s post next week. She’s a woman with a ton of talent and an amazing life story.

March 18, 2018 at 4:20 pm

Sandy–Good to see you here! *waves*. Self-help and memoir are much shorter than I realized, so I was glad to find this information on several agent websites.

Mara won’t be here until June. But I’m really looking forward to her post. She’s a lovely person. We got to do some readings together last September and it was great fun.

March 18, 2018 at 4:18 pm

Thanks for the information. The counts have changed down a bit since the last time I checked. My YA novel isn’t 5,000 words short anymore! Yahoo!

Oh and I love the cat sleeping on the hefty book picture!

March 18, 2018 at 4:30 pm

Christine–Yay! Of course not all agents have updated their requirements, so always check their websites before you submit.

I loved that kitty picture too. That cat looks just like my cat Marco I had back in the 80s. 🙂

March 18, 2018 at 5:35 pm

Hi Anne – I thought I’d put my 2 cents in from experience around the crime thriller genre. I’ve got 2 series building, one is crime fiction with the debut tome going out at 115K. Common critique was it was way to long. I did a sequel at 80K and it was better received as for length – content was a different matter 🙂 I also have 3 true crime books at 50K each and they seemed to hit the eBook sweet spot bang-on. But, a few regular readers told me they don’t gauge a book by the word count. As long as it keeps them in the story, then time flies and they’re happy. Now I have a historical non-fiction underway -it’s at 65K and halfway through first draft – not sure how I’m gonna cut it. Maybe I’ll just rewrite history and turn it into fiction. Thanks for the great info, as usual!

March 19, 2018 at 9:35 am

Garry–Definitely 80K is a much more popular length for fiction, as you discovered.. Nonfiction can be shorter. If you have longer nonfiction, you can always cut it into two books.

I think one factor in the change in reading habits is that percentage line at the bottom of your e-reader. If you’ve been reading for hours and that percentage doesn’t budge, you can feel sort of defeated. A big jump in the percentage gives a reader a feeling of accomplishment.

March 19, 2018 at 9:07 am

What a wonderful, helpful post – I’m definitely bookmarking it! Prior to this this, the best idea I had was “50K is a novel, epic fantasy can be longer.”

March 19, 2018 at 9:37 am

Irvin–I wrote this because so many people on Facebook seemed to be confused about lengths. 50K is considered “a novel” by the NaNoWriMo people, but most publishers want something longer for adult fiction.

March 19, 2018 at 10:45 am

Thanks for the update. There are posts with word counts out there but they are old (like 10 or more years). It’s great to have an update especially in this industry. Many of the numbers are the same but some have subtle shifts and trends are always good to know.

March 19, 2018 at 2:21 pm

My novels tend to be on the longish side, between 100 and 120K… they’re suspense, paranormal suspense and historical suspense. I’ve yet to have anyone tell me they’re too long. Personally, I hate the trend to shorter books… I love to wallow in whatever world the writer has created, and, being a fast reader, a shorter book doesn’t give me enough time in that world.

But I did split a fantasy/scifi novel into at least two, probably three volumes, after the first volume got close to 200K words and it wasn’t even half done! Yes, fantasy can handle a longer length, but 200K? No way. So, now I’m working on the third volume of what will be a trilogy… or maybe a quadrilogy… who knows? Only the writing will tell…

March 19, 2018 at 3:33 pm

Susan–Everybody has their own reading habits and of course some people will prefer the big books. My sister does. A trend is just that–a way things are leaning. But that doesn’t mean every book has to be the same. Also, you’re an established author, so these *debut* fiction guidelines don’t apply.

But when you can break that big book into three (or four or five) you not only please more people, but you make more $$. Never a bad thing. 🙂

March 19, 2018 at 9:55 pm

Great post! It’s hard to stick to the limit but sometimes you might find that the book is far better than when you had those extra bits.

March 20, 2018 at 9:18 am

MariaJohn–Yes, very often word count problems can be solved by a good editor. Writers almost always say things with more words than we have to in a first draft.

March 20, 2018 at 8:47 am

Hello Anne, I have one question: What would be the word count for creative non-fiction, Ex: a collection of essays or for a memoir? Thank you!

March 20, 2018 at 9:19 am

Nadia–I haven’t seen any word count info on collections–either of stories or essays. But since your essays form a memoir, I’d go by memoir word count guidelines.

March 20, 2018 at 11:25 am

Anne, you bring some of the most helpful information to the screen! Thank you for this post on word counts. I’ve recently switched from nonfiction/memoir to historical fiction. Found my word count limits and am happy I can write veritudinously. 🙂

March 20, 2018 at 2:21 pm

Sherrey–Good to see you here *waves*. Yes, historical fiction can still be pretty long, so have fun!

March 20, 2018 at 1:46 pm

Anne, thank you very much! I had no idea those word totals had dropped that much! I guess I need to get to work. My paranormal romance is 106,000 words. No wonder I’ve received form rejections from all the agents I’ve contacted. I need to try to cut it down to 90,000 or less. And then I need to decide whether to self publish, or try other avenues. As for your question, I wrote a romance/adult fiction novel that was originally over 300,000 words. I split into two novels and cut about 100,000 words…which really hurt. Thank you again.

March 20, 2018 at 2:25 pm

Fred–That’s the thing–a lot of agents don’t post desired word counts, but they reject if you don’t follow them. So it’s good to know the standards. Many, many agents reject on word count alone. Cutting your romance to 90K would give it a better chance.

It is wrenching to cut a big book into two or three. You always end up having to lose some of your favorite passages. Killing our darlings does hurt.

March 21, 2018 at 7:41 am

I am relieved to know that my books are in the correct word count for their genre. I did do some research on this first though. A useful post.

March 21, 2018 at 9:56 am

Robbie–It’s nice to know you’re doing it right. 🙂

April 10, 2018 at 1:16 pm

Thank you for this oh-so-helpful information!

And I’m so glad to read that many manuscripts are too long because there’s nothing I hate more than slogging through a wordy non-fiction book that over-explains a concept or idea or repeats itself over and over!

I’m writing my soon-to-be self published debut non-fiction book and have tried to find any information on appropriate word counts. I don’t want it to be too short, and I don’t want to add unnecessary fluff just to make it longer. My rough first draft is at just under 22K words, so it appears I may be right on track in the self-help/ how to genre.

April 10, 2018 at 2:22 pm

Chrysta–This information is hard to find partly because Google isn’t chronological. You get 10 year old information on the top of the SERP and have to go digging to find the current stuff. But nonfiction has shrunk by almost 50% in the last decade, so your 22K words is probably just fine. I agree that nonfic is often bloated by “fluff” and repetition, and it’s great that it’s being cut down to “just the good stuff.”

April 22, 2018 at 7:30 am

Most helpful. Thanks for that. On the subject of splitting a book, I’ve done that on twos accasions. One on my publisher’s advice and one I decided was going to be far too big. (possibly a George R.R. Martin sizes book).

April 22, 2018 at 9:26 am

V. M.–I’m glad it’s helpful. And thanks for the testimony that splitting a book works!

April 24, 2018 at 5:59 am

Thanks for this helpful information, Anne. 🙂 — Suzanne

April 30, 2018 at 9:25 pm

I don’t see my comment!

March 28, 2019 at 1:19 pm

Thank you for helpful information I really enjoyed reading this article even though it wasn’t so satisfying for my Ms. But, as you had written, I’ll just kill off more victims 😉

March 28, 2019 at 2:58 pm

Lenka–I think it’s much easier to make a short book longer than the other way around. In fact, it can be fun. Good luck with it!

March 28, 2019 at 4:42 pm

Lenka—here’s Ruth butting in and politely disagreeing. Please see my post about the power of the delete button and Stephen King’s 10% rule. http://annerallen.com/2019/01/stephen-kings-10-rule/

Hope Anne and I have helped.

March 28, 2019 at 4:51 pm

Ruth–Lenka’s problem is a book that’s too short. That’s why adding another subplot/dead body helps. And it can be fun for the writer. Readers do have expectations about novel length. But that doesn’t mean Lenka can’t publish her book as a novella!

