Novel word counts by genre
The table lists every range we found, with its source. Where sources disagree, you will see all of them. We show numbers only and link to the original so you can read the reasoning. Ranges come from 6 sources. Several come from publishing-advice sites and editors rather than from a single industry standard, and two are older posts, so treat all of them as guidance.
| Genre | Ranges and sources |
|---|---|
| Children's picture book | 500 to 600 · Writer's Digest400 to 800 · Reedsyup to 600 · KidLit.com (Mary Kole, former literary agent) (maximum for a standard picture book) |
| Early reader | up to 1,500 · KidLit.com (Mary Kole, former literary agent) (maximum)up to 2,000 · Reedsy (about) |
| Chapter book1 source | 4,000 to 15,000 · KidLit.com (Mary Kole, former literary agent) (starting point to maximum) |
| Middle grade | 20,000 to 55,000 · Writer's Digest (simpler 20,000-35,000; upper 40,000-55,000)20,000 to 55,000 · Reedsy30,000 to 55,000 · Scribophile20,000 to 55,000 · Self-Publishing.com15,000 to 65,000 · KidLit.com (Mary Kole, former literary agent) (15,000-25,000 young MG; up to 45,000 contemporary; up to 65,000 fantasy and adventure) |
| Young adult | 55,000 to 79,999 · Writer's Digest55,000 to 80,000 · Reedsy50,000 to 70,000 · Jericho Writers (up to 100,000 if justified)60,000 to 90,000 · Self-Publishing.comup to 95,000 · KidLit.com (Mary Kole, former literary agent) (maximum: 85,000 contemporary; 95,000 fantasy and sci-fi) |
| Romance | 80,000 to 89,999 · Writer's Digest (listed among adult novels; chick lit 70,000-75,000)80,000 to 100,000 · Reedsy75,000 to 100,000 · Jericho Writers (category romance 50,000-60,000)70,000 to 90,000 · Self-Publishing.com70,000 to 80,000 · Scribophile (occasionally up to 90,000) |
| Mystery | 80,000 to 89,999 · Writer's Digest (listed among adult novels)80,000 to 100,000 · Reedsy (combined with thriller)65,000 to 90,000 · Self-Publishing.com80,000 to 95,000 · Scribophile (combined with thriller) |
| Thriller | 80,000 to 89,999 · Writer's Digest (listed among adult novels)80,000 to 100,000 · Reedsy (combined with mystery)75,000 to 120,000 · Jericho Writers (75,000 minimum; up to 135,000 acceptable)70,000 to 100,000 · Self-Publishing.com80,000 to 95,000 · Scribophile (combined with mystery) |
| Fantasy | 100,000 to 115,000 · Writer's Digest (combined with sci-fi; 90,000-124,000 most likely all right)100,000 to 115,000 · Reedsy (combined with sci-fi)up to 180,000 · Jericho Writers (epic fantasy can run over 200,000)90,000 to 200,000 · Self-Publishing.com (debuts: stay under 140,000)90,000 to 120,000 · Scribophile (combined with sci-fi) |
| Science fiction | 100,000 to 115,000 · Writer's Digest (combined with fantasy; 90,000-124,000 most likely all right)100,000 to 115,000 · Reedsy (combined with fantasy)60,000 to 150,000 · Jericho Writers (about 60,000 for short hard sci-fi; over 150,000 for epic)80,000 to 120,000 · Self-Publishing.com90,000 to 120,000 · Scribophile (combined with fantasy) |
| Literary fiction | 80,000 to 89,999 · Writer's Digest (listed among adult novels)80,000 to 100,000 · Reedsy60,000 to 120,000 · Jericho Writers (about 60,000 for short literary novels) |
| Historical fiction | 75,000 to 100,000 · Jericho Writers (epic historical 150,000-180,000 or more)85,000 to 110,000 · Scribophile (sometimes 120,000 or more) |
| Memoir | 80,000 to 89,999 · Writer's Digest (70,000-79,999 also acceptable; high end 99,999)80,000 to 90,000 · Reedsy70,000 to 100,000 · Jericho Writers60,000 to 90,000 · Self-Publishing.com |
| Novella | 17,500 to 40,000 · Reedsy17,500 to 40,000 · Self-Publishing.com (roughly)45,000 to 50,000 · Jericho Writersup to 60,000 · Scribophile (under 60,000) |
Sources last checked: .
