Word count self published books

Since supernatural books often create entire worlds, they sometimes require more words than realistic novels. However, all of the authors selling ten or more books had agents. As you can see, you need to know your word count, not the number of pages your word processor produces. When talking about book length, its common to talk about word count rather than. May 11, 2009 i have published three books which have been fairly successful. A way to check word count of published books anita nolan.

Excluding endnotes and index, the book has about 200 pages of text, which means its total word count is about 74,000 words. On the layout tab, in the page setup group, click margins. Selfpublishing is the publication of media by its author without the involvement of an established publisher. Some authors believe the word count is irrelevantwhether it takes 20,000 words or 200,000 words, the book will be done when youve finished telling your story. My first novel, beautiful demons, was only about 47,000 words.

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. This resizes your pages and changes your page count, which you need to know for setting your margins. I published my first novel on amazon this year mongruxx wolfpac and am 40k words into the next book mongruxx starship umbra. This is a list of the novels over 500,000 words published through a mainstream publisher. Sep 09, 2012 word count i get a lot of questions about word count for urban fiction novels. Basically, instead of applying a formula for word count, we apply the final format and see what results. Heres the general rule for any book published traditionally or self pubbed. Ive been researching the word countspages of ya novels to make sure im not under or over. Heres our word count guide for 18 different book genres. No matter where you live or work, you have a story to tell.

The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook. Whats the best word count for selfpublished fiction. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. Count refers to all words making up the story no matter the number of letters in the word. In the apply to list, select whole document and click ok. However, if you are self publishing and paying for everything, book pages will end up being more important than your word. The best thing that you can do is look over comparable. Theres just a minimum cost of printing a book, trucking it to a store, marketing it, and everything else. Jun 12, 2009 as a nonfiction writer myself, i know this is tough. Unfortunately, they dont offer word count so ive created an algorithm based on the number of pages, genre, and the dimensions of the book.

Cover you can create your book cover using kdps cover creator tool or submit your book cover in a pdf. 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. Use your word processor to figure out your average word count per manuscript page and your total word count. List of standard books sizes to make the right size selection.

Shes written more than 200 novels, tackled topics from romance to murder and sold more than 500m books around the world. I put in anne of green gables and clicked on the first entry, and it listed the. Count refers to all words making up the story no matter. Put a title the exact title in the search engine, then click on the title, or one of the titles if more than one comes up. Some authors believe the word count is irrelevantwhether it takes 20,000 words or 200,000 words, the book will be done when youve. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using pod print on demand technology. I published my first novel on amazon this year mongruxx wolfpac and am. The cost to publish a book depends on a the length of the book and b the level of quality you want. The selfpublishing school library books published through selfpublishing school search clear search will you be next. Do not count the title or contact information in the word count. Usually i dont write them all at oncewriting half of them in the morning when i wake up and half later in the morning or after lunch. Some authors believe the word count is irrelevantwhether it takes 20,000 words. Wool, which was originally selfpublished as a series of enovellas. Sep 30, 2015 when it comes to selfpublished booksdoes size matter.

After that, your agent will be able to help you more. Its rare, rare, rare, rare, rare x that selfpublished books are ever republished by traditional editors. Viceversa, if your book is short, a smaller trim size. I have published three books which have been fairly successful. Another topselling selfpublished genre, science fiction and fantasy books do best with a word count between 80k150k words. The actual word count for the hunger games is 99,750 and my utility calculates 94,743 words. Jun 05, 2018 books sell by keywords, or by word ofmouth. If you can decide on the right vision for your book, and you therefore know your trim size, you can tailor your writing to your target. Not only do you need to know how many words are in a novel, but also why and how the genre youre writing it can change this word count this is how many words are in a novel. Kdp will automatically convert these file types to pdf prior to publishing printing.

