Average word count for middle grade books

While 50,000 words is a fairly firm minimum, plenty of ya books reach up to 100,000 words, with a. My own past research on ya word count turned up 5080,000 as an average guideline. For now im only going to focus on picture books, middle grade, and young adult fiction. The average word count could be anywhere from 70,000 to 120,000 words. There will likely be a subplot or two that help to carry the story in a substantial way. Aug 05, 2019 for most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading. A book like harry potter and the sorcerers stone, with 78,792 words, is higher than recommended, but with any genre, there are exceptions. Its also true that an established author is more likely to sell a longer novel, especially if its a sequel to a popular first novel, since the publisher knows it will make back the higher publishing costs.

Ya is often read by middle grade aged tweens and early teens. Unfortunately, amazon recently removed that feature as well. The word count at big five publishers had a slightly narrower range. Rose as an editor, i cant tell you how many times ive turned down a manuscript because of excessive word counts. Although amazon stopped offering this for new books several years ago, the feature still remained for older books. Middle grade books are written for kids approximately 812. May 15, 2019 lower middle grade novels tend to be read by kids aged 8 to 10 years old. Rules of the road chapter length and chapter length. Your nineyearold isnt going to have the patience to slog through a 5000 word chapter. In comparison, the database gives an average length of 89,000 words for adult fiction excluding fantasy, smack in the middle of the commonlycited range of 80,000100,000. My middle grade novel is hovering around 70,000 words or 270 pages. The editor plans that space and can work with the 500word difference.

But the thing is, that thick book that you see in a bookstore may actually contain fewer words than you think. These books fall in very similar word count ranges to young adult books. This agent said it would need to lose 20,000 words for him to look at it again, because its just too long. Mostly, it will depend on the story you want to tell. Books for 7 to 9yearold readers would probably start at the 15,000 word mark, rarely going higher than 30,000 words. How many words in a novel vary depending on genre, audience, and the story itself but in general, the average words in a novel is between 60,000 and 90,000 words for most genres. Oct 18, 2017 as with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. When i started writing three years ago, the mg word count i kept hearing was no more than 30,000 words.

The categories below middle grade are chapter book and early reader, and you can read about them in a different article. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan. Well, it depends on what kind of book you are looking to read or what kind of book you want to write. An agent was recently reading my 89,000 word word processor count upper middle grade ya, which ive purposefully written to be a book about a year old that any age of reader could enjoy much like hp, his dark materials, etc. How dark could it be, i know theres a limitation but somehow i want to have it in my book. Still in doubt about a desirable word count for your novel. For more information on word counts for childrens book, check out this post.

The author selling the most copies was a scholastic author published only in softcover hello, scholastic school market. Chapter books will come in at the lower end of the spectrum, while middlegrade books meant for older readers may even slightly exceed 55,000 words. Word count picture book, middle grade, ya lisa lewis tyre. When completed, your middlegrade masterpiece needs to be somewhere between 20,000 and 60,000 words.

Middle grade ranges from 20,000 to 55,000 words, with more allowance given to fantasy novels that require world building. Middle grade books can be told from the first person plural, or be about an old man, or be in the voice of a dog. And in that case, people always ask, you know, how long should my chapters be. While average word length is 50,000 to 80,000 words, this genre has so much variety that word count depends on the book and its intended audience. Upper middle grade novels can have a higher word count, and will be read by children aged 10 to years old. Up to 6070k is probably safe though there are even longer exceptions. My middle grade novel is 79,000 words and thus may be too long for a 5. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. The highest word count was 115,000, the lowest was 47,000, and the average was 75,000. Make a list of 15 recently published comparative titles.

So if youre writing a series, start small, then increase the word count with each release. Since 2011, the average length of a bestseller has dropped steadily from year to year. Whether your book is considered chapter book or upper middle grade will depend on the age of your characters, and the subject matter. October 6, 2010 november 22, 2017 loutreleaven following on from my blog post on which publishers are accepting unsolicited manuscripts for children, i thought id put together something else i had difficulty finding on the web a guide to word counts. Ill do it for you, no need to bring out your calculator too. The word counts of some popular ya novels we often go around thinking that fat, thick books with huge word counts are the best. The most important thing here is to realize that there are always exceptions to these rules. Middle grade is from 20,000 55,000, depending on the subject matter and age range, and the word count of these books has been trending up in recent years. Ive written a monthly column for an online ezine for six years.

