Can be publisher specific, ranging from 3,000 to absolute max 5,000. You can easily get a sense of the various ranges by looking at publisher websites or catalogues, and by. Search for word count totals in books word counters. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to be. Much has changed in childrens fiction in the past twenty years. Word counts of popular ya books as i started drafting my new wip a ya scifi thriller i began wondering what word count i should aim for. Feb 09, 2015 word counts of popular ya books as i started drafting my new wip a ya scifi thriller i began wondering what word count i should aim for. In this article we will explore how to write middle grade fiction and why this childrens book format is flourishing today. Word counts for chapter books and middle grade can range from. These word counts are my personal references they are not official, and do not include back matter, which is bonus material for the reader or information geared for parents, teachers, or. I have found the website dogobooks to be the most useful place to check the word count of popular books for kids. Some of my favorite childrens books are found in the chapter book format. What is the average word count for a childrens age 810. Hi, im a little confused about the word count for chapter books.
The society publishes a newsletter and various reports, including a list of legitimate agents and several market surveys, which members may obtain for the cost of postage. They can also be read by younger readers with advanced reading levels. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. Multiply up by the number of pages and get to a rough word count. The society of children s books writers and illustrators is a national organization for writers and artists. 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. Picture books for children up to age eight average words though many are shorter. When writing for the younger ages especially, every word must count. Build your book format a paperback manuscript word for. Oct 18, 2017 in any case, to see how authors use this tactic to set their pacing, we also mapped out the word count of every chapter in four famous books. As you explore writing childrens books, you enter a. Your best bet is to go to a good childrens bookstore and look at books like your own in terms of target audience. Many of these books are written in rhyme or in a simple singsong meter that is catchy and fun.
The one im targeting would be the younger audience around ages 6 to 9. Although we covered this to some degree in our publishing. Word count for novels and children s books at the guide to literary agents blog. 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. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. Why you need to know your word or page count my next traditionally published book, the author training manual writers digest books, february 2014, was supposed to be around 50,000 wordsthats what i agreed to in my contract and what my publisher planned on when determining page count, design, expenses, profitandloss statement, etc. When converting character counts to words, a measure of 5 or 6 characters to a word is generally used for english. In the meantime, overwriting to the point that your draft exceeds typical word count ranges is a common issue and those widelyaccepted ranges arent completely arbitrary. For classification purposes, however, chapter books can be anywhere from 4,000 words to 40,000 words. The actual word count for harry potter and the sorcerers stone is 78,792 and my utility calculates 77,876. For the book hatchet, the actual word count is 41,672 and i give you. My happy life series by rose lagercrantz, illustrated by eva eriksson. Im a little confused about the word count for chapter books.
Ages 9 11, in the united states, middle grade begins in the sixth grade age 1112, and goes right through to eighth grade. Guidelines for writing childrens books pen and the pad. Ya novels should be anywhere from 40,000 to 80,000 words. The 57 year old reading range straddles a few different categories of books. We will learn which age groups to target, what narrative styles work best and why, and what kind of word count you need in order to craft a strong middle grade book. Nonfiction picture book 3,000 words max, but closer to 1,000 to 2,000 words. Manuscripts can range from about 5,000 words to about 15,000 words, max. Childrens book writers must adhere to strict industry standards for word counts. And these are all must read chapter books that kids older than 5 will like. Use 12point times new roman or arial font unless the publishers submission guidelines indicate otherwise. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. I like this category because for the first time we start to see subplots and more complex story lines. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. Frequently asked questions about childrens writing.
Publishers have strict guidelines for childrens book manuscript length. They include both text and illustrations and generally have 32 pages and are up to 600 words long. For them, chapter books aimed at 710 year olds come in at between 6,0008,000 words. Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. The page count is 32 or 40 pages with a word count of under 1,500. For this reason, there really is no average word count within the range. Its okay to veer off a year or so in either direction when assigning a target audience age range to your work. Apr 04, 2020 agent jennifer laughran s word count guidelines for children s books includes picture books, early readers, chapter books, middle grade, and ya. Word counts for chapter books and middle grade can range from 1,50030,000 or more. Not every child is ready to read these books at age 5and that is normal. 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.