Step 4 is measure your manuscript in word count, not pages. Of course, word count wont matter if a story doesnt hook the target audience. Often a novellettelength work is difficult to sell to a publisher. Even if she self publishes, the cost per copy would be high, and few readers would. None of them fit the industry standard in word count. You can try to invent an idea that spreads throughout the collective consciousness subtle art of not giving a fck, the war of art, or you can solve a specific problem design for hackers, how to incorporate. Depending on your ebook, some steps may be unnecessary e. What is a good length for a selfpublished book on amazon. As for nonfiction books, the standard bestsellers have word counts similar to adult novels. Finish the draft first, then worry about word count. Enter your books trim size into the width and height fields.

Word count, with a little help from amazon alexis grant. Traditionally published mysteries, like the books of sara paretsky, louise penny, laurie r. Traditionally, artamene ou le grand cyrus, has been considered the longest novel, but has lately been surpassed by at least one novel, or two depending on the criterion used to determine length. If your book does not contain bleed, you can upload your manuscript as a pdf, doc, docx, rtf, html, or txt file. Search for word count totals in books word counters. Make a list of 15 recently published comparative titles. Any content not intending to be trimmed off should be a minimum of 0. I clicked on the unabridged version, and it lists the word count as 97,364. Urban fiction publishing requirements urban fiction news. Divide your word count by 390 to arrive at the approximate number of pages ex. She also, interestingly for those of us split between trade and self publishing, mentions that word counts in sp arent just a case of whatever, noones telling me what to do.

Divide your word count by 475 to arrive at the approximate number of pages. Similarly, if your book is published and lands in a bookstore, you dont. As for submissions, the only two fonts i see recommended are courier and times roman. Its rare, rare, rare, rare, rare x that selfpublished books are ever republished by traditional. In your word document, click tools from the top menu tool bar. Of course, if you just want to get your book out there, you can always format it for free and selfpublish. Definitely not an article for selfpublished writers. Step 5 is to target your writing so you will be on track for your books vision. Go to that books page and scroll down to inside this book. For a selfpublished book i think thats pretty good.

Even if she selfpublishes, the cost per copy would be high, and few readers would. If you want your work traditionally published, i would definitely hold off on selfpublishing it. In addition, ebooks dont feature page numbers, so if you plan to only publish electronically, the word count isnt a major concern. If you feel you have to add on stuff that you dont really need, or remove quality work, to fit a certain word count, it will take away from the quality of the book. Recently i got asked this question, what is the ideal length word count wise for my first book. I infrequently see selfpublished authors attempt this length. Oct 23, 2017 twenty percent of multi published young adult authors were not represented. With my selfpublished books, i might give myself a little more leewaybut still around 3 doublespaced 12 pt. I get a lot of questions about word count for urban. Jan 18, 2010 because it allows me to check out length for published books in my genre.

Jan 15, 2020 heres how to track your books the word count in word. But if marketability matters to you, its not that simple. But the way i see it, especially if you intend to selfpublish, make it as long as you want. King, and lee child run well over 90k, sometimes going as high as 120k. I use amazons data feeds to come up with the calculation. For traditional publishing or selfpublishing, youll have the best odds of success. Ive covered the steps ive taken to selfpublish over 10 books.

May 15, 2020 these are the most common book sizes for most fiction and nonfiction books. The information we give is specific to the 2016 version of word, but the steps are similar in most versions. My first novel ran 120k words, the next one most likely 200k. Larson writes science fiction with a word count around 100k. An author with three books published wont necessarily earn more money in a year than an author with only one book. There are two noteworthy exceptions to word count requirements.