Older posts in the list are Writer’s Digest (2016) and KidLit.com. Newer guidance from agents or publishers would be a better primary source, and we will update the table as we find it.
Real novels, counted word by word
Guidance tells you what editors want. Real books show what authors actually wrote. We counted twelve public-domain novels from Project Gutenberg, each marked public domain in the United States there. The pages column uses the words-to-pages data for a double-spaced manuscript in 12 pt Times New Roman with 1-inch margins.
| Novel | Words | Manuscript pages |
|---|---|---|
| The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson · Gutenberg ebook 43 | 25,631 | 75 |
| Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll · Gutenberg ebook 11 | 26,465 | 77 |
| The Time Machine H. G. Wells · Gutenberg ebook 35 | 32,446 | 95 |
| Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad · Gutenberg ebook 219 | 37,911 | 111 |
| The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald · Gutenberg ebook 64317 | 48,106 | 141 |
| Frankenstein Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley · Gutenberg ebook 84 | 75,041 | 219 |
| Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen · Gutenberg ebook 1342 | 127,302 | 372 |
| Dracula Bram Stoker · Gutenberg ebook 345 | 160,639 | 470 |
| Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë · Gutenberg ebook 1260 | 185,381 | 542 |
| Little Women Louisa May Alcott · Gutenberg ebook 514 | 186,100 | 544 |
| Moby-Dick Herman Melville · Gutenberg ebook 2701 | 212,760 | 622 |
| Middlemarch George Eliot · Gutenberg ebook 145 | 316,339 | 925 |
The spread is wide. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland comes in under 30,000 words and Middlemarch passes 300,000. Classics from the nineteenth century are often longer than modern publishers would take from a debut author, so use them to see the range of the form, not as a target.
NaNoWriMo and the 50,000-word goal
National Novel Writing Month, known as NaNoWriMo, challenged people to write a 50,000-word draft in November, or about 1,667 words a day, according to Wikipedia’s account. That target is a goal for a first draft, not a full-length adult novel. Fifty thousand words falls inside the middle grade and young adult ranges above, and below most ranges for adult fiction.
The organization is no longer running. Wikipedia lists the nonprofit as dissolved on March 31, 2025, and TechCrunch reported on April 1, 2025 that it announced it was shutting down, citing long-standing financial problems. Wikipedia notes that community-led initiatives and alternative platforms continue the November challenge. The 50,000-word goal is still a handy way to plan a draft, and you can use the words-to-pages converter to see what that looks like on paper.
How long should your novel be?
Aim for your genre, then finish the story
Word counts matter most when you are trying to sell a first book. Editors and agents see many manuscripts and use length as a quick signal of whether an author knows the form. Writer’s Digest, for example, describes 80,000 to 89,999 words as the ideal range for most adult fiction and treats anything much under 70,000 or over 110,000 as risky. Newer or established authors often get more room. If an agent or publisher states a range in their guidelines, follow it over any table.
If you are over or under
A draft that is too long can often lose a subplot or a few scenes that repeat an idea. A draft that is too short may need another complication, a stronger middle or a character who disagrees with the plot. Cut or add for the story first. Hitting a number by padding or amputating seldom helps.
Word count and page count are different
A double-spaced manuscript fits about 342 words on a page in our measurements, so an 80,000-word novel is about 234 manuscript pages. A printed book usually has fewer pages, because it sets type smaller and closer. The words-to-pages converter shows both. Short pieces, like a 5,000-word story, come to about 15 pages.
Need something to start a draft? Try the writing prompts or the writing prompt generator, then name your cast with the name generators.
Ready to start drafting? Read how to write a book, with an outline template and a finish date calculator.