For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. Onethird of the novels that come into the agency are rejected because theyre too long or short, perkins says. Chapter books are for children aged 7 to 10 who are reading independently. From a conference, paula sadler had given out a handout that said the word count could be between 5,000 to,000 words. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. These are basic learning books that creatively teach colors, numbers or simple, fun stories for bedtime. Turn off the function that takes an entire paragraph at the bottom of the page to the following page if the paragraph is split between two pages. So childrens book manuscript chapter length is a big question that ive received many times about all sorts of childrens books that have chapters. In addition to the consistent look that heading 1 provides throughout your book, using heading 1 tags the chapter title so that it will appear in the table of contents, which is explained in step 9. And as you can see, it varies, depending on the story. Early chapter books sometimes called transition books have bigger print and slightly shorter chapters on average 2 to 3 pages compared to more advanced chapter books which have chapters that are 3 to 4 pages long.
Word counts for children s books i received a request awhile ago to do a post on word counts for different age categories in children s lit. A minimum count for a nonfiction ebook is about 10,000 words, as long as the content is solid. While researching, i came across this interesting guide for the size of typefaces used in childrens books. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures. Chapter book this varies widely, depending on grade and reader level, usually starting at 4,000 words and 15,000 words max.
Agent jennifer laughrans word count guidelines for childrens books includes picture books, early readers, chapter books, middle grade, and ya. If you can decide on the right vision for your book, and you therefore know your. Feb 08, 2016 in martin salisburys illustrating childrens books, he defines a picture book as coming in the format of 24 or more usually 32 pages. Sep 25, 2008 children s books cover a huge range, from books for babies up to young adult fiction. Stories are meatier than transition books, though still contain a lot of action. The typical range is 3565 pages for a chapter book, 4590 for a lowmiddlegrade, 90120 for a middlegrade, 150200 for a young, young adult, but these are just averages.
Obviously, the examples under each category are above and below what is generally accepted. Whenever i teach a course on writing for children, i go over the socalled. Some bookstores designate these as for kids 912 but i would say readers are mostly 68. The society of childrens books writers and illustrators is a national organization for writers and artists. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan. Types of books for children and teens formats explained. Dec, 2019 chapter books are a bit of an anomaly in the publishing world. The sentences can be a bit more complex, but paragraphs are still short 24 sentences is average. Writing chapter books for 69 year olds australian writers.
How to write a middle grade novel childrens book editor. On average, how long is a childrens book for children. Aug 05, 2019 for most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. They are not in high demand and there just arent a lot of standards out there. Chapter books for ages 710, these books are 4560 manuscript pages long, broken into 34 page chapters. Children s chapter books word count age 69 word count. I have even seen books with chapters that were all the same length that had both problems. Picture books for 3 to 6yearolds can be either fiction or nonfiction. A step up from picture books, these are for kids who have just started reading by themselves.
Word counts may also be used to calculate measures of readability and to measure typing and reading speeds usually in words per minute. I am writing the last chapter of my childrens chapter book manuscript and am currently just shy of 23k. It includes the word count of popular ya novels, mg. The authors had sold between 10 copies and 2 million copies of their chapter books. Oct 03, 2017 on a scale of one bad to ten excellent, chapter books rate their agents overall as an 8.
Nov, 2015 these books are more complex than chapter books, dealing with interests that appeal to the age groups these books are aimed at. Fiction novellas are usually 32,000 to 55,000 words, which is 100 to 170 ebook pages. As with my previous list, 51 mustread picture books, i took great pains to ensure this was not a duplicate of all the other best chapter books of all time book list. 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. Childrens fiction is so varied in terms of length, type, illustration. I am on the record as saying i dont really care about word counts unless they are so offthe wall out of bounds that it is absurd. Childrens books explained article, there is a little more to ya than meets the eye. The creation of hilow books to help children with low reading levels and readers with additional learning difficulties develop their reading confidence. Childrens books cover a huge range, from books for babies up to young adult fiction. There are also some subgenres that have slightly different conventions. Short stories are even shorter of course, but are often 99 cents or free because readers will feel cheated. Now, i will say that yeah, a chapter thats 10,000 words for any category of childrens book is probably crazy. The actual word count for harry potter and the sorcerer s stone is 78,792 and my utility calculates 77,876. Fleshing out an imagined historical world lends itself to a higher word count, so historical fiction tends to be closer to 100,000 words.