November 2, 2021 at 2:27 pm

In many cases, adding “five senses to each scene” is only going to read like the filler it is. You need “more story”, not “more words”. The story is there to write. Reveal more character with more dialogue, add interesting or amusing incidental action, give interesting information about your setting (within sensible limits), and yes, add some description here and there WHERE it benefits the story, not just a word count.

Plus, add more story. It doesn’t have to be subplots … expand your character’s journey. But it has to serve the story and be interesting, and after all, we’re writers … that’s what we’re supposed to be good at.

November 2, 2021 at 4:12 pm

Brent–Great tips on keeping your word count down. Newbie writers often write more description than necessary because they’ve been taught to add “all the senses” to every scene. But as you say, story trumps everything else. If it gets in the way of the story, cut it.

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How Long Should Your Nonfiction Book Be?

A common question I get is “How long should my book be?” There are different answers for different genres, of course, but for my clients, we’re usually talking about business, thought-leadership, self-help, or professional-development books.

To answer the immediate question, let’s look at some numbers. Then, more importantly, let’s talk strategy and consider some case studies. How long should your book be?

Book Length by the Numbers

When talking about book length, it’s common to talk about word count rather than page count. A typical manuscript page (8.5×11 paper, 1-inch margins, standard 11- or 12-point font, doublespaced—like you would type in Word) is considered to be 250 words.

So a 25,000-word manuscript is about 100 pages. A 50,000-word manuscript is 200 pages. The arithmetic is straightforward. (Of course, your page count in the final book can vary greatly depending on formatting choices: margins, fonts, linespacing, graphics, white space, and so on.)

While there is no one right answer to “How long should my book be?” here are a few guidelines.

Short Book Length

One client tells a story of the time she agreed to swap books with another author. The other person handed her a very slender volume, almost a booklet. When my client offered her copy, the other author held it and said, “Oh, you have a real book.”

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.

Long Book Length

At the other end of the spectrum a book of 80,000 to 100,000 words has significant heft, 320-400 pages. This is not an uncommon length in traditional publishing, especially (in my observation) for nonfiction books that are heavy on research. But the modern attention span is shrinking and, in my opinion, 300 pages starts to test the limits of many readers (there are always exceptions). I infrequently see self-published authors attempt this length.

Book Lengths in the Sweet Spot

For my client base, which includes experienced consultants, coaches, and speakers who self-publish, I find a nice book length is somewhere in the 40,000- to 70,000-word range, which is 160-280 pages. Long enough to feel substantial, short enough not to intimidate potential readers.

When in doubt, I suggest people target 50,000 words to start; then we can assess and see whether there are gaps, too much fluff, etc., and adjust accordingly.

Strategy for Deciding Book Length

Now you have a feel for acceptable book length, but that’s not all there is to it. Choosing an effective book length depends not only on your content but on your goals, your audience, your publishing route, and your book format.

Book Content

Once you start looking at what content you have relative to suggested word counts (above), you may realize you don’t have enough for a full-length book. Perhaps you need to develop more content over time .

But assuming you do have enough content, if are you trying to write a comprehensive guide, your book will be on the longer side. If you want to transfer the most critical information to get the reader started, your book may be on the shorter side. And most of us, I imagine, fall somewhere in between, offering a robust yet boundaried discussion.

If you’re writing a book simply to say you’ve got a book, the length doesn’t matter. But most of us have another goal in mind. What’s yours? Here are some common ones my clients have. I want to…

• Position myself as a thought leader so I can influence more people.
• Increase my credibility in order to raise my professional fees and attract clients.
• Use my book as a marketing tool to more easily get consulting, coaching, and speaking engagements.

While these goals are not mutually exclusive, in my opinion, thought leadership goals may require a book with more heft; a credibility goal looks more like the sweet-spot range; and a pure marketing play may be able to go shorter.

Book Audience (and Business Audience)

Your audience begins with the people who will read your book. Depending on your goals though—for example, if you are using your book to sell other services—your audience may also include decision makers who view the book (remember it’s a marketing tool) but don’t necessarily read it.

• What are the demographics (e.g., age, gender, profession) and psychographics (e.g., favors quality over price, enjoys challenging assumptions) of your audience?
• What is their attention span?
• Are they high-level delegators, or detailed doers?
• Is their focus on tasks, or relationships?
• How often do they read, and do they like to read?

Consider the differences you might find between an executive and an academic. Or a professional in between jobs and a salesperson trying to hit a quota. How might those differences influence your choice of book length?

Publishing Route

If you are seeking a traditional publisher, you may need to pay attention to industry norms and what’s happening in the specific genre you’re targeting. (And in nonfiction you’ll probably want to sell the concept before you write the book, so book length may be a moot point until then.)

With self-publishing, you can choose whatever book length you want. Note however, there’s a reason certain norms exist; going far outside of them may work for you—or it may not.

Book Format

What format book are you developing? As I work, my primary consideration tends to be with the print book (my own bias), which I want to feel substantial. I almost always suggest an ebook (e.g., for Kindle or Nook) as well. The sweet spot range I suggested (40k-70k words) seems to work well for both formats.

If you are only interested in developing an ebook, you can comfortably go to the lower end of the wordcount range. Note: If your ebook is short, best practice is to indicate the word count or page count in your online description so readers don’t feel misled.

If you are developing an online giveaway, such as a PDF for readers to download from your website, my recommendation is to go for a booklet rather than a full book. In my opinion, PDFs are great for shorter documents like white papers, but are still not as reader-friendly for book length works. (Others may disagree.)

Case Studies

Here are three real-life examples that take into account strategy with respect to book length.

Crisis and Resilience Book

When Becky Sansbury wrote After the Shock , she wanted to help people in crisis build resilience. She knew her audience would be facing time constraints, difficulty focusing, and emotional extremes. Readers would need to get in and out of the book quickly and easily for short periods of time.

As a result, we chunked the information into small pieces—short paragraphs, bulleted lists, clear headings. We provided an overview of the concepts at the beginning of the book, and we offered summaries at the end of each chapter as well as a compilation of the chapter summaries at the end of the book. People with extremely limited time can read the 14-page overview at the beginning and the six pages of chapter summaries at the end and still walk away with useful new perspective.

The overview and summary information led to some redundancy in the book, which increased the word count to around 60k words, but that intentionally designed structure offered readers more options for getting the information they needed .

You can hear more about the strategy for Becky’s book in the 5-minute video  on my speaking page.

Sales Leadership Book

One of my clients is writing a book about sales leadership. As we talked through the strategy questions, we noted the following:

• He wants to use the book as a tool in sales training classes as well as to generate new training business.
• He wants to offer information that sales leaders don’t often hear, ideas that can shift their perspective of what their role really is.
• The sales leaders he works with tend to be fast moving and focused on relationships rather than tasks. A few are armchair psychologists who want to understand the intricacies of the human psyche, but more often they want to understand the practical implications. They want to know how to have an impact on the sales team and on sales.

Based on our assessment, my advice was to keep the book on the shorter side, maybe 30,000-50,000 words. This audience seems unlikely to wade through dense text, so I recommended breaking the information into short segments with the most important points clearly called out. (Read more about using emphasis effectively .) Additionally, using plenty of white space in the formatting will help readers keep turning the pages so they feel like they are progressing quickly.

Spirituality/Self-help Book

In transformational self-help or spiritual books, even if the words are simple, the concepts can be complex. Sometimes a shorter book is preferred because it allows space for absorbing and processing deep concepts.

Maryann Patalano’s book The Peephole Effect  teaches people to use the power of perception to create the life they want. It may sound simple, but it’s not easy. It requires self-awareness, acknowledgement of responsibility for our own lives, and acceptance of our power to change.

Maryann’s book is about 35,000 words. To me, this shorter length feels just right for the weight of a transformational concept. More words would not enhance the book; they would only make it cumbersome. Additionally, Maryann creates mental and physical space in her book by offering self-reflection questions for the reader.

What’s your strategy?

If you’re just starting your book, consider your strategy upfront. It will save you time and energy by clarifying what you’re really trying to accomplish, which leads to an easier decision about the right book length.

If you’ve already drafted your book, a good editor can guide you on what needs to be cut and what needs to be expanded to meet your book goals and to get your readers the information they need, the way they need it.

