How many words are in a novel?

Usually 71,000 to 109,000 words, and 80,000 to 89,999 is the safest range for most adult fiction. Literary, romance, mystery, thriller, and horror: 80,000 to 89,999 Fantasy and science fiction: 100,000 to 115,000 Young adult: 55,000 to 79,999 The Nebula Awards count anything from 40,000 words as a novel Writer’s Digest on word count, the source for these ranges

What is the average word count of a book?

There is no single average: the published guidelines give a range for each kind of book. Adult novel: 80,000 to 89,999 is the safe range Memoir: 80,000 to 89,999, the same as a novel Westerns: 50,000 to 80,000 Middle grade: 20,000 to 55,000 Picture books: 500 to 600 Non-fiction has no settled range, so compare with books on the same shelf

How long is a short story?

Under 7,500 words, by the Nebula Awards rules. Short story: under 7,500 words Novelette: 7,500 to 17,499 Novella: 17,500 to 39,999 Novel: 40,000 or more There is no minimum, so a 500-word story is still a short story The Nebula Awards rules

How many words is a novella?

17,500 to 39,999 words, so a 20,000-word book is a novella. Under 17,500 words is a novelette A 10,000-word story is a novelette, not a novella From 40,000 words it is a novel The Nebula Awards rules

Is 60,000 words too short for a novel?

For an adult novel you plan to send to agents, probably: Writer’s Digest calls anything under 70,000 too short. Under 70,000: “too short” 70,000 to 79,999: “might be too short; probably all right” 60,000 fits young adult (55,000 to 79,999) and westerns (50,000 to 80,000) By the Nebula rules it is still a novel (40,000 and up)

Is 100,000 words a lot for a novel?

It is the top of the range for most adult fiction and the start of it for fantasy. 100,000 to 109,999: “might be too long; probably all right” 110,000 or more: “too long” for most adult fiction Fantasy and science fiction: 100,000 to 115,000 is “an excellent range” 200,000 words is far past every Writer’s Digest range, fantasy included

Is 70,000 words enough for a fantasy novel?

It is short for adult fantasy, where Writer’s Digest’s range starts at 100,000. 100,000 to 115,000: “an excellent range” 90,000 to 100,000: “most likely all right” Young adult runs 55,000 to 79,999, with fantasy at the long end

How many words is a 300-page book?

About 70,000 to 103,000 words, depending on the page size. 5 x 8 in paperback: about 70,000 words 5.5 x 8.5 in: about 83,000 6 x 9 in: about 103,000 Double-spaced manuscript: 75,000 Words to pages calculator

How many words is a 150-page book?

About 35,000 to 51,000 words, depending on the page size. 5 x 8 in paperback: about 35,000 words 5.5 x 8.5 in: about 41,500 6 x 9 in: about 51,000 Double-spaced manuscript: 37,500 Words to pages calculator

How long is a 72,000-word book?

About 4 hours 37 minutes of reading, and 210 to 308 printed pages. 6 x 9 in paperback: about 210 pages 5.5 x 8.5 in: about 260 pages 5 x 8 in: about 308 pages Double-spaced manuscript: 288 pages

How do I find the word count of my book?

Your writing program already counts it for you. Word: the status bar, or Review, then Word Count Google Docs: Tools, then Word count (headers, footers, and footnotes are left out) Scrivener: Project, then Statistics, for the whole Draft Lacuna: a live count for the whole book and for the section you are writing Microsoft’s Show word count help page

How do I give my word count to an agent?

Round it up to the nearest thousand: 91,437 words becomes “about 92,000 words.” Use your word processor’s count, not pages times 250 Put it at the top right of the manuscript’s cover page Say it again where the query letter introduces the book Writer’s Digest: where to list your word count

Why do publishers count words instead of pages?

