Average word count for academic book

However, as i understand it, the index isnt done until the final proofs are in place so as to get the page numbers right, and so im not sure how much buffer to leave. Just trying to reduce a thesis chapter to book length is rather like. I agree that it seems like for a debut author, the agent really looks at that word count. Im a retired ministry of defence police officer and was seconded to the united. Search for word count totals in books word counters. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. Count characters and words with the anycount tool for a precise estimate and get every single cent youve earned. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. How a successful book contract led to an academic careers. On average, one doublespaced page has 250300 words. Average the count by taking the total number of words counted and divide by three. Although hir book was just under 300 pages, which is more of an industry standard, it seems. 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. If youre writing an adult fantasy novel or an epic fantasy novel like game of thrones, your word count can skew higher at 90,000 200,000 words.

Sharp objects has a word count of 80,565 and my utility calculates it at 80,7. Jan 08, 2018 calculate book page count using your word count. For paperbacks you get 2550 lines per page, with 35 being a good average. The best thing that you can do is look over comparable books and try to judge word count by their size, average wordspage, and illustration content.

Martin and harper lee keep things more evenly paced in a game of thrones and to kill a mockingbird, respectively. If using 12 point times or times roman font, its about 10 english words per line, on average. It seems like ya novels are getting longer and longer nowadays, but maybe my attention span is getting shorter. Can be publisher specific, ranging from 3,000 to absolute max 5,000. Jan 07, 2016 usually, 150180 depending on the length of your sentences.

The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. It depends on the font you are using, of course, but in general, 250300 words per page. Book chapters can be quite short say 5,000 words and are rarely. For manuscripts, the answer is about 250300 words per page if. Editing academic work to a niche style guide will cost more than editing a novel per the chicago manual of style. Your best bet is to figure out what books yours is comparable to, then sit down and count the words on 23 typical pages. Your oup editor may also have agreed a word count per chapter with you. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. Editors at various pressespeter momtchiloff, peter ohlin, and lucy randall at oxford university press, stephen latta of broadview press, hilary gaskin of cambridge university press, philip laughlin of mit press, rob tempio of princeton university press, andrew beck and tony bruce.

If youd like some guidelines, you can assume that the average nonfiction book is 50k words, and that they have 12 chapters, so around 4k words would be an average chapter length. For a 120,000word book, your editing costs could be. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price for the translation job. Ive not heard a word of harsh criticism about the book. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. Word count is commonly used by translators to determine the price of a translation job. Use these numbers as a baseline for your writing goals. This should capture the authors writing style and provide a reliable estimate of the number of words used by the. So should i stay with this word count, or try to bring the word count down. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures. Well, while the accelerated reader program is lame in a lot of ways, this is a very handy tool. Count up the total number of words on 10 random full lines from different places and divide by 10 to get the average words perline count the number of lines on each page to get the linesperpage check that the book actually starts on page 1 sometimes the stuff before it starts is counted then. That number actually lines up pretty well with the data we have on this, but again, that number should neither be.

May 15, 2011 well, while the accelerated reader program is lame in a lot of ways, this is a very handy tool. Therefore, a 55,000 word book should be about 200 manuscript pages. Its easy to extrapolate from this what your total expected editing cost could be. I just popped into my office and pulled a few books off the shelf. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. This article how to write a bestselling business book has a good, concise, logical answer on the ideal length today for a business book less than 100 pages. Ready to prepare your first academic book proposal, but confused. I asked agents elizabeth pomada and michael larsen of larsen pomada literary agency to add their thoughts to the subject. First of all, find your word count in word by opening your document and looking at the bottom left of your screen.

However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. Just to keep in mind, the average one spaced page usually contains about 3000 characters or 500 words. As an indie publisher, these are important issues to consider since its your money you need to earn back. This line count includes blank lines between paragraphs as well as lines with just a single word. What does market competition, competing works or comparable books mean. This reduction will be very small, like maybe 12 lines less per page, and 510 pages less for the book.

Once you know your word count, follow one of our two methods below to estimate your page count. College applications require a short personal essay to express your interests and motivations. Aug 05, 2019 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. A book that costs more to produce must sell more copies before it becomes profitable. According to lexicographer and dictionary expert susie dent, the average active vocabulary of an adult english speaker is around 20,000 words, while his passive vocabulary is around 40,000 words. According to this cool site, the one minute manager, talked about i. If you have 6 panels, stick to a maximum of 35 words per panel. So if you are doing a phd of 80,000 100,000 words, you may have a 8,000 10,000 word introduction. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 words. Oct 18, 2017 the average chapter word count of these novels falls within the 2,0005,000 range. Editors at various pressespeter momtchiloff, peter ohlin, and lucy randall at oxford university press, stephen latta of broadview press, hilary gaskin of cambridge university press, philip laughlin of mit press, rob tempio of princeton university press, andrew beck. Heres how pavita singh of pavedita in palo alto, california, breaks down costs for editing services based on word count and type of editing copy editing or.

Knowing your total word count is essential to an editors cost estimations for taking on your project. 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. Aug 09, 2017 some freelance editors charge by the word. 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. How to find out the number of words in a book pen and. In the opposite direction, it can give a more accurate estimate of how many pages you have created if you only know the word count. Use estimated page or word count as a writing guide.

Obviously, a prime determinant of book size is the word count. For example, childrens books are going to have fewer words per page than a book meant for adult readers. The academic book of the future and the need to break boundaries. May 24, 2017 by all accounts, the arrival of the book contract in the spring of 20 from a major academic publishing house should have been a moment of celebration, with my wifecoauthorbusiness partner and i opening a bottle of prosecco and sending gleeful emails to all of our friends. Zi thought less in terms of pages than word count, and suggested i work toward a goal of 100,000 words.

