Average length of ya fiction

If you set yourself a target of 85,000 words, youll know that if you fall short of that average figure, your story is either lacking in substance, or it doesnt have enough fuel to be a full length. Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words. This category has an expected word count of around 50,00080,000however there is a. What do most writers see as a good average chapter length. Some people will let you know that 2,500 words is about average per. And though neither title was quite ya, barney says that the bitter side of sweet was published as ya because of certain necessary content. May 14, 2018 literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction.

Anything above 70k but less than 115k science fiction and fantasy tend to run up around 100k115k words. But for mainstream ya it is always best to stick to under 80k. Keep in mind that a few of these are translations of foreignlanguage novels, so the statistics will not be perfect for those. Ya fiction tends to top out around 70,000 words, with the upper limits populated by fantasy and scifi, since people who like those genres tend to also prefer a longer haul. Sep 18, 2017 ya contemporary averages 69,000 words, whereas fantasy averages 83,000.

But again as a surprise to me, dune was a close second, averaging just 3,800 words per chapter. Analyzing chapter lengths in fantasy fiction creativity. Im always second guessing myself on things like scene length. So the length of these affects the pacing of your story, and the way the reader experiences it. However, the true word count depends on the category in which youre writing. A word count guide for 18 book genres, including fiction. Id guesstimate that non fiction books generally yes, this is very rough run perhaps 150450 pages, and at about 350 wdpage that works out to something like 50150k words. I once entered a competition that set a maximum word limit of 80,000 for young adult novels and 100,000 for adult novels. The length can vary greatly between genres, though.

May 12, 2012 if you are writing a standard length novel, aim for 80,000 to 95,000 words. Young adult fiction ya is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. 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. The are no setinstone rules when it comes to the length of middlegrade and young adult novels. Sep, 2010 of course, foundation posts work best for this, and ive started with a blog post dating from 2010, and one of the more popular destinations for search traffic, selfpublishing basics. Ya fiction often addresses issues which interest teenagers and may even affect some of them in real life, e. 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. It varies from publisher to publisher and project to project.

For adult fiction especially crime, thrillers, womens fiction, saga and romance, 100,000 words is a good benchmark to aim for. And when someone breaks said rules and goes on to win awards, its tempting to continue reading plotting a novel by the numbers. Around 300 pages but if it is a good book, i will read it if its 100 or pages i would read your book, itd probably have to be 100 pages for young adult, at least, and up to maybe. I have therefore made some averages, based on what ive heard from publishers and agents at childrens book events, and from research and reading.

And as you can see, it varies, depending on the story. There are exceptions, like ya books that exceed 250,000 words, but those tend to be outliers, and firsttime. What is the average chapter length in a young adult novel. Lewis the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe, roald dahls charlie and the chocolate factory, and george orwells animal farm all came in under the 40,000 mark 38,421 words, 30,644 words, and. The second or third in a particularly bestselling series. For young adult fiction, the word count is once again lower, with the ideal. I am writing a 90,000 word ya science fiction adventure with 2 narrators. For debut books in this field the average word count tends to be 35k and it has. Young adult fiction allows for a lot of flexibility in word count.

This is due to the audience youre reaching preferring that length. Jan 08, 2018 without extensive sales statistics its hard to say how the size of a book does or doesnt affect its popularity. Of course, rules are made to be broken, especially in literature. Middlegrade novels can range from 10,000 to 30,000 words, and young adult novels can range from 25,000 to 50,000.

If youre writing a young adult fantasy novel, you should keep your word count below 90,000 words or 300 book pages. Oct 10, 2016 in this context, genre labels predict audience expected average age, comfortable reading span, etc. As for chapter length, i cant help but feel that 1500 words is a bit short for ya. How to slash the odds of getting your ya novel published.

The subject matter and genres of ya correlate with the age and experience of the protagonist. The average fiction book is about 80,000 to 100,000 words, which is about 246 to 307 ebook pages. Other genres, taken together, are about the same length as ya overall there arent enough data points to break down genres like thriller, scifi, and historical fiction individually. By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages. In my shorter length novels 50,00060,000 words and novellas of 20,000words i typically follow that pattern of about an average of 1,000 1,500 words per scene with 3 scenes per chapter. Average sentence lengths of famous novels and authors. For a writer scrambling to keep up with all the dos and donts, the writing profession can seem full of arbitrary rules. A word count guide for 18 book genres, including fiction and. Writing middle grade a look at the numbers hannah holt. The highest word count was 115,000, the lowest was 47,000, and the average was 75,000.