Ultimately, your book needs to be as long as it needs to be to say what you need to say—and not a word longer. And that’s the trick, right?

Got a manuscript you’re not sure about? I offer manuscript intensives that assess not only book length, but structure, content, and craft. We’ll look at what’s working, what adjustments could improve your book, and how your book supports your strategic goals. You can always reach me at [email protected].

More Reading

Hey there, visitor! You are reading one of the most popular articles on my website. If you found it helpful, here are a few more articles you may be interested in…

• How Short Can Your Book Be?
• How Long Should It Take to Write a Book?
• Crafting Strategy: Visionary, Intuitive, or Both? – I share this article probably more than any other article on my blog. If you feel like you “don’t know what you are doing,” this article may give you comfort.
• Book Project Support: What Do You Need?

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fyi Using a variable width font, a double-spaced page with 1 inch margins such as is described about has about 350 words, in 12 point Times New Roman. Two-fifty was standard on a typewritten page with a set width font, but almost no one submits a manuscript that way, nor has for quite a while.

Yeah, Jan, that is a great point. You are absolutely right the number of words on a page depends on the font, size, and margins, not to mention the density of the writing (e.g., less dense dialog–>fewer words per page). I think I tend to use 250 for “manuscript pages” as an historical artefact–but also because the math is easy!!

Too true! And really, the information here is valuable and useful to me. I do appreciate the skill and professionalism behind this.

(Another easy math to figure is about 334 app, three pages/thousand words. I have found published books with over 400 www and others with fewer that 225. However, these days word processing makes exact word counts easy.)

Very helpful. Thank you very much!

Thanks, Charles. I appreciate the note!

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How Long Should a Book Be? The Perfect Framework for Your Book

“How long should my book be?”

It's a question that nags at many aspiring authors—especially those writing nonfiction.

As someone who has coached, consulted, and edited countless nonfiction and fiction book projects , I know how crucial it is to tackle this concern head-on. The length of your book can have a huge impact on its success, reader engagement, and overall quality.

While there are no hard and fast rules, there are some key considerations to keep in mind. Your book’s subject matter, intended audience, and goals in terms of content and message are all important factors. Understanding these elements will guide you in determining the ideal length for your book.

In this post, I'll explain a straightforward framework for deciding the length of your book, whether fiction or nonfiction. I will also discuss industry standards, the importance of pacing, and strategies for adjusting your manuscript to hit your target word count.

By the end of this guide, you’ll have a clear idea of how to tailor your book’s length to ensure it resonates with your audience and meets your objectives.

Table of Contents

Examples of successful books with varied lengths, types of books and their typical lengths, deciding the type of book to write, the role of pacing in ensuring reader engagement, the importance of chapter and paragraph length, aligning book length with audience expectations, deciding length based on book purpose and desired transformation, crafting a book that balances depth with reader engagement, genre-specific length expectations and standards, importance of world-building, character development, and plot complexity, maintaining reader interest through pacing and narrative structure, strategies for adjusting book length post-writing, for nonfiction, for fiction, in closing: prioritize quality over quantity, understanding book length.

The length of your book isn't as crucial as you might think.

While most traditionally published books fall within certain word count ranges, that doesn't mean your book needs to fit neatly into those boxes. Whether you're going the traditional route or self-publishing , the quality of your content matters far more than the number of words on the page.

Traditionally published books often adhere to specific lengths because publishers have established standards and expectations. These standards are helpful as they provide a sense of what the market expects. But don't let these guidelines box you in. Some of the most impactful books are short and sweet, delivering powerful messages in fewer pages.

Self-published books , on the other hand, offer more flexibility. They allow authors to break free from conventional word counts and focus on delivering their message as concisely or expansively as needed. In the end, what really counts is the strength and substance of your content.

A book packed with valuable insights, engaging storytelling, or transformative ideas will captivate readers regardless of its length. On the flip side, a longer book filled with fluff and filler won't hold anyone's attention.

Your goal should be to provide value, whether that takes 50 pages or 500. So, instead of obsessing over word count, focus on crafting a book that delivers on its promise and leaves a lasting impression on your readers.

Let's look at some examples of successful books of varying lengths to illustrate this point.

Short and Powerful Books

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson (96 pages) : This short book delivers profound insights into dealing with change in both personal and professional lives. Its brevity and simplicity have made it a bestseller.

The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White (105 pages) : This concise guide to writing style has become an essential reference for writers, valued for its clear and direct advice.

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield (190 pages) : Pressfield’s book on overcoming creative blocks is succinct and impactful, resonating with artists and professionals alike.

Medium-Length Success Stories

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (114 pages) : This classic novel is relatively short but packs a significant punch with its rich themes and unforgettable characters.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (208 pages) : Coelho's philosophical novel about following one's dreams has inspired millions, despite its modest length.

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki (336 pages) : This personal finance book challenges conventional wisdom about money and has sold millions of copies worldwide.

Long and Engaging Reads

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (960 pages) : This epic historical novel has captivated readers with its detailed storytelling and complex characters.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (896 pages) : The fifth book in the Harry Potter series is the longest, yet it remains one of the most popular due to its rich plot and character development.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (464 pages) : Harari’s comprehensive exploration of human history is thorough and engaging, despite its length.

These examples show that both short and long books can be successful. The key is to ensure that every page serves a purpose and delivers value to your readers. Focus on creating a compelling narrative or delivering insightful content, and the length will naturally follow.

Publish a Book with the End in Mind

When writing a book, it is good practice to determine its length before you finish the manuscript .

Knowing the target length ahead of time helps you structure your content effectively and ensures that your book meets its goals and resonates with your audience. Different types of books have varying typical lengths, each serving distinct purposes and catering to different reader expectations.

Lead Magnet (5,000-10,000 words)

A lead magnet is a short book designed to generate leads for your business.

These books are quick reads that offer valuable insights without diving too deep into the subject. They usually explain the "what" and "why" but leave out the "how," enticing readers to seek more information from you.

Lead magnets are perfect for capturing attention and driving potential clients to your services or products.

Client Primer (10,000-30,000 words)

A client primer goes a step further than a lead magnet.

These books are more substantial and aim to prepare readers to become your clients. They provide not only the "what" and "why" but also touch on the "how." Client primers build credibility by offering more value, helping readers understand the benefits of working with you.

This type of book is ideal for professionals looking to establish a deeper connection with their audience.

Leadership/Philosophy Book (30,000-60,000+ words)

Leadership and philosophy books are comprehensive works that establish the author’s authority in a particular field.

These books delve deeply into topics, offering extensive knowledge and insights. They aim to educate readers thoroughly while providing a pleasanthttps://www.triviumwriting.com/blog/how-to-brainstorm-for-a-book and engaging reading experience.

Authors like John C. Maxwell have used such books to build a reputation and influence in their respective domains.

Novella (10,000-40,000 words)

A novella is a shorter form of fiction and focuses on a single, cohesive narrative.

Novellas are ideal for telling a concise story that requires less complexity than a full-length novel. This format allows for rich storytelling without the need for extensive subplots or background details.

Novellas are perfect for authors who want to experiment with fiction or tell a story that doesn't require a longer format.

Novel (50,000-100,000 words)

Novels are the standard length for most fiction genres, offering a complete and immersive reading experience. This length allows for detailed character development, intricate plots, and subplots. Novels can vary significantly in length depending on the genre, with romance and mystery novels often being on the shorter end, while science fiction and fantasy can extend toward the higher end.

Epic/Series (100,000+ words)

Epics and series are extensive narratives typically seen in genres like fantasy and science fiction.

These books create expansive worlds and complex storylines that span multiple volumes. The longer format allows authors to develop detailed plots, multiple character arcs, and rich settings.

Authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and George R.R. Martin have successfully captivated readers with their epic tales, demonstrating the power of a well-crafted series.

By understanding the typical lengths and purposes of different types of books, you can better plan your manuscript and ensure that your content aligns with your goals. Whether you're writing a quick lead magnet to generate business leads or an epic fantasy series, having a clear target length in mind will help you create a compelling and structured book. 

How Long Your Book Should Really Be

What truly matters is the quality of your content, not the sheer number of words.

To determine the appropriate length for your book, start by deciding what type of book you’re writing. This decision will help guide your length expectations and ensure your content aligns with your goals and audience.