There is an important question that needs to be answered in your book proposal in the manuscript status section. Count up the total number of words on 10 random full lines from different places and divide by 10 to get the average wordsperline count the number of lines on each page to get the linesperpage check that the book actually starts on page 1 sometimes the stuff before it starts is counted then. Further, that font and size will put 49 singlespaced lines on a page. This is due to the audience youre reaching preferring that length. Why word count matters when you submit your book the artful. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. If youre writing a young adult fantasy novel, you should keep your word count below 90,000 words or 300 book pages. Line count varies depending on page size, font size, etc. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. But the average customer perusing a shelf in a bookstore or library. Jun 15, 2006 im 55 years of age and writing a book which covers 7 years, from 2001 until 2007, of my life. Information may be valuable, but it might be not easily accessible to the average reader leaving. Im proud of the book i published from my doctoral dissertation, really i am.

That was the formula in the good old days when courier was the only typeface and typewriters were king. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. A glossary of things you dont know but should about doctoral and faculty life university of chicago press, 2016, from a publisher to whom he is vastly grateful for being so much better than the one described above. In terms of actual word usage, the reading teachers book of lists claims that. Depending on the text formatting, a page word count may include from 200 large print up to 600 words academic book. Fantasy, scifi, and epic novel writers should be forewarned. From these numbers, we can establish some guidelines. A novelist of my acquaintance insists that the only way to estimate the number of words in a book is to multiply the number of pages by 250. No matter how much you adjust the other variables, if the ms is only 50,000 words in length instead of 95,000, then you have a problem if the book was announced as being 288 pages in. May 28, 2015 two weeks ago i put up a post soliciting questions for academic publishers.

The introduction to the whole thesis can make up roughly 10 per cent of the total word count. Many, yes, but there are exceptions due to the layout and font size of a particular book. Calculate book page count using word count for book design. As persuasion progresses, jane austen seems to elongate hers, building them up on a crescendo. Im not sure if im pushing the word count over, been trying cut back the word count. More recently, though, another colleague, who also wrote a noteworthy book, dismissed this worry of mine about book length as groundless. At one extreme you get large print books with 250 words on the page. Youll use the word count in your word document to calculate book page count.

As you can see, established authors get much more flexibility when it comes to the length of their book. Discover the average number of words on a page by counting the number of words on three randomly picked full pages distributed throughout the book. Heres how pavita singh of pavedita in palo alto, california, breaks down costs for editing services based on word count and type of editing. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. What is the average number of actual words in comic books. 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. And if you are writing a masters thesis of 15,000 20,000 words, your introduction could be 1,500. Academic books might put 600 words on a page with works of reference. Im 55 years of age and writing a book which covers 7 years, from 2001 until 2007, of my life. Frequently asked questions getting published meg cabot. How many words per page are there in a typical novel.

For manuscripts, the answer is about 250300 words per page if it is doublespaced. Does this mean that every chapter must end up somewhere in this range. Using your current word count and the appropriate formula below, calculate the number of pages you can expect in your finished book. If you analyse the contents of a typical bookshelf in an academic library, you will notice that many of the books are between 272 and 320 pages in. In itself, no measure is perfect but personally i find word count the most useful. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Im a retired ministry of defence police officer and was seconded to the united nation mission in kosovo on three occasions. Lets take a closer look at the thought process behind the recommended length for books in every. Admin said 48, but 6 wordsentences are not commonly used if you are doing an academic paper analysis, informative, argumentative essay rather than freelance writing for creativity or leisure.

As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. Click librarian or teacher and then search for books like yours click on the titles to get all kinds of info about them, including wordcount. Estimate your page count book designer linda parke. It is feasible to count the number of words in a published chapter. Hello, ive just received a contract for an academic book at 110,000 words with what looks like a 5 per cent capacity to go over, which is supposed to include the index. For example, atonement has a word count of 123,378 and my utility comes up with 110,765 words. The first book in each series below was the authors first.

What is the average number of actual words in comic books or. And if you are writing a masters thesis of 15,000 20,000 words, your introduction could be 1,500 2,000 words long. In contrast, word count is finite and usually i can calculate book length with about 99% accuracy in part because also included in any calculation is a count of figures, tables, etc. Two weeks ago i put up a post soliciting questions for academic publishers. Posted on april 26, 2016 by academicbookfuture in academic books, authors. You wont get exact, but youre wondering whether 35k is reasonable, so you dont need exact. Jul 23, 2012 the average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 words. Books with much shorter sections become bestsellers all the time. No matter how much you adjust the other variables, if the ms is only 50,000 words in length instead of 95,000, then you have a problem if the book was announced as being 288 pages in length but the most it can be stretched to is 160 pages. Yet, a larger book justifies a larger retail price as either an ebook or print book.

To find pretty much any kids ya word count, you can use the ar bookfinder. In 2011, the lists average length peaked at 467 pages. Realize it over the maximum word count for erotic, science fictionfantasy genre. Sep 20, 2009 obviously, a prime determinant of book size is the word count. The average chapter word count of these novels falls within the 2,0005,000 range. As a nonfiction writer myself, i know this is tough. 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. In high school you are often asked to write a 5paragraph essay, composed of an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. When i started writing three years ago, the mg word count i kept hearing was no more than 30,000 words. By using these three options to more accurately define your writing, the words per page calculator should provide a better estimate on how many words you need to write to fill a page. Usually, 150180 depending on the length of your sentences. 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.