Most agree that under 1,000 words would be rather short and that over 5,000 might be rather too long. My writing tends to be fairly dense, so 2500 words runs about 8. Smiley lists novels as typically being between 100,000 and 175,000 words, while national novel writing month requires its novels to be at least 50,000. What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a non fiction book. I didnt do this on purpose, it was just kind of how my natural pacing is.

Were doing ask the agent this month your chance to ask that question youve always wanted to discuss with a literary agent. Her specialties include crime fiction, womens fiction, upmarket fiction, mg and crossover ya, highconcept sff, and nonfiction. How long is a singletitle romance novel supposed to be. Novelist jane smiley suggests that length is an important quality of the novel. And chapter length must be a factor of pace and theme, as youi mention, rather than dictate it. Pull up the nearest 5 ya novels you have to hand and take a look at their first chapter that will give you an idea of how much is usually conveyed during that opening gambit. Jun 15, 2017 this is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. And man, people love to point out exceptionsand they always will. With fun, lighthearted, simple middle grade youll want to stay around the 20k30k word count range. Aug 05, 2019 there are exceptions, like ya books that exceed 250,000 words, but those tend to be outliers, and firsttime authors rarely, if ever, get to be an outlier. That said, if your book is around 40,000 words, youre in good company. Again, higher word counts usually mean that the writer does not know how to edit themselves.

With digital books as well as print books available today, the length of manuscripts has begun to vary considerably. While the genre is targeted to teenagers, approximately half of ya readers are adults. 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. The answers is as long as a piece of string twice the length from. While 100,000 words is on the long side for a novel, its hardly unheard of. Does it depend on the agent, the genre, the length, the style, the timing. How many words does it take to write a young adult book. If your story is a melody, its sections make up the underlying beat or rhythm.

Additionally, knowing your word count before you start writing can help you better plan your narrative arc as well as your writing schedule. I was curious to the public reaction to shorter novels as they are not physically picking up a printed book in a bookstore and can assess the length of it before they part with cash. I was curious to the public reaction to shorter novels as they are not physically picking up a printed book in a bookstore and can assess the length. Oct 18, 2017 knowing this, why does chapter length matter. Literary agent danielle zigner takes a look at typical novel lengths and what appeals. Starting nanowrimo tomorrow and ive never written any fiction before. Below is a short list of some famous novels and authors with their respective writing statistics. Because these are younger readers, the word count for ya novels is between 50,000 and 70,000 words, although the harry potter series shows that you break that norm with exceptional storytelling. Paula munier is the senior literary agent and content strategist for talcott notch literary. Analyzing chapter lengths in fantasy fiction creativity hacker.

Takes an average reader 15 minutes, which is a manageable chunk of time. The average chapter word count of these novels falls within the 2,0005,000 range. At acfw i had one editor say that they wanted ya between 30,000 and 65,000 words and another editor told me he wanted ya that was 90,000 words. For the purposes of this post, im only talking about ya, middlegrade and adult fiction. Tagged editing, fiction writing, how long should a scene be, how to write a novel, scene length. Trim sizes in this post were updated on january 30, 2015 as soon as you get serious about selfpublishing a book, you are confronted with the choice of what size your book ought to be for instance, if you want to get a price on how much a book will. Although we covered this to some degree in our publishing. Childrens books explained article, there is a little more to ya than meets the eye.

With that in mind, ive tried to put together the definitive post on word count for fiction novels, young adult, middle grade, childrens books and even memoir. For authors wishing to publish a book in the ya arena, here are some facts and figures about the marketplace for these books. This is due in large part to the variety of subgenres within it and the trend for a book series with an ever greater word count. If you set yourself a target of 85,000 words, youll know that if you fall short of that average figure, your story is either lacking in substance, or it doesnt have enough fuel to be a full length novel without some serious editing, and would. That said, the average word count for science fiction and fantasy novels generally lies between 100,000 and 115,000. Whatever you do, stay within manuscript length recommendations. Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. Sep 19, 2010 an average novel length is between 80k and 100k, again, depending upon the genre. So having some idea about the range of scene length in words gives me one more little parameter to judge how im doing.

Someone wrote me to ask, what does an average first book deal pay. Sep 20, 2019 the average fantasy novel should have between 50,000 and 150,000 words. And some books are simply shorter, following basic reading trends. Do you want the pace to be brisk to the reader and skip in a staccato. I think the 2500word guideline is right on for ya, medeia. I noticed teens are getting more and more bold, reading longer and longer novels. Feb 27, 2019 authors voice alarm after sharp drop in sales of ya fiction this article is more than 1 year old. Rules of the road chapter length and chapter length. However, it will be on the short side, as the average length of a novel hovers around 50,00070,000 words. Literary agent danielle zigner takes a look at typical novel lengths per genre and what appeals to publishers within the current marketplace.