Understanding the type of book you want to write is crucial for setting your length expectations.

Are you aiming to write a brief lead magnet, a comprehensive client primer, or an in-depth leadership book? Perhaps you’re crafting a novella, a standard novel, or an epic series.

Each type of book has typical length ranges, and knowing where your book fits can help you plan your content accordingly. This clarity ensures that your book fulfills its purpose, whether it's to inform, engage, or entertain your readers.

Pacing is a critical element in maintaining reader engagement.

It’s about how your story or content flows, how fast or slow events unfold, and how smoothly sentences and paragraphs transition. Good pacing keeps readers hooked, moving them through your book without feeling rushed or bored.

A well-paced book balances action with reflection, providing enough variation to keep readers interested.

In fiction, this means alternating between intense scenes and slower, character-driven moments. In nonfiction, it involves mixing factual information with anecdotes, case studies, or practical exercises. By paying attention to pacing, you can ensure that your readers stay engaged from start to finish.

While readers might not consciously count the words in your book, they are very much aware of how it feels to read it. Long, unbroken chapters and paragraphs can be daunting and may cause readers to lose interest. Conversely, too many short chapters or paragraphs can make the book feel choppy and disjointed.

Finding the right balance is key.

In nonfiction, this might mean breaking down complex ideas into digestible sections, using subheadings to guide the reader. In fiction, varying paragraph lengths and chapter structures can help control the narrative’s rhythm, making it more engaging. Shorter chapters can create a sense of urgency, while longer ones can provide space for deeper exploration.

Ultimately, the goal is to maintain a natural flow that keeps your readers immersed in your book. By focusing on content quality, appropriate pacing, and a balanced structure, you can create a book that captivates your audience, regardless of its length.

Specific Considerations for Nonfiction

When writing a nonfiction book, it's essential to consider several factors that will guide your decisions about length and content.

Aligning your book length with audience expectations, deciding the length based on the book’s purpose and desired transformation, and crafting a book that balances depth with reader engagement are all critical to creating a successful nonfiction work.

Understanding your audience’s expectations is crucial in determining the appropriate length for your nonfiction book. Readers of nonfiction often seek actionable insights, clear takeaways, and practical advice. Business professionals might prefer concise guides they can quickly apply to their work, while readers of historical nonfiction might appreciate more in-depth explorations.

Consider who your target readers are and what they are looking for in a book. If your audience expects a quick read with direct applications, a shorter, focused book might be best. Conversely, if they anticipate a comprehensive exploration of a topic, you may need to write a more extended, detailed book to meet their expectations.

Aligning your book’s length with what your readers are looking for will help you meet their needs and keep them engaged.

The purpose of your book and the transformation you aim to achieve for your readers are pivotal in determining its length.

If your goal is to establish authority in your field, a comprehensive, well-researched book might be necessary. This type of book would likely be longer, providing in-depth analysis, case studies, and detailed explanations to showcase your expertise.

On the other hand, if you aim to provide a quick, motivational read, brevity could be your best asset. A shorter book focused on inspiring action or shifting perspectives can be highly effective if it delivers its message clearly and powerfully.

Reflect on the transformation you want to inspire in your readers—whether it’s a change in mindset, acquiring new skills, or gaining deeper understanding—and let that guide your book’s length.

Balancing depth with reader engagement is key to maintaining your readers' interest throughout the book. While depth involves providing thorough, well-rounded content that covers your topic comprehensively, it’s crucial to present this information in an engaging and accessible manner.

To achieve this balance, use a mix of storytelling, practical examples, and actionable advice. Break down complex ideas into digestible sections and use subheadings to guide readers through your content. Incorporate personal anecdotes or case studies to illustrate points and keep the narrative engaging.

Additionally, consider the structure of your chapters and paragraphs. Long, dense paragraphs can be overwhelming, so vary your sentence and paragraph lengths to create a more readable flow. Use bullet points or numbered lists to highlight key points and make important information stand out.

By focusing on these elements, you can craft a nonfiction book that provides valuable insights and keeps your readers engaged from start to finish. Ensuring your book is both informative and enjoyable to read will enhance its impact and help you achieve your goals as an author.

Specific Considerations for Fiction

Writing fiction involves unique challenges and considerations, particularly when it comes to determining the length of your book.

To create a compelling narrative that resonates with readers, it's important to understand genre-specific length expectations, the significance of world-building, character development, and plot complexity, and how to maintain reader interest through effective pacing and narrative structure.

Each fiction genre comes with its own set of length expectations and standards. Knowing these can help you set appropriate goals for your manuscript. For example:

Romance novels typically range from 50,000 to 90,000 words. Shorter romance novels might focus more intensely on the primary relationship, while longer ones may include subplots and more extensive character development.

Mystery and thriller novels often fall between 70,000 and 90,000 words. These books need enough length to develop intricate plots, build suspense, and deliver satisfying resolutions.

Science fiction and fantasy novels generally span from 90,000 to 120,000 words, with epics often exceeding 120,000 words. These genres require additional length to establish complex worlds and detailed lore.

Literary fiction can vary widely, but it often falls between 80,000 and 100,000 words. These books focus on deep character exploration and thematic development, allowing for a range of lengths.

Understanding these benchmarks can help you set realistic goals and ensure your book meets the expectations of its genre.

For fiction writers, world-building, character development, and plot complexity are essential elements that contribute to the richness and depth of the story.

World-Building

Whether your story is set in a fantastical universe, a historical period, or the modern world, effective world-building is crucial.

This involves creating a believable and immersive setting that supports the narrative. In genres like fantasy and science fiction, extensive world-building is expected, while contemporary fiction might focus more on detailed, realistic settings.

Character Development

Strong, well-developed characters drive the narrative and engage readers.

Spend time fleshing out your characters' backgrounds, motivations, and arcs. Readers should see growth and change in your characters over the course of the story, which adds to the overall impact and memorability of your book.

Plot Complexity

A compelling plot is essential for keeping readers hooked. This includes not only the main storyline but also subplots that add depth and intrigue. Ensure your plot has clear, well-defined conflicts and resolutions. Twists and turns should be well-placed to maintain suspense and interest.

Balancing these elements effectively will contribute to a more engaging and well-rounded story.

Maintaining reader interest is a primary goal for any fiction writer. Pacing and narrative structure play key roles in achieving this.

Effective pacing ensures that the story flows smoothly and keeps readers engaged.

This involves varying the speed of the narrative to build tension, provide relief, and maintain interest. Action scenes may be fast-paced, while moments of reflection or character development can slow down to allow readers to absorb the details.

Balancing these elements keeps the reader turning pages.

Narrative Structure

A well-structured narrative guides readers through the story in a coherent and compelling way.

This includes a clear beginning, middle, and end, with each part serving its purpose. The beginning should hook readers and introduce key elements, the middle should develop the plot and characters, and the end should provide a satisfying resolution.

Using techniques like foreshadowing, flashbacks, and cliffhangers can add depth and complexity to your narrative.

By understanding genre-specific expectations, focusing on world-building, character development, and plot complexity, and mastering pacing and narrative structure, you can craft a fiction book that captivates readers and stands out in its genre.

Adjusting Book Length

Once you’ve completed your manuscript, you might find that the length isn't quite what you expected.

Whether your book is too short or too long, there are strategies you can employ to adjust its length and improve its overall quality. Here’s how to approach it:

Big-Picture View: Assessing Chapters and Overall Structure

Start by taking a step back and looking at the overall structure of your book. Break down your manuscript into chapters and evaluate each one’s contribution to the story or subject matter. Ask yourself the following questions:

Does each chapter serve a clear purpose?

Are there any chapters that feel redundant or off-topic?

Is the progression of chapters logical and smooth?

By identifying chapters that need trimming or expanding, you can make broad adjustments that significantly impact your book’s length and cohesiveness.

Detailed View: Analyzing Flow Within Individual Chapters

Next, zoom in on the details within each chapter. Analyze the flow of content to ensure it’s engaging and coherent. Consider the following:

Do the paragraphs transition smoothly from one idea to the next?

Are there sections that drag or feel rushed?

Is there enough detail to support the main points without overwhelming the reader?