Sep 05, 2019 the cost to publish a book depends on a the length of the book and b the level of quality you want. Formatting print books with word alliance of independent. That said, there isnt a clear correlation between books sold and annual income. So no agent is going to sign you to represent a selfpublished project. The first is selfpublishing, in which readers tend to be more forgiving when it comes to length. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Twenty percent of multipublished young adult authors were not represented. I put in anne of green gables and clicked on the first entry, and it listed the word count as 17,129. They are all in the selfhelp niche and thats why the examples i include are for that field. Jul 24, 20 with my selfpublished books, i might give myself a little more leewaybut still around 3 doublespaced 12 pt. Now these word counts may have made sense in the traditional world, where books had to be printed, bound and shipped all over the world. For an author who will be published traditionally, word count is more important for your publisher. Today, only six months after publishing my second book, im.

The information we give is specific to the 2016 version of word, but the steps are. Choose your book type, genre, and audience for a word count and page number total. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan. There are two main strategies for nonfiction books. That being said, books intended for adults of any genre are rarely shorter than 60,000. I read a lot pretty much daily and have noticed many sci fy novels in the 75k word count range. For standard trim sizes of books, here are some formulas. Word count to book pages resources for independent authors. A way to check word count of published books anita nolans blog. He used the 270,000word memoir as an example because 1 memoirs are close to impossible to traditionally publish, so a word count that long wont get past the agent, and 2 its very.

The best word count for your selfpublished novel self. Entry forms must have the wordlinepage count listed where requested. If you feel you have to add on stuff that you dont really need, or remove quality work, to fit a certain word. Often a novellettelength work is difficult to sell to a. These are the most common book sizes for most fiction and nonfiction books.

Each page contains about 34 lines, with an average word count of 11 words per line, thus 375 words per page. After i published my first book, it took six years before i published my second book. This stepbystep guide shows you how to turn a manuscript written in microsoft word into a file ready to be uploaded to kdp. A certain length of novel feels right to certain audiences, sort of like how the sweet spot for most movies is somewhere between one and a half to two and a half hours. Entry forms must have the word linepage count listed where requested. Its increasingly important to put out a professional product as a self publisher and allen notes that word count increasingly applies to those books as well as trade. Oct 17, 2018 there are two noteworthy exceptions to word count requirements. At a writers conference i recently attended, publishing veteran jane friedman. Usually i dont write them all at oncewriting half of.

How to write and publish a book in less than 30 days. As a nonfiction writer myself, i know this is tough. Self publishing is the publication of media by its author without the involvement of an established publisher. Do you want to publish a wide format bookwith inspiring quotes down the side margins. Writing competitions preparing your entry writers digest. Writing for young adults a look at the numbers hannah holt. Sep 12, 2012 put a title the exact title in the search engine, then click on the title, or one of the titles if more than one comes up. Martins a game of thrones, has a word count of almost 293,000. First time authors should steer clear of writing anything over 80,000 words. Because it allows me to check out length for published books in my genre. Apr 23, 2018 however, there are also genre conventions at play that influence even selfpublished books that arent likely to be sold on a shelf. Weaving another character or subplot into the story is going to make it longer, and trust me, by the 5th or 6th editing pass, youre going to be a little bored and start adding things.

Theres just a minimum cost of printing a book, trucking it to a store. Do i still need to follow the arbitrary word count limits. As with many publishing standards, word count guidelines exist for a number of. Collecting comp titles will prove useful to you throughout your novels journeyespecially later, when trying to market your book. When it comes to selfpublished booksdoes size matter. Nov 22, 2008 but the way i see it, especially if you intend to self publish, make it as long as you want. Board books are those tough little things you give to the smallest of readers.

Still in doubt about a desirable word count for your novel. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. Were here to help you tell it, whether youre busy, idealess, or bad at writing. To be picked up by a traditional publisher, my manuscript needs to fall in a similar wordcount window. A small window will appear with the total number of words. Kdp doesnt print hardcover books, but ingram spark offers a wide range of hardcover print book options, running from 5 by 8 to 8. Aug 05, 2019 he used the 270,000word memoir as an example because 1 memoirs are close to impossible to traditionally publish, so a word count that long wont get past the agent, and 2 its very, very hard to sell a memoir even through selfpublishing, let alone at that word count.