Average number of word in a book of short stories

As with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. Precise word count definitions will vary, but as a general rule of thumb, a short story is anything up to about 7500 words sometimes 10,000, with. Speaking of short the really short nhl season is about over, and both vancouver and ottawa are in the playoffs. Microfiction and flash fiction are the tweets of the fiction world. A statistical analysis of the sherlock holmes stories. The number of words will vary depending on the age of the reader the book is intended for.

Although marquez has an average word count of 2,412 words and overall his short story lengths are quite consistent at the high 2000s, he also has a flash fiction. Jul 15, 2018 it depends on how long you want the book to be. Writing middle grade a look at the numbers hannah holt. Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common.

A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. Short stories range anywhere from 1,500 to 30,000 words. Precise word count definitions will vary, but as a general rule of thumb, a short story is anything up to about 7500 words sometimes 10,000, with higher word counts typically called novelettes, and short novels called novellas. Within short stories, there is a further breakdown to define super short stories as flash and microflash. Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. Ive seen short story anthologies that are in the range of novella length all the way up to more than 150k words. Dec 12, 20 the new york times top ten stories had the highest average word count, coming in at just over 2,000 words. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. A story about an unusual school dealing with a rather mundane subject. Of the 161 stories listed, 3081 is the median word count number in the middle and 4052 is the average word count. Aug 05, 2019 before diving into the specifics of genrebased word counts, lets look at the broader picture of average book length.

In my experience, individual short stories dont tend to sell well on kindle compared to novels. If the average length is 300 pages, youre looking at a 75,000 word manuscript approximately one reason its harder for a new author to sell a 140,000 word manuscript is the size of the book. The fact that this article the length of a decentsized short story managed. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. Pay rates are often low, but for so few words, the rate per word averages quite high. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. Usually, short stories are measured by word count, not the number of pages. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. I agree that it seems like for a debut author, the agent really looks at that word count. If you cant find something that tells you what the publisher is interested in, shoot for a story around words and explain that the story is. The new york times top ten stories had the highest average word count, coming in at just over 2,000 words.

The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or. Using amazons number of words as a guide, 5,000 words would equal 26. All hail the bookeen, a new format thats perfect for short stories, novellas and essays julian gough thu 5 sep 20 07. In two minutes, i found ebooks ranging from 10 to 950 pages. The complete stories average around 1500 words, with the longest at around 2500 and the shortest at 311 yeah, not really a short story, but the next shortest one is 1,100. Creating a short story collection is a little different from creating a traditional novel, so here are a few things to consider. What is the average word count for short story submissions. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. The word count at big five publishers had a slightly narrower range. But remember that too many short scenes in a row can make the flow of the plot feel choppy, and disrupt the continuity that john gardner said creates a dream for the.

A publisher should have the standard number of words they are looking for available somewhere on their website. With fun, lighthearted, simple middle grade youll want to stay around the 20k30k word count range. Apr 11, 2015 stephen king word count 112263 274,672 bag of bones 203,3 black house 252,270 blockade billy 15,917 carrie 60,718 cell 121,931 christine 193,602 cujo 121,150 cycle of the werewolf 15,955 desperation 195,011 doctor sleep. But those requests are extremely rare, as the majority will set a limit of 8k. Short stories are often defined as any story under 7,500 words. At an average of 2500 words per story, that makes 16 stories. The average short story should run anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 words, but they can be anything above 1,000 words. A statistical analysis of the sherlock holmes stories sir arthur conan doyles sherlock holmes stories represent some of the finest detective literature ever written.

Between the ages of four and eight, children have picture books read to them and also begin to read themselves. Many of these books are written in rhyme or in a simple singsong meter that is catchy and fun. Bearing in mind if you opt for a shorter word count, you might not be able to print o. Both have made it to the final round vancouver losing in 7 games to the ny rangers or, as don cherry put it the ny oilers back in the 90s. Bearing in mind if you opt for a shorter word count, you might not be able to print on the spine should you set up a print document. Try to fill in the blanks around the 1, 7, 14 and 21 with a variety of lengths. I thought it would be interesting to explore how the quality of a story relates to statistical properties of the text itself. For a compilation of short stories, i would shoot for at. Typically books of poems with 1 page per poem are around 2530 pages long, however i have seen books that are longer than 50 poems.

Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. An ebook with 15 pages amounts to only around 3000 words. For a novel, i would recommend at least 50,000 words in length.

For a compilation of short stories, i would shoot for at least 30,000 words. While the stories of other peoples lives are fascinating, readers dont want to slog through anything that drags on and on. In total doyle wrote four holmes novels and 56 short stories, a body of work enthusiasts affectionately refer to as the canon. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference.

Its free, its fun, and the winner gets published in prime number magazine and receives a free book from press 53. In outlining your book in 3 easy steps, editor shawn coyne says, the average novel today is about 90,000 words. Jun 27, 2019 a story that is over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel. Though the average word count of a chapter is around 2,000 5,000 words, it all depends on your story. Upper middle grade can hit in the 50k word count range possibly longer, if its something really special. A short story collection is a great way to release some shorts with a word count that makes the price reasonable. Young adult fiction allows for a lot of flexibility in word count. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or short, perkins says.