Fine-tuning the flow within chapters helps you add necessary details or cut unnecessary ones, enhancing readability and pacing.

Tips for Adding or Removing Content to Improve Pacing and Relevance

If your book is too short, consider these strategies to add meaningful content:

Expand on Key Points : Dive deeper into your main arguments or narrative elements. Provide more examples, anecdotes, or case studies that enrich your content.

Include Additional Research : Integrate more data, expert opinions, or historical context to strengthen your book’s foundation.

Add Subplots or Side Stories : In fiction, introducing new subplots or character backstories can add depth and length. In nonfiction, consider adding supplementary chapters that address related topics.

Incorporate Reader Questions : Address common questions or feedback from your target audience. This can provide clarity and additional value.

If your book is too long, try these techniques to streamline your content:

Eliminate Redundancies : Identify and remove repetitive information or sections that don’t add new value.

Combine Chapters : Merge chapters that cover similar topics to create a more concise narrative or argument.

Trim Excessive Detail : Focus on the most relevant details and cut out overly detailed descriptions or tangents that don’t serve the main purpose.

Tighten Language : Edit your prose to be more concise. Remove filler words and phrases that don’t contribute to the overall message .

By using these strategies, you can effectively adjust your book’s length to meet your goals and ensure that it remains engaging and relevant to your readers. Whether you need to add depth or streamline your content, focusing on the big picture and fine details will help you create a well-balanced and compelling book.

Enhancing Your Book

Enhancing your book involves adding depth and value to ensure it resonates with readers. Whether you're writing nonfiction or fiction, there are several strategies you can use to enrich your content and engage your audience.

Deepen Research: To bolster your nonfiction book, incorporate case studies, expert opinions, and additional research. This not only strengthens your arguments but also provides credibility and a richer context for your readers. Detailed case studies can offer real-world applications of your ideas, while expert opinions lend authority to your narrative.

Expand Examples: Illustrate your points with detailed examples. These examples help clarify complex concepts and make your content more relatable. Use real-life scenarios, historical events, or hypothetical situations that your readers can easily understand and connect with.

Include Actionable Steps: Add guides, checklists, and exercises to make your book more practical and interactive. These actionable steps provide readers with clear takeaways and encourage them to apply what they've learned. This approach not only adds value but also increases reader engagement.

Personal Anecdotes: Sharing personal stories and experiences can make your nonfiction book more relatable and engaging. Anecdotes help humanize your content and create a connection with your readers. They can illustrate your points in a more memorable way and demonstrate how your insights apply in real life.

Reader Feedback: Incorporate questions and feedback from your audience to address common concerns and add relevance to your content. This can make your book more interactive and tailored to your readers' needs. You might gather this feedback from blog comments, social media interactions, or surveys conducted among your target audience.

Deepen World-Building: Enhance your story by adding more descriptions and background details to your setting. This helps create an immersive world that readers can visualize and feel a part of. Whether it’s a fantastical universe or a historical period, rich world-building adds depth and authenticity to your narrative.

Develop Characters: Expand on your characters’ backstories and motivations to make them more complex and relatable. Readers invest in characters they understand and care about. Delve into their past experiences, personal conflicts, and aspirations to create multi-dimensional characters.

Enhance Plot: Introduce subplots and twists to enrich your narrative. Subplots can provide additional layers to your story, developing secondary characters and themes. Unexpected twists keep readers engaged and add excitement to your main plot. Ensure that these elements are well-integrated and contribute to the overall story arc.

Dialogue: Use dialogue to reveal character traits and advance the plot. Well-crafted dialogue can show relationships, conflicts, and personal growth. It can also move the story forward by revealing critical information and creating tension. Ensure that each character has a distinct voice that reflects their personality and background.

Reader Feedback: Incorporate suggestions from beta readers to refine your story. Beta readers can provide valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t, offering a fresh perspective. Their feedback can help you identify plot holes, character inconsistencies, and pacing issues, allowing you to make necessary adjustments before final publication.

By utilizing these strategies, you can enhance your book, making it more engaging, informative, and enjoyable for your readers. Whether you're writing nonfiction or fiction, focusing on adding depth and value will help you create a compelling and memorable book.

Once again, the true essence of a successful book lies not in its word count but in the quality and substance of its content.

Whether you’re crafting a concise nonfiction guide or an epic fantasy novel, the focus should always be on providing value to your readers. The importance of content and pacing can't be overstated —effective pacing ensures that your readers remain engaged, while rich, meaningful content delivers the insights or experiences they seek.

For nonfiction authors, the goal should be to create a transformational impact. Your readers should come away from your book with new knowledge, fresh perspectives, or practical skills that they can apply in their lives. Every chapter, paragraph, and sentence should work towards this aim, ensuring that your book is a valuable resource.

For fiction writers, the objective is to create an immersive experience. Transport your readers to another world, captivate them with your characters, and enthrall them with your plot. The length of your book is secondary to the depth and engagement of your storytelling. A well-crafted narrative will keep readers hooked, regardless of whether it spans 50 pages or 500.

If you’re feeling uncertain about your writing or need more guidance, don’t hesitate to seek further assistance and resources. Writing a book is a significant undertaking, and having support can make a huge difference. Consider taking advantage of writing workshops, hiring a coach , or consulting with experienced editors to refine your manuscript.

For more insights and guidance on writing both fiction and nonfiction books, feel free to explore additional resources, attend our free online class , or get a copy of Write a Book That Matters . These tools are designed to help you avoid common pitfalls, develop your writing skills, and produce a book that truly resonates with your readers.

Article by Leandre Larouche

Leandre Larouche is a writer, coach, and the founder of Trivium Writing.

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Average Book Length: How Long Is a Novel?

Hannah Yang

Table of Contents

How long is a novel, what’s the average word count of a book, how prowritingaid can help you hit your word count.

Readers want books that hit a perfect sweet spot in terms of length. Short books can leave readers feeling like they didn’t get their money’s worth, while long books can feel like a slog.

Knowing the ideal length for your genre will help you plan the order of events and story arc of your book.

So, how do you know the best length for your book?

This article will explain what an average book length is and how you can calculate the right word count to aim for in your own manuscript.

Let’s start by looking at the average length of a novel . The answer varies a lot depending on what type of novel you’re writing, so here are some ranges you can use as a benchmark.

What Is the Average Novel Word Count?

Most publishers consider novel length to be anywhere between 50,000 and 110,000 words. The average length of an adult novel is about 90,000 words.

Novels for younger readers run shorter than novels for adults. Young adult novels have an average length of 50,000–80,000 words, while middle-grade novels have an average length of 25,000–40,000 words.

Genre can also make a difference to how long your novel should be.

Science fiction and fantasy novels tend to have higher word counts than most other genres, averaging around 90,000–120,000 words, since they often need a lot of words for world building and introducing magic systems. Big, epic stories, such as George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, can even be 120,000+ words.

Romance novels, on the other hand, often have shorter word counts, averaging 50,000–100,000 words. Some even go as low as 40,000 words, depending on the specific subgenre.

Mystery, thriller, and horror novels also tend to run on the shorter side since they’re fast-paced and often focus more on action than on exposition. They average around 70,000–90,000 words.

Historical fiction is fairly average in terms of length, usually falling between 80,000 and 100,000 words.

If you’re a first-time writer and don’t know your exact genre, aiming for around 90,000 words for an adult novel is a safe goal.

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What Is the Average Novel Length in Pages?

Books come in various sizes and are printed with different fonts and spacing, so page count isn’t always consistent. The best way to calculate length is by the number of words.

If you really want to estimate the number of pages for your book, you can divide the total word count by the number of words on a page.

A double-spaced document with standard manuscript formatting in 12-point font contains about 250 words per page. If you format your manuscript as a single-space document, it will be about 500 words per page.

So, if the average novel is around 90,000 words, that breaks down to about 360 double-spaced pages.

Here are a few more quick conversions to save you from having to do the math:

A 50,000-word book is about 200 pages

A 60,000-word book is about 240 pages

A 70,000-word book is about 280 pages

An 80,000-word book is about 320 pages

A 90,000-word book is about 360 pages

A 100,000-word book is about 400 pages

A 110,000-word book is about 440 pages

Even if you write only one page per day, you’ll have a completed manuscript in less than a year.