And, in case youre wondering, here are the average word. Once upon a time amazon offered text stats for a majority of their books, which included word count. Although, youll notice with the harry potter books the length of each book increases with each release in the series. At a writers conference i recently attended, publishing veteran jane friedman said 80,000 words is good for most fiction, below 60,000 isnt novel length territory, and above 120,000 is likely too much. Apr 05, 2015 generally a 50,000word novel would be the minimum word count. As a reader and hopefully future parent, i think ill still allow my kids to read books with the occasional bad word, although i certainly wouldnt be uncomfortable with them reading books with the c word or f word in grade school. Jun 05, 2017 so childrens book manuscript chapter length is a big question that ive received many times about all sorts of childrens books that have chapters. Hatchet with 41,672 words and holes with 46,554 words are ideal. Middlegrade novels are generally 20,000 to 55,000 words. Middle grade, even early middle grade, beings at around 15,000 words.

Publishers are probably more open to this approach, since when you become more established, theres less risk for them with bigger books. Middle grade or young adult fantasy books are often double the length of their realistic counterparts. With fun, lighthearted, simple middle grade youll want to stay around the 20k30k word count range. May 15, 2011 if it does need to be this long, it is not a middle grade, or it should be divided into 20 books, not 6. Themes may be a bit more complex, or pg or pg rated. I couldnt believe my favorite kids books were that short. I use amazons data feeds to come up with the calculation. But overall, heres my own rough stab at word counts by genre. Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. Most middle grade novels are between 40,000 and 69,000 words long.

Dec 15, 2009 often ignored is the impact of reader tolerance. Writing chapter books a look at the numbers hannah holt. That gives us a rough range of 61,00089,000 words, with about 3 out of 4 queried ya books falling into that range. When writing a longer book that is aimed at 12yearolds and could maybe be considered tween, using the term upper middle grade is advisable.

Despite reading all of this, i still was not sure what trim size was best for my novels given their word counts and genres. Middle grade or mg 45,000 words max for contemporary, mystery, humor. Yes, the more successful your books, the longer they will get to be without anyone batting an eyelash see. The authors had sold between 10 copies and 2 million copies of their chapter books. In every category, there are also a few random outliers, like sarah, plain and tall a middle grade at 9,000 words or this is all. And done right, an estimated count is actually an exact count of paper that will be used, and this matters. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. And man, people love to point out exceptionsand they always will.

Im okay with a manuscript that goes up to 30,000 words over. All of these are average book word count ranges and should not be taken as the definitive word count you must reach in your book. There is no definitive word count guide for nonfiction books due to the many subgenres. Nancy lamb in the writers guide to crafting stories for children defines the average length of middle grade fiction this way. There are also some subgenres that have slightly different conventions. Fleshing out an imagined historical world lends itself to a higher word count, so historical fiction tends to be closer to 100,000 words. Though the average word count of a chapter is around 2,000 5,000 words, it all depends on your story.

Now, before you lose your mind, let me explain what i mean. Upper middle grade can hit in the 50k word count range possibly longer, if its something really special. And your adult novel isnt going to seem meaty enough if the chapters top out at 500 words. Now im seeing a lot more mg books with up to 60,000 words, so i think the water has become a bit murky here. Collecting comp titles will prove useful to you throughout your novels journeyespecially later, when trying to market your book. I have a standing wordcount no more than 1,500 no less than 1,000 words. Writing a middlegrade masterpiece a childrens book. Young adult fiction allows for a lot of flexibility in word count. Unfortunately, they dont offer word count so ive created an algorithm based on the number of pages, genre, and the dimensions of the book. While i knew that shorter was almost always better, i hadnt considered word count, which as it turns out it is like your protagonists age, predetermined.

As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. There is quite some disagreement about ideal chapter length, but here is one example for one authors opinion. Your best bet is to go to a good childrens bookstore and look at books like your own in terms of target audience. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books.