Because the page count depends on the design, and the word count does not. Editors talk in words while a book is still a manuscript Designers turn the word count into pages once the size and type are chosen The same 90,000 words fill about 263 pages at 6 x 9 in and 385 at 5 x 8 in Chicago Manual of Style Shop Talk on words and pages

Guide

How Many Words Are in a Book?

The novel word count publishers expect, genre by genre, plus short stories and novellas, and what those numbers mean in printed pages and hours of reading. Every guideline comes from a published source, listed at the bottom.

By Corey Jackson, developer of Lacuna

Reviewed by Melissa Erin Jackson, author of 15 self-published books

Updated October 5, 2026 · Read about us

The short answer

A novel is usually 71,000 to 109,000 words. Most adult fiction lands at 80,000 to 89,999.¹

Fantasy and science fiction run longer: 100,000 to 115,000
A novella is 17,500 to 39,999 words, a short story under 7,500
80,000 words is about 234 pages at 6 x 9 inches, and about 5 hours of reading

Novel word count by genre

Writer’s Digest’s ranges for a first novel, on one scale, so you can see which genres run long.

Novel (any genre)
71,000 to 109,000 words
Literary, romance, mystery, thriller, horror
80,000 to 89,999 words
Fantasy and science fiction
100,000 to 115,000 words
Western
50,000 to 80,000 words
Memoir
80,000 to 89,999 words
Young adult
55,000 to 79,999 words
Middle grade
20,000 to 55,000 words
Picture book
500 to 600 words

Source: Writer’s Digest

Words, on a scale of 0 to 120,000

Non-fiction has no settled range, so compare your book with others on the same shelf. Need a different number? The words to pages calculator turns any word count into pages.

Short story, novelette, novella, or novel?

The clearest published lines come from the Nebula Awards, run by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.²

Short storyUnder 7,500 words
Novelette7,500 to 17,499 words
Novella17,500 to 39,999 words
Novel40,000 words and up

So a 10,000-word story is a novelette, a 20,000 or 30,000-word book is a novella, and 40,000 words is where a novel begins.

How many pages is that?

Printed pages at three common paperback sizes, with 11-point type and normal line spacing, and the double-spaced manuscript count at 250 words a page.

Words	5 x 8 in	5.5 x 8.5 in	6 x 9 in	Manuscript
30,000	128	108	88	120
50,000	214	181	146	200
60,000	257	217	175	240
70,000	299	253	205	280
80,000	342	289	234	320
90,000	385	325	263	360
100,000	428	362	292	400
120,000	513	434	351	480
150,000	642	542	438	600

Estimates for the body of the book, before front matter and the blank pages that let chapters open on the right. For your own trim size, type size, and spacing, use the words to pages calculator, or see standard book sizes.

How long does it take to read a book?

Adults read about 260 words a minute in fiction and 238 in non-fiction, by a 2019 review of 190 studies.³

Words	Fiction (260 a minute)	Non-fiction (238 a minute)
50,000	3 h 12 min	3 h 30 min
70,000	4 h 29 min	4 h 54 min
80,000	5 h 8 min	5 h 36 min
90,000	5 h 46 min	6 h 18 min
100,000	6 h 25 min	7 h
120,000	7 h 42 min	8 h 24 min

Check your word count

The program you write in already counts for you.

Microsoft Word

The status bar at the bottom of the window shows the count. Click it, or go to Review, then Word Count, for pages, characters, paragraphs, and lines. Select some text to see that part’s count beside the whole.

Microsoft: Show word count

Google Docs

Tools, then Word count, shows pages, words, and characters. Check “Display word count while typing” to keep it in the corner. Headers, footers, and footnotes are left out.

Google: Count the words in a document

Scrivener

The footer under the editor shows the count for the document you are in. Project, then Statistics, counts the whole Draft the way it will compile.

Literature and Latte: word counts in Scrivener

Sending it to an agent? Round it up

Give agents your word processor’s count rounded up to the nearest thousand: 91,437 words becomes “about 92,000 words,” at the top right of the cover page and in the query letter.⁴ A few words either way won’t matter; they want to know where the book falls.⁵

Once the length is right, see it as a book

Lacuna counts the words as you write and the pages as you format, so you always know where the book stands.