There are many types of books other than novels, such as textbooks, memoirs, and self-help books. Let’s look at what those average word counts are.  

How Long Is a Self-Help Book?

The average self-help book is shorter than the average novel, coming in at around 40,000–50,000 words. Readers want a quick, concise read that can teach them something new in a short span of time.

How Long Is a Memoir?

Memoirs have similar word counts to novels. Most memoirs are 80,000–100,000 words long.

How Long Is a Biography?

Biographies tend to run longer than memoirs, often going as high as 200,000 words. A good target range is 80,000–200,000 words.

How Long Is a Textbook?

Textbooks vary widely in length depending on the subject you’re writing about and the audience you’re writing for.

A biology textbook designed for college students might be 200,000 words, while an arithmetic textbook designed for elementary schoolers might only be 30,000 words.

One useful way to figure out the target word count for a textbook is to look at the word counts of other textbooks with similar topics and target audiences. That can give you a more specific sense of what word count to shoot for.

It’s important to hit the right word count for the type of book you’re writing.

If you’re hoping to traditionally publish your book, editors at publishing houses know the right book lengths for their genres, and they’ll be less inclined to take a chance on your story if it doesn’t meet their expectations. And if you want to self-publish, you’ll have a better chance of selling your book to your target audience if you give them the length they’re expecting.

You can run your manuscript through ProWritingAid to look for ways to hit your target word count.

If you need to cut words, you can use the Pacing Check to look for sections that are particularly slow-paced, such as long sections of introspection, and tighten them up. If you need to add words, you can look for fast-paced dialogue and action and add more description.

You can also consider adding an extra subplot to a novel that’s too short or splitting a novel into a series if it’s far too long. Don’t be afraid to get creative.

Good luck, and happy writing!

Hannah is a speculative fiction writer who loves all things strange and surreal. She holds a BA from Yale University and lives in Colorado. When she’s not busy writing, you can find her painting watercolors, playing her ukulele, or hiking in the Rockies. Follow her work on hannahyang.com or on Twitter at @hannahxyang.

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Written by Emily Harstone June 19th, 2024

8 Literary Journals Open to Longer Fiction

Many literary journals are only interested in publishing short stories that are up to 5,000 words or so in length. Some place the cut off point even lower at 3,000 words. It can be harder for someone who wrote a longer short story to place it in a good home, unless they are publishing a collection of short stories.

The following literary journals are all open to publishing longer short stories, although the specific lengths the journals are looking for do vary. So if you have written one or several short stories exceeding 5,000 words in length, here are some good options for you. Not all the journals are currently open to submissions, but many are. The journals are listed in no particular order. The Sweet Tree Review This thoughtful online literary journal accepts prose up to 7,500 words in length. At Length This online literary journal is open to a wide variety of genres and really focuses on publishing only longer work. They are open to submissions between 7,500 and 20,000 words. They are open to long short stories, novellas, and also stand-alone excerpts from a novel-in-progress. They are open to submissions through August. The Ex Puritan This established and paying Canadian market is open to fiction up to 10,000 words. They close to submissions when they reach their monthly limit so it’s always better to submit at the beginning of the month. Blanket Gravity This new literary journal is interested in publishing writing that explores mental health and emotional life. They are a paying market and consider work up to 9,000 words in length. They pay $40 per story. One Story This established print literary journal pays, and only publishes 12 stories a year, many by respected writers. They only accept stories between 3,000 and 8,000 words. They reopen to submissions in the fall. The Cincinnati Review Instead of a strict word count, they have a strict page count, they ask that fiction submissions not exceed forty double-spaced pages. They are an established print journal with three reading periods a year. Cottonwood Literary Magazine This respected and established literary journal publishes one issue a year and only accepts postal submissions. They are open to a range of work, including fiction up to 8,000 words in length. Short Story Substack They publish works as short as 6 words in length and up to 10,000 words. They are a paying market with a lot of subscribers via Substack. They pay around $500 per story.

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45 Magazines Paying for Genre Fiction

Here are 45 presses and magazines paying for genre fiction – horror, science fiction, slipstream, fantasy, fairy tales, crime, and more. A couple of the presses run more than one magazine. A few also accept other genres, like poetry and nonfiction. Not all are open for submissions now, but many are, or have announced their…

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Paul Lynch, Celeste Ng and Christos Tsiolkas reveal the secrets of their reading and writing lives

It's not every day that three titans of literature from across the globe come together to divulge the secrets of their intimate writing and reading lives.

But at this year's Sydney Writers' Festival , the 2023 Booker Prize winner Paul Lynch, New York Times bestselling author Celeste Ng and Christos Tsiolkas, author of international bestseller The Slap, did just that.

On when to quit

Irish novelist Lynch says he was writing "the wrong novel" for six months before he began writing his Booker Prize-winning dystopian novel Prophet Song .

"It's OK to write the wrong novel, because nothing is ever wasted. But … [it was like] drilling through granite rock every day," Lynch told Cassie McCullagh from ABC RN's The Bookshelf and Claire Nichols from ABC RN's The Book Show.

"What I was looking for was the vessel that is the novel: the story that can contain all your obsessions that also moves like a story that has grace. And this thing didn't have any grace at all, it was lumbering and god-awful."

But then one Friday afternoon, he hit a wall.

"Colm Tóibín once advised: 'Finish everything you start' and I say 'Know when to walk away.'" So he did.

He decided to return to his writing on Monday, with a fresh document, and just see what happened.

"I had a sense that there was just something lurking," he says.

The first page of Prophet Song poured out of him, and what was eventually published adheres quite closely to what he wrote that day.

"It had the juice; that ineffable substance that you look for in your writing," he says.

American author Ng had been working for an entire year on another book before she returned to a dystopian novel she had first started in 2017, the year Little Fires Everywhere came out.

"I wasn't sure that I wanted to write it [back then] — it was going to look at some of my biggest fears — and so I shoved it in a drawer and put it aside. It wasn't until the COVID pandemic started that the idea kept coming back to me," she says.

She had found her "juice", which became her latest novel, Our Missing Hearts .

"It was almost like the idea was saying to me: 'You have to write me, you have got to do this now, stop messing around with that other story. It's my time.'"

Giving up on a book is something Tsiolkas — the Greek Australian playwright and author of 11 books including his latest, The In-Between — is familiar with, too.

"It feels sometimes like the ideas are little streams or rivulets that are running down a mountain and sometimes they just stop there … [but then sometimes] for whatever reason, it's working and that's when it becomes a river and you jump in it," he says.

The best time to read

Tsiolkas likes to begin his day with a coffee and some reading. But he also sets at least half an hour aside every evening to read next to his partner in bed. Then he, of course, also likes to read throughout the entire day.

While he says lockdown was awful, he reflects that COVID was amazing for his reading life.

"It was the first time in decades where I read like I did when I was a teenager; where I had hours … of just sitting down with a book and just falling into the world," he says.

"There's no way to say this without sounding like a wanker, but I read [Marcel] Proust. I had wanted to do that all my life."

Lynch also prefers to read in the morning, but sometimes struggles to make time for it.

"In the mornings … your bandwidth is completely clear and you're able to absorb beautifully from [your reading]," he says.

"But at the moment, since the Booker [Prize] thing happened, my reading life is completely dysregulated. It's very difficult to get the sustained concentration to keep reading because I just have so much stuff to do."

That's why Lynch relished a recent 45-hour stint in international transit, when he finally got a chance to polish off two books.

Ng's mornings are busy with school drop-off and then she prioritises her writing first, before she can settle into reading in the late afternoon.

"That's when my brain is relaxed, and it's been turning over ideas and it's receptive and it's ready," she says.

And in a pattern undoubtedly relatable to many bookworms: "I used to try and read at bedtime and I still do, but … if I get into a really good book, I will stay up all night.

"And then in the morning my husband will look at me like: 'You're living with your choices, aren't you?'"

The pleasures of re-reading

There are certain authors whose work these accomplished writers return to, or whose work seems to return to them.

Lynch explains: "The problem with great writing is that it won't go away, and sometimes it calls you back."