Yes, i know jo rowlings upped the ante with her succession of harry potter books, and if your plot and characters have the same appeal as harry, you too might get away with a larger word count. So childrens book manuscript chapter length is a big question that ive received many times about all sorts of childrens books that have chapters. Word count varied from 5,000 words to 40,000 words, with an average mean of 17,200 and a median word count of 8,500. Middle grade word count is typically 20,000 to 55,000. Wherever you look, it is estimated that middle grade fiction should be between 20k and 55k words.

Im considering signing with lightning source, but they dont have the sizes im accustomed toprefer, either. In other words, books on the shorter end are better for the younger middle grades, while higher word counts are better suited for kids closer to 12. When you use the word count feature of a word processor, word count can be only a couple of thousand words off, or it can be 20,000 words off, when compared to estimated count. Sep 20, 2019 how many words in a novel vary depending on genre, audience, and the story itself but in general, the average words in a novel is between 60,000 and 90,000 words for most genres. For kids eight to 12 years old in the middle grades, books should have between 20,000 and 50,000 words. Chapter book this varies widely, depending on grade and reader level, usually starting at 4,000 words and 15,000 words max. Oct 28, 2015 lets start with middle grade since thats what i write. Most middle grade novels are 15,000 to 35,000 words long or 64 to 150 pages. Upper middle grade 65,000 words max for fantasyscifi, adventure and historical. Chapter books would be on the lower end, while upper middle grade would be fine in the upper range. Yes, if you are hugely successful with your first book, your publisher will want lots more books from you.

As with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. A guide to word counts filles vertes publishing, llc. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. My upperlevel ya novel is 211 pages, 61,078 words, tnr 12 pt. Writing middle grade a look at the numbers hannah holt. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common.

Middle grade is generally 912 years and since kids tend to read up, id say marketing your book as mg is the way to go. For debut books in this field the average word count tends to be 35k and it has therefore become the marker many industry professionals look for in queries from new writers. Longer word counts allowed for fantasy, scifi, historical. On average, chapters in childrens books are shorter than chapters in books for juveniles which are in turn shorter than chapters in books for adults. Jul 24, 2016 i only fire up my rant when parents try to filter what other peoples children can read. Depending on your genre, having too many or too little can not only hurt your book sales, but also cause fewer 5star. When writing a longer book that is aimed at 12yearolds and could maybe be considered tween, using the term upper middle grade is. A single novel can be longer, but once the length is above 110,000 words publishers may look at cutting it back, unless it is a particular kind of book books over the 110k word count are usually considered epics. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference.

These word counts assume that a novel is more for commercial consumption, and for adults. Search for word count totals in books word counters. That means book length is between 80 pages for lower middle grade and 220 pages for upper middle grade fiction. A good way to gauge appropriate length is to check out similar books for comparison. Multiply up by the number of pages and get to a rough word count. Oct 03, 2017 on a scale of one bad to ten excellent, chapter books rate their agents overall as an 8.

Word count for middle grade books the word count range for middle grade is 20,000 to 60,000. Childrens fiction is so varied in terms of length, type, illustration. The language has to be modified to complement their lexile ranges, but it is not acceptable to write in a way that is pedantic. The average mean word count was about 53,000 words. What is the ideal word count for a middle grade fantasy fiction. Middle grade novels vary a lot, but a safe spot to aim for would be 30,000 words. So that usually includes everything from chapter books, to middle grade, to young adult novels.

There are plenty of books that purposefully play with the word counts of their chapters. Some books, however, go up to 150,000 to 180,000 words. The word count range for middle grade is 20,000 to 60,000. Longish literary fiction is often 6 x 9 to accommodate longer word counts. Dec, 2014 middle grade book length december, 2014 the dormant math teacher in me is needing to click at a calculator for a minute. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. Jun 15, 2017 this is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. How to write a middle grade novel childrens book editor. What is the ideal word count for a nonfiction book in the. Nov, 2009 let me also address right now that ive been seeing some queries for early middle grade in the 7,000 word range. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals.

What occurred to me while reading was how the predetermined word counts make it more difficult to query a novel that crosses categories. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. Apr 23, 2018 there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to word counts, and different sources are going to tell you different things. Jun 27, 2019 middlegrade novels are generally 20,000 to 55,000 words.