But overall, heres my own rough stab at word counts by genre. Picture book word count, and other rules that are meant to. How to format your childrens book manuscript dummies. From a conference, paula sadler had given out a handout that said the word. Everything you need to know about word count and book length for books and novels and memoirs and childrens novels and picture books. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. Writing chapter books a look at the numbers hannah holt. On a scale of one bad to ten excellent, chapter books rate their agents overall as an 8. Cricket magazines guidelines for this age group require up to 800 words for fiction and 400 words for nonfiction. Broccoli chronicles which will be published in december 2014 is a chapter book.
Counting chickens a few words about word counts at hope vestergaard s site. I have a question about your opinion on word count in ya fantasy. In contrast, he states that the limit age of picture books has crept down recently. You do not need another list to tell you charlottes web is one of the best books ever written and that your kids must read it before they grow up my criteria for this must read chapter books for kids book list was two. How to write early readers, easy chapter books, and. Since opinions vary greatly, i did some research to verify the numbers in my head. Dec 12, 2016 must read chapter books ages 5 and up. Apr 23, 2017 download how to write a chapter book as pdf this entry is part of the series format essentials be sure to check out the other posts. Chapter books span a wide audience and reading levels vary. Writing towards a word count might not work for everybody, but having a rough goal in mind certainly helps me when im sketching out chapters and undertaking my first draft.
When you format each chapter title page, apply the heading 1 style to each chapter title. While the idea of chapters in the 3,000 to 5,000word range is a good guideline when roughing out your books structure, it isnt a rule, and the story itself should be the primary deciding factor. Compressing a very exciting scene so you can meet your chapter word count target is also not going to do you any favors. In many respects the word count is the wrong question.
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. Publishers currently consider picture books as suitable for children up to only five or six salisbury, 20, p. So that usually includes everything from chapter books, to middle grade, to young adult novels. Step 5 is to target your writing so you will be on track for your books vision. Your article was a welcome relief to me since i cannot justify writing for the sake of adding to my word count if the story is. They are short books, usually with a lot of illustrations. May 15, 2019 are you ready to write a middle grade novel. The hunger games has a word count of 99,750 and my utility calculates it at 98,916.
This category has an expected word count of around 50,00080,000however there is a little flexibility here, due to the subgenres found in ya. Picture books are not to be confused with illustrated chapter stories. The average nonfiction book is about 50,000 to 75,000 words, which is about 153 to 230 ebook pages. These word counts are my personal references they are not official, and do not include back matter, which is bonus material for the reader or information geared for parents, teachers, or older readers. Use your word processor to figure out your average word count per manuscript page and your total word count. For more general information on childrens book manuscript length. The categories below middle grade are chapter book and early reader, and you. The word count range for each age level is only a guideline. If youre thinking longer than a picture book but shorter than a middle grade novel then youre on the right track. Download how to write a chapter book as pdf this entry is part of the series format essentials be sure to check out the other posts. Geared towards teenagers, young adult ya books address heavier topics and have more adult themes than childrens literature, and their word count is closer to that of adult novels, too. Yeah sure, if pressed, i could come up with some harder numbers, but i dont like to do that because i believe that every book sort of has its own style. Unfortunately for readers, the lower page count generally gives readers books without a lot of depth, side plots, or multifaceted characterization. Word count for novels and childrens books at the guide to literary agents blog.
Some books have chapters that are too short, they dont expand the idea enough for you to understand. Better to have solid, clear information than rambling to make a page count. Oct 22, 2010 i love the whole childrens fiction genre, but i must say that chapter books and early readers are my two favorite areas. In any case, to see how authors use this tactic to set their pacing, we also mapped out the word count of every chapter in four famous books. This question about how to write early readers, easy chapter books, and chapters book on the blog comes from mary. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about. From picture books to ya information to get you started at. Chapter books are a bit of an anomaly in the publishing world. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Chapter books are for more independent readers who are making the bridge between picture books and early readers and middle grade.