Tsiolkas says he often returns to Memoirs of Hadrian, Marguerite Yourcenar's 1951 historical fiction novel that traces the life and death of the Roman Emperor Hadrian.

"[Because] within a paragraph-and-a-half [of reading it], I was in the ancient world, it is astonishing. I smelt it, I felt it. This marvel of a book will always be precious to me and I will always return to it for sustenance," he says.

He also finds himself re-reading Fyodor Dostoevsky, time and time again.

"Going back is great with those books, because when I was a young man in my 20s, when I read The Possessed …. I just didn't get that book, [but] re-reading it [more recently] … I know it was written in the 19th century, but it felt like he was saying something about the discord in this time and the anger and rage and partisanship," he says.

Lynch returns to a group of writers that include Dostoevsky, as well as William Faulkner, Joseph Conrad and Virginia Woolf, who he dubs the " cosmic realists ".

"[These are] writers who are like a cosmic eye looking at what we are, from the broadest perspective, but at the same time, they're able to get the texture of the furniture in the room, the movement of faces, the dynamics of human beings," he says.

Ng re-reads poetry.

"Because the poem is a sort of self-contained thing, you can see the whole of it there, it's easy to dip into it, read it, read it again, read it several times and find something new in it," she says.

And comparing it to Lynch's cosmic realists, she says, "poems are very good at doing two seemingly contradictory things at the exact same time".

"They will zoom in on a very specific thing, a detail, a moment, an image, whatever it is, they focus your attention … but then at the same time, they're also holding you above it. And they're letting you look at the whole of things."

When Ng feels stuck, she goes back to Toni Morrison 's The Bluest Eye.

"Because it's still got things to teach me, I think it's just a perfect work of literature," she says.

"[Before I read it] I didn't realise that you were allowed to do that [in a book]. I didn't realise you were allowed to improvise stylistically in that way. I didn't know you were allowed to talk about these subjects in that way."

• X (formerly Twitter)

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Surgeon General Calls for Warning Labels on Social Media Platforms

Dr. Vivek Murthy said he would urge Congress to require a warning that social media use can harm teenagers’ mental health.

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By Ellen Barry and Cecilia Kang

The U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, announced on Monday that he would push for a warning label on social media platforms advising parents that using the platforms might damage adolescents’ mental health.

Warning labels — like those that appear on tobacco and alcohol products — are one of the most powerful tools available to the nation’s top health official, but Dr. Murthy cannot unilaterally require them; the action requires approval by Congress.

The proposal builds on several years of escalating warnings from the surgeon general. In a May 2023 advisory, he recommended that parents immediately set limits on phone use, and urged Congress to swiftly develop health and safety standards for technology platforms.

He also called on tech companies to make changes: to share internal data on the health impact of their products; to allow independent safety audits; and restrict features like push notifications, autoplay and infinite scroll, which he says “prey on developing brains and contribute to excessive use.”

In an interview, Dr. Murthy said he had been deeply frustrated by the platforms’ reluctance to do so.

“I don’t think we can solely rely on the hope that the platforms can fix this problem on their own,” he said. “They’ve had 20 years.”

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Elin Hilderbrand Steps into New Waters After Retiring from Writing Beach Reads (Exclusive)

The bestselling author, known for her Nantucket-based novels, published her final summer book, 'Swan Song,' on June 11

Carly Tagen-Dye is the Books editorial assistant at PEOPLE, where she writes for both print and digital platforms.

Beowulf Sheehan; 2024 Hachette Book Group, Inc.

At the June 11 book signing for author Elin Hilderbrand’s new novel, Swan Song , the line of devoted readers, who call themselves the "Hilderbabes," wraps around Books and Greetings in Northvale, NJ. The majority of the event’s attendees are women of all ages, all waiting in anticipation of the author who has long been a meaningful part of their own lives. “My first book, I read on my 50th birthday on a ferry to Nantucket,” one fan tells PEOPLE of Hilderbrand’s novels. “I was like, ‘This is it for me. I love it.’” “I save [Hilderbrand’s books] for the summers,” another reader says. “That's the only time I read them, because I feel like they just transport me to Nantucket … If you read one of her books, you've gotten a grasp of a lot of them.” For Hilderbrand, who arrives at the event dressed in a striped, sunset-esque dress — it’s a tradition for each of her book signings to have a theme color — this new novel is both bittersweet and something of a relief. After writing 27 books based on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, Swan Song , out now, is the last of Hilderbrand's summer-themed novels before she steps away from the genre . “My retirement, really, is for them,” Hilderbrand, 54, tells PEOPLE, of her fans. “I never want anybody to pick up my book and say, ‘It just wasn't as good as the last one.’ That is not going to happen. I've been watching a lot of people's careers and it's so important how you dismount.”

A beachy beginning

Paul Marotta/Getty

Hilderbrand still remembers the first time she saw Nantucket. It was 1993, and she was on the ferry into town for a visit. People began to stir on the top deck, and as the author looked out onto the water, she saw the island’s two church steeples and sailboats in the harbor come into view. It was infatuation at first sight. “I was like, ‘I love it here,’” she recalls. “‘I love it here, and I'm never leaving.’” At the time, Hilderbrand, who grew up in Pennsylvania, was living in New York. Soon, she would quit her job in book publishing and follow a childhood love of writing (she won Best Author of her second grade class) to study at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Hilderbrand still remembers her first published pieces as budding writer — her debut publication, a short story called "Misdirection" in Seventeen Magazine, brought in $800.

“The rest, it just didn't end up being that easy,” she says. Her 2000 debut novel, The Beach Club , boosted by a mention in PEOPLE, sold out its first run of 2,500 copies, but success came more gradually with her other titles. Her first #1 New York Times bestseller was the 2019 historical fiction novel Summer of ‘69 . As a local on Nantucket, where she moved permanently in 1994, Hilderbrand often references real places, and runs into readers on the daily. Pulling fiction from fact, however, is a delicate dance. Her novel, The Rumor , was inspired by a real experience. When Hilderbrand went to receive a biopsy prior to a breast cancer diagnosis (she is now cancer free, per her website ), someone saw her at the hospital. Rumors spread about her having cancer before she even got her results, Hilderbrand says.

"I'm like, 'Okay, I'm writing a novel about all these people who gossip and I'm going to put all these real gossippers in the book, which I did," she says. "But you have to change them so much so that they fit the narrative, [so] that nobody knew who they were except for me."

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now ! When she can, Hilderbrand writes her drafts longhand by the ocean. She didn’t change anything about her process for Swan Song – less out of superstition and more out of knowing what works. “Every book, successively for the last four or five years, has gotten harder for me to write, because Nantucket is small and I have to have fresh takes,” she says. “And it's hard to get fresh takes on number 27.” The novel, which chronicles the arrival of a mysterious couple on Nantucket, brings back some of Hilderbrand’s most beloved characters for one last adventure on the island. Though Hilderbrand ended her Nantucket novels on her own terms, it was still an emotional milestone. “I was okay until I wrote the last chapter,” she says. “I cried, and then every time I read it, I cried.”

Stepping into fresh waters

Elin Hilderbrand/Instagram

For such a longtime literary icon, it’s only natural that Hilderbrand is turning her sights on becoming a book influencer — both through social media, where she often takes to Instagram to promote new authors, and on her podcast, Books, Beach & Beyond , which she cohosts with Nantucket Book Foundation president Tim Ehrenberg. “I never wanted the listener to feel like they had to go read a book,” Hilderbrand says of the podcast. “I wanted it to be a person [who] they've already read the books.” To date, Hilderbrand has chatted with everyone from Colleen Hoover to Jake Tapper on the program. Sarah Jessica Parker, a dedicated reader who launched her book imprint, SJP Lit, in 2022, recently kicked off season two.

Hilderbrand, a mother of three, is also writing a book series with her daughter, Shelby. The novels are set in an academy, based upon the boarding school that Shelby attended. Both mother and daughter were fascinated by some of the school’s traditions, including an annual dance that Hilderbrand describes as more akin to a rave. “At some point in her second semester of her first year, I'm like, ‘We are writing a book about this,’” Hilderbrand says. The two brainstormed characters together, as well as “a universe that's not unlike the Hotel Nantucket.” Hilderbrand recently finished a draft of the first book, and is sending it to Shelby so she can rewrite the dialogue. “I'm in a new genre world here,’” Hilderbrand says. “It does not sound even remotely realistic if you're not just using the language that the kids use.”