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 makes me wonder if publishers choose book sizes based on average scene length, to create the illusion of a certain pace. Been outlining for a couple of weeks and reading books. Oct 23, 2017 more on agents later, for now lets look at how many novels a typical young adult author writes before selling something. Shes also a writing teacher and author of the bestselling plot perfect, the writers guide to beginnings, writing with quiet.

For this reason, its not surprising that aspiring authors have questions about the appropriate length of a manuscript. Everything you wanted to know about book sales but were afraid to ask. In my own most recent book, the shortest chapter not counting the prologue and epilogue is just over 2000 words and the longest about 5500. The young adult ya fiction genre is a category aimed at teens, but many of the books have an adult following, as well. This is a general list of age categories and word counts for childrens books. This post on fantasy authors handbook does point out that many of the bestselling books of all time of which many are fantasy novels are not the 200,000 word epics many associate with the genre. I have often looked this up and got different results, which makes it very confusing. May 19, 2008 and ya novels, which have grown in popularity, can often be the same length as a standard novel 80,000 words. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. Ya contemporary averages 69,000 words, whereas fantasy averages 83,000.

My knowledge of romances is limited to what my wife has lying around the house, but not many of them seem to be thick enough to hit 100,000 words. Thanks morriss003, thats the kind of information i needed to know. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. Jun 27, 2019 fantasy and science fiction novels are known to be lengthier than other books. Authors voice alarm after sharp drop in sales of ya fiction. 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. There are exceptions, like ya books that exceed 250,000 words, but those tend to be outliers, and firsttime authors rarely, if ever, get to be an outlier. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. Your readers are looking to identify with others and the average teen, whilst ridden.

Writing for young adults a look at the numbers hannah holt. Some young adult novels are longer than most books published strictly for adults, but usually the word. The commonly cited range, then, seems to be based specifically on contemporary ya. This article on writers digest also suggests a length of around 100115,000, and takes a good look at desirable word count ranges for different genres. Dec 15, 2009 i think the 2500word guideline is right on for ya, medeia. That said, in general young adult books tend to be around 50000 90000 words. Although the length of fiction is genredependent to an extent fantasy novels, for example, tend to be on the thicker side, sticking to the ideal novel length is still the best advice.

And can you explain how money is paid on a traditional publishing. Upper middle grade can hit in the 50k word count range possibly longer, if its something really special. Adding length doesnt always equal adding description though it could be that youre lacking narrative, exposition or characterisation. Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. Word counts for different kinds of novels vary, but there is are general rules of thumb for fiction that a writer can use when trying to figure out just how long is too long. The title with the shortest chapters, on average, was whirlwind in the thorn tree, averaging just 2,900 words each. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors.

I would estimate anywhere between 80,000120,000 words, the latter being on the long side. Some will tell you 2,500 words is the average, while others will say that 3,000 to 5,000 word chapters are more likely to be the norm. Within the publishing industry we tend to talk about the length of a book in words. Although ive noticed that different houses seem to vary by quite a bit. Many of my chapters are shorter, around 15002000 words, and about every 4 or 5 we get a longer chapter of about 25002800. Plotting a novel by the numbers live write breathe. However, many authors, frustrated with the low price of ebooks, have taken to writing ebooks that are between 40,000 and 50,000.

It doesnt have to be exact, but its there to guide writers. Typically, a book that is published in paperback format at a length of 300400 pages will come in between 80,000 and 100,000 words. Everything you wanted to know about book sales but were. Jul 18, 20 the longest average chapter lengths were lord of the rings 7,500, prince of nothing 8,700, and the beefiest chapters were found in the black company, with an average chapter length of 11,300 words. Ive read a lot of ya in the last few years and chapters generally feel longer than that. The society of childrens book writers and illustrators scbwi does offer length guidelines in terms of the appropriate number of manuscript pages for various genres meaning the number of pages a writer would submit to a publisher. The collection as a whole posted an average chapter length of 6,100 words. Usually it works out that way and mostly they alternate povs, though sometimes that last pov of a chapter and the first of the next will be in the same. Writing a first novel that doesnt represent too much of an economic gamble for a publisher makes it so much easier for the publisher to say yes. If you are writing a standard length novel, aim for 80,000 to 95,000 words.