Live word count

A running count for the whole book and for the section you are working on, so you can watch the draft grow toward your genre’s range.

Your real page count

The print preview shows the page total for your book at the trim size and type size you pick, so the estimates on this page become one exact number.

32 pre-made styles

Each style sets the body face, size, line spacing, chapter openers, and headers together. Pick one and read the book the way it will print.

EPUB, PDF, and DOCX

Import your Word manuscript, then export a print-ready PDF, an EPUB, and a DOCX from one project, on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

The trial is free and has no time limit, with every feature switched on. The one thing payment unlocks is generating the final files, so you can format the whole book and read every page before you spend $149, one time.

Words to pages calculator How to format a book Best book formatting software

What authors are saying

Real authors. Real books. Formatted with Lacuna.

I’m a cover designer and interior formatter by profession and run my own small publishing press, so trust me when I say I’m picky and my standards are high. InDesign has always been the only program that formats for print with the level of customization I need. For years, I’ve used it for print and another program entirely for ebooks to get the results I wanted. When I saw Lacuna, I immediately went to check it out and within an hour from having downloaded the trial, I was hooked.
This gives me so much more freedom with print options than other formatting programs like Atticus or Vellum while still making ebooks a breeze. The ability to work from one file and have separate print and ebook settings is a complete gamechanger. I’m still learning my way around the program and loving every second.

JJ Carpenter

The Haunting of Kenmore Asylum

I originally checked out Lacuna because somebody in a KDP publishing group I belong to asked if anyone had tried Lacuna out yet. I published nine other books using a different formatter, but I wasn’t happy with it. I ended up taking a look at Lacuna even though I was pretty much sold on Atticus or Vellum. Once I started diving into Lacuna and saw the ease of use and flexibility, I was absolutely floored. It was a no-brainer, and I purchased Lacuna. Since then the program has only improved. Corey is amazing at fixing things and streamlining processes.

If you take a look at the book that I formatted with Lacuna you will see, it would be pretty difficult to do something like that with one of those other formatting programs. Plus they cost more. In my opinion Lacuna is already the best formatter on the market and only getting better. Thanks, Corey and Melissa, for making this available.

NextGen Victory Press

3-Minute Wrestling Devotionals for Rising Athletes

I tried numerous formatting methods and followed endless instructions from publishing websites, but nothing ever turned out right. Since finding Lacuna, everything has changed. I’ve been able to update all my manuscripts effortlessly and give them the professional look they deserve.
Lacuna helped me perfect one of my most cherished stories, The Magic Globe, and finally present it exactly as I envisioned. It’s truly been a game changer for my author journey.

Samuel Graham Astley

The Magic Globe

View all books created with Lacuna

Word count questions

What authors ask when they finish a draft and wonder whether it is the right length.

Sources

Word Count for Novels and Children’s Books: The Definitive Post, Chuck Sambuchino, Writer’s Digest: genre ranges and verdicts. Checked 2026-10-05.
Nebula Awards rules, SFWA: short story, novelette, novella, and novel lengths. Checked 2026-10-05.
Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109. Checked 2026-10-05.
Where Should You List Your Manuscript’s Word Count?, Brian A. Klems, Writer’s Digest. Checked 2026-10-05.
Which Word Count Do Agents Want?, Writer’s Digest. Checked 2026-10-05.
Counting Pages or Words in a Manuscript Submission, Carol Saller, Chicago Manual of Style Shop Talk. Checked 2026-10-05.
Microsoft, Google, and Literature and Latte help pages for the Word, Google Docs, and Scrivener instructions, linked above. Checked 2026-10-05.

Turn your word count into a book

Download Lacuna free, import the manuscript, and see it as a paperback and an ebook. Pay $149 only when you are ready to export.

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