“My kind of novel matters”

Long ago dubbed the “Queen of the Beach Read,” the forthcoming novel series marks a new period in Hilderbrand's career. The author admits that she’s had some quibbles with how the beach read genre, and her Nantucket novels in particular, have been received over the years. “The [words] ‘easy’ and ‘breezy’ or ‘easy breezy’ just drive me crazy,” she says. “I know what they mean. They mean it's not dark, it's not depressing, it's not gritty … It might not even be construed as important, but if you don't connect with the characters, you're not going to turn the pages.”

Hilderbrand, who prefers to read literary fiction in her free time, takes the tools she learned in graduate school and applies them to a beach setting. It’s the reason why her stories are both an escape and, occasionally, an emotional reading experience. Amongst the sun and sand, her characters face death, illness and other tough life factors. Because of this, Hilderbrand has had many meaningful interactions with fans over the years. A mother whose daughter was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting told Hilderbrand that her novels got her through that difficult period. A woman revealed that she was reading the author’s 2017 novel, The Identicals , to her aunt when she died from breast cancer in hospice care. Hilderbrand even carries a letter in her bag from a reader who kept her novels close after experiencing multiple miscarriages and postpartum depression, and who was later inspired to join a book club. “My books got her back out into the world,” Hilderbrand says. “I read that [letter] because it's so inspiring, but it's also proof that my kind of novel matters, and it has purpose and it has value.”

Looking toward the horizon

Beowulf Sheehan

As she welcomes fans in the children’s section of Books and Greetings — taking pictures, complimenting summer outfits and giving her own thanks right back — Hilderbrand is indeed at the end of an era. It’s striking to hear the stories her readers share with her as they come up to her table to have their books signed, and to witness the subtle (and occasionally outright) sadness of one last summer novel event together. “People have been bringing me presents, which they always sort of brought me presents, but now [they bring] retirement cards, which is so funny because I feel so young,” the author says.

But Hilderbrand isn't leaving the Hilderbabes behind just yet. Following her book tour, she will hold weekly signings at Mitchell’s Book Corner on Nantucket throughout the fall for her local devotees. So many show up, however, that the author has had to cap each signing at 135 tickets, in order for her to get out on time. The author is paring down her other events too, like her famous Bucket List weekends, where she joins readers around the island to explore the setting of her books. “As soon as I get home on June 21, the summer should be very mellow,” the author says. “I do some fun things with my friends and with the kids.” In addition to some much-needed rest, she's also looking forward to the long-awaited TV adaptation of her 2018 novel, The Perfect Couple . The show is set to head to Netflix before the end of the year, and stars Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber .

Never miss a story — sign up for  PEOPLE's free daily newsletter  to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer , from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.  For Hilderbrand, this last book is also an opportunity to reflect. She thinks back on words of wisdom given to her by a college professor before graduation. “He said, ‘You got to go out in the world and live,’” she says. “And it is that advice that I give people, and it is that advice that has served me.” Swan Song is now available, wherever books are sold.

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‘Caledonian Road’ is the novel everyone in England is talking about

Andrew O’Hagan’s social satire is drawing comparisons to “The Bonfire of the Vanities.”

The weather this spring in London has been intermittently bright and warm, but the public mood remains steadily overcast. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement last month that a general election will be held on July 4 did little to lift Britons out of their funk. Those on the right wonder: What has it all been for — these 14 years of Tory government? Those on the left welcome Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer as an agent of change, yet he excites no one. Where is the post-Brexit U.K. headed? There seem to be few answers — only much mournful hand-wringing.

Still, as ever in London, bold literary endeavors attract notice. Andrew O’Hagan’s new novel, a doorstopper titled “ Caledonian Road ,” has been among the best-selling of the season, displayed on the front table of every Waterstones, touted as a perceptive “state of the nation” tome and much praised at dinner parties.

Summer reading

Some British reviewers have compared it to “The Bonfire of the Vanities,” Tom Wolfe’s brilliant capture of New York in the 1980s. The similarities go only so far. O’Hagan, like Wolfe, started professional life as a journalist, and his novel does employ a sprawling scope, shifting settings and a huge cast of characters hailing from both high society and low. But absent from “Caledonian Road” is anything approaching Wolfe’s carnival barker glee in presenting a vast and wicked urban tapestry.

While O’Hagan’s novel has funny bits, it is fundamentally glum, befitting the time and place of its writing. The author’s pious preoccupations: How far will a middle-aged liberal, who has always considered himself on the right side of history, be prepared to go in the name of self-preservation? How quickly will his principles crumble when under real-world pressure?

Like the author, protagonist Campbell Flynn is a native of working-class Glasgow, Scotland. He’s a celebrity art historian — a job description that only a Brit can pull off. Think Simon Schama, but younger. Flynn has risen to stratospheric social heights thanks to his intellect, his gumption and his alliances, in particular his marriage to Elizabeth, whose mother is a countess and whose brother-in-law is a duke.

When the story commences in May 2021, Flynn’s conscience is pricked when an idealistic student, Milo Mangasha, criticizes him. “I’m betting you’ve never risked anything in your life, never really set out to upset anything ,” Milo tells Flynn. Rather than point to the door, the professor invites the young man to join him for drinks at Claridge’s for further discussions. There’s nothing sexual about this penitential relationship, Campbell assures Elizabeth: “I’m fascinated by what he can show me.”

Wife — and reader — struggle to understand. Far more plausible is Flynn’s recklessness with money. He’s not a flush City type, although he loves the trappings of the banker’s life, including Savile Row suits. His income is overstretched in trying to maintain both a large townhouse in Islington (on the posh side of the eponymous Caledonian Road) and a comfortable cottage in bucolic Suffolk. He’s counting on his rich mother-in-law to leave her daughter, and him, a hefty bequest. Meanwhile, he borrows funds from a university buddy, Sir William Byre, an unscrupulous retail tycoon. And to raise still more cash, he decides to write a silly self-help book called “Why Men Weep in Their Cars,” which he publishes under the name of a semifamous actor friend.

Flynn’s life begins to unravel after Byre is arrested (thanks in part to Milo’s hacking of Flynn’s phone), his mother-in-law dies and leaves the couple only token gifts, and the actor positions the self-help book as a defense of misogyny. But it is Flynn’s antagonism toward the “sitting tenant” residing in the basement of his Islington manse that proves his undoing. Local government guarantees the right of the crazy and resentful Mrs. Voyles to live in his home. When she demands ever-larger sums of money as the price of her agreeing to leave, Flynn responds in a way that belies all of his allegedly compassionate social views.

O’Hagan constructs a number of other storylines, illuminating matters such as the influence of dirty Russian money in London and the exploitation of migrant labor in Britain, but he’s best on the upper crust. And because this book — unlike his previous novel, the intimate “Mayflies,” about a teenage friendship — is intended as social criticism, it somewhat falls down as fiction. Snappy dialogue can’t rescue a number of characters from sounding like types. Too many scenes resemble highfalutin set pieces rather than ringing painfully true. And yet, the chapter in which Flynn and his wife are forced to fly to Reykjavik to celebrate his birthday, because their obnoxious adult son insists that Iceland is the place to eat curry these days, is a satirical tour-de-force. Campbell reflects: “This is what it comes to, parenting. You swab their knees and wipe their arses and pay for everything and one day they get to treat you like you’re simply another pest in their busy lives.”

The lavish cultural set-dressing throughout “Caledonian Road” — countless references to schools, restaurants, neighborhoods, vacation spots, opera festivals, etc. — gives the text admirable specificity but is rather lost on the nonnative. And Campbell, as a peevish liberal losing his way morally, all the while protesting he really doesn’t mean to, is an intensely British character.

You may have to be here, in London, to fully appreciate O’Hagan’s point. There’s something not quite right with Campbell Flynn, just as millions of Britons suspect there’s something not quite right about today’s U.K.

Clare McHugh is the author most recently of “The Romanov Brides.”

Caledonian Road

By Andrew O’Hagan

W.W. Norton. 624 pp. $32.50

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