Within short stories, there is a further breakdown to define supershort stories as flash and microflash. On the upper end, a novel over 110,000 words is considered an. Some authors write chapters as long as 12k words, and this can be okay for some, and a bit wordy for others. This is a terrific way to whet readers appetites for your longer works or get them interested in the plot of your next book. Duotrope a free writers resource listing over 3950 current fiction and poetry publications caps their search for short story publishers at 7,500 words, which means most publishers are looking for stories of less than that length. There were rumors in 20 that amazon had set a minimum word. The condemned man, incidentally, had an expression of such doglike resignation that it looked as if one could set him free to roam around the slopes and would only have to whistle at the start. Bookend the 7,000 word story with two flash fictions, perhaps. Jun 20, 2011 a publisher should have the standard number of words they are looking for available somewhere on their website. Typically a writer will have published most or all of the stories in other venues and then. Chapter length varies greatly even within individual books. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. There are plenty of books that purposefully play with the word counts of their chapters. If you self pub, places such as amazon will print a book as low as 24 pages, so if your poetry is an epic poem it can be almost 1.

Mar 20, 2018 precise word count definitions will vary, but as a general rule of thumb, a short story is anything up to about 7500 words sometimes 10,000, with higher word counts typically called novelettes, and short novels called novellas. Im seeing more and more small, indy publishers publishing collections, but i havent gotten my hands on many to see whats average for number of stories. For fiction, i recommend 5,000 words or more for short stories. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. How many short stories make a collection writing stack exchange. Average nonfiction word counts biographies and memoirs. Be sure to subscribe to our email updates for free. Obviously, a complete collection is a complete collection, but i feel like i have a few stories that could be added or removed to maintain the integrity of the collection. What is the proper word count for a collection of short. The science fiction and fantasy writers of america specifies word lengths for each category of its nebula award. The figure was found through looking at a number of books text stats, until brave new worlds 64,531 word count landed in the exact center of all books50% of books have fewer words and 50% of books have more words. It seems like ya novels are getting longer and longer nowadays, but maybe my attention span is getting shorter. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. The average mean word count was about 53,000 words.

In general terms, a short story will be under 7,500 words. Novelist jane smiley suggests that length is an important quality of the novel. Stephen king word count 112263 274,672 bag of bones 203,3 black house 252,270 blockade billy 15,917 carrie 60,718 cell 121,931 christine 193,602 cujo 121,150 cycle of the werewolf 15,955 desperation. These are basic learning books that creatively teach colors, numbers or simple, fun stories for bedtime. Short story collections are notoriously had to place over the transom. Lewis the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe, roald dahls charlie and the chocolate factory. Sep 05, 20 all hail the bookeen, a new format thats perfect for short stories, novellas and essays julian gough thu 5 sep 20 07.

Youll receive an email on the first day of each month with our winning story and the prompt for our next contest. Picture books for children up to age eight average words though many are shorter. In terms of competitions, short story length is usually between 1,000 and 5,000 words, although i have seen short story competitions with a 17,000 word maximum. A scene that takes place in ten or fewer pages can comfortably be considered short. If you are writing young adult that can go smaller, if you writing advance technical stuff that can go bigger. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. They are short books, usually with a lot of illustrations. Most middle grade novels are between 40,000 and 69,000 words long.

For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. How many short stories are generally in a short story. I try not to put two really long stories back to back. There are general guidelines for each literary category. Flash fiction is a short story that is 500 words or less. How many words or pages in the average short story book. A step up from picture books, these are for kids who have just started reading by themselves. These are growing in popularity for selfpublishing with the growing ebook industry.

Are there guidelines with regard to word count for a firsttime novelist. Randall stocks article rating sherlock holmes the baker street journal, december 1999, pp. Youll usually find a novella is in the 40,000word range, with a maximum of 50,000 words by most generalized definitions. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. Sep 04, 2010 no min or max, an anthology is just a collection so anywhere from 3 up but id say no more than like 17 ish they are based on stories, not word count but a short story cant be over like 800 words or something. By most peoples standards, 40,000 words would be pretty short for a novel. Oct 01, 2012 a scene that takes place in ten or fewer pages can comfortably be considered short. Ive sold stories from as little as 300 words to a newspaper to as many as 0. Average word count ranges from 70,000 to 100,000 words, although biographies of major celebrities or public figures can support a higher number. For childrens fiction, the general rule is the younger the audience the shorter the book, and for ya novels the average is 50,00070,000 words. Big, epic stories get anywhere from 120,000 to 200,000 words.

If you write a story of under 1,000 words, most people seem to regard this as flash fiction. The stories should be easy to follow and have an average word count of 1,000 to 10,000 words, a range similar to an adult short story. Generally, 50,000 would be considered the minimum word count, and ideally a novel should be over 70,000 words. This is because font size, type of font, spacing etc. That said, if your book is around 40,000 words, youre in good company. Some people might regard this as a novelette or novella. Kindle publishing faq tck publishing book publisher. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures.

A story that is over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel. The big short why amazons kindle singles are the future. 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. Some authors have short 25 page chapters while other authors may have novels with chapters that are over 10,000 words. Yet some in the industry consider novelettes and novellas to also be short stories, which are up to 17,000 words or up to 40,000 words respectively. I am currently at 20k words between 16 stories, complete and 3 incomplete. Perkins agency in new york says its much easier to market a firsttime novelists book if the word count falls between 80,000 and 100,000 words, or roughly 300 doublespaced, typed pagesthe average novel length. Can be publisher specific, ranging from 3,000 to absolute max 5,000. Jun 03, 20 mix up the long stories and the short stories. Kindle publishing faq tck publishing book publisher and. However, it will be on the short side, as the average length of a novel hovers around 50,00070,000 words. Generally i consider any novel that is less than 300 pages to be a short one, 500 page a medium sized novel and anything more than 750 a lengthy novel. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price for the translation job.