These guidelines vary depending on the genre you're writing in, and the age range of your target audience. Step 2: Develop an Outline. The book's pacing is off. You can clearly see how much stronger this manuscript is than previous efforts and why. Subgenres of historical fiction novels include: alternate history, historical fantasy, historical romance, sagas, sword and sandal, historical whodunit, sub-genres pertaining to era (as in Renaissance, medieval, Civil War, WWII, etc. However long that took, the editing will take 2 to 3 times as long. I've been a fan of the site . Nicole C. W. 4 Oct 2019 Self-Publishing. In terms of page count, using 12 point serif font double spaced, it works out to around ten to fifteen manuscript pages. The arithmetic is straightforward. That said, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to length, so it's important that you make sure that your novel is well-written and flows smoothly from beginning to end. See also 7 Best Literature Novel For Ss3 How long is the average first novel? For fiction, they suggest middle-grade works be anywhere from 40 to 150 manuscript pages and YA from 175 to 200 pages. A novel's average manuscript is between 250 and 400 pages. The name of the novel in the middle of the page. Step 1: Page Size. 3 Essential Parts of a Novel Synopsis. How many words should a fiction novel be? If your manuscript is under consideration at another agency, then mention it if/when the next agent requests to see your manuscript. Western light novels are also different. The busier ones like five pages at most. This is a. Adult fiction. Because of this, several publishers, especially those who focus on e-books, are prepared to consider a flexible approach to the length of your novel. How many chapters should a novel have? Anything in this word count won't scare off any agent anywhere. How Long Should My First Non Fiction Book Be? In the first box, type two spaces. Below your writing name, the number of words in the manuscript, rounded to the nearest thousand. . The Harry Potter books are Young Adult titles, and YA publishers generally look for manuscripts in the 50,000 to 80,000-word range. Arial is quite common, but maybe better avoided as sans serif text is just harder to read at length .) Larger manuscripts cost more to proof and edit and are more expensive to print, creating a bigger risk. Now, speaking broadly, you can have as few as 71,000 words and as many as 109,000 words. If you haven't written your book, you may also share a table of contents where you summarize the contents of each chapter. What is the ideal length (possibly a range) for a nonfiction manuscript? This is still respectable, if your content feels new and your writing is impressive. Between 80,000 and 89,999 words is a good range you should be aiming for. Other genres, taken together, are about the same length as YA overall (there aren't enough data points to break down genres like thriller, sci-fi, and historical fiction individually). This makes them similar to novellas but completely different from short stories or normal story chapters. How to Format Your Manuscript. Always keep in mind the attention level of an . It is considered too long for most publishers to insert comfortably into . Most of the time, a first novel should not be shorter than 200 manuscript pages and not longer than 500 manuscript pages. George R R Martin) might come in closer to 300,000 words, but established authors can get away with a lot more than debuts. Naturally, customers who read e-books are much less focused on the physical size of a book. You've worked on this manuscript with the help of a critique partner or editor. Consult listings in the current edition of Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market for information on both fiction and nonfiction word counts for various publishers. Or at least not a definitive, satisfying one. Therefore, a 280,000 word manuscript becomes a 900 page doorstop. However, generally a 50,000-word novel would be the minimum word count. (Note: I find Times New Roman easier to read.) The most common length for a chapter in a novel is about 3,000 to 5,000 words. For some books, that's 40,000 words; for some it's 150,000. ), and more. But lets go into the definition in more detail. (Times New Roman, Garamond, or Georgia are all good choices. There's a shortcut to fixing this in Microsoft Word. Step 4 is measure your manuscript in word count, not pages. Generally speaking, traditional publishers expect completed nonfiction book manuscripts to be between 50,000 to 75,000 words. Below the title, your writing name, i.e. Every character, any big turning point or climactic scene, and all plot twists should get a mention. Generally speaking, traditional publishers expect completed nonfiction book manuscripts to be between 50,000 to 70,000 words. . Middle Grade or MG 45,000 words max for contemporary, mystery, humor. Margins: 1 inch to 1.5 inches all the way around. But what people are usually looking for is a ballpark average range for the kind of book they are writing. When you're writing the first paragraph of your new manuscript, it's easy to ignore the formatting. A 50,000-word manuscript is 200 pages. Paperback novels are generally slightly shorter-spanning between 35,000 to 80,000 words. No exceptions. There is a question about how long a novel should last. The rule of thumb for novel writing is 80,000 to 100,000 words. How long should a scientific manuscript be? The average length of a novel is between 15 and 25 chapters, depending on the . Short Story (1,000 - 7,500 words): The 'regular' short story, usually found in periodicals or anthology collections. NOVEL: A manuscript over 40,000 words is considered to be a novel. The average nonfiction book, if such a thing exists, runs about 50,000 words; longer books run about 75,000 words. Divide your estimated word count by eight to discover how long each structural segment should be. Here is a simple rule of thumb. If your synopsis runs longer, anything up to two pages (again, single spaced) is usually acceptable. How to Write a Synopsis in 3 Easy Steps. Is is common for the word count of books in a series to grow in length after the debut novel. Additionally, make sure that you take the time to develop your characters . The answer will be the approximate page count of a printed book. For example, Hart - Manuscript - 1. So, while your 100,000-word (or 30,000-word) romance might work for another publisher or the indie digital market, we wouldn't be able to consider it for . The commonly cited range, then, seems to be based specifically on contemporary YA. Most 'genre' zines will features works at this length. But rules are made to be broken, and the most successful publishing phenomenon in history did just that. That doesn't mean you can submit a manuscript twice the length a publisher recommends. This tells the word processor, "Wherever you see two spaces together, change that to one space.". Most novels are between 60,000 and 100,000 words. Put your name, title of your book and contact information at the top of the page. The maximum standard word count for an adult novel is about 110,000 words (some would say 130,000 words). Flash Fiction or Short Short 100 - 1,000 words These popular stories are quick and easy to write and can often be found in glossy magazines. Early Reader 1,500 words is the max. And one of the tiniest building blocks are scenes. In the second box type one space. By the fifth book in the series, the word count had grown to 257,000 words. We go into details for more specifics for formatting a manuscript down below click here to jump down there. But don't belabor the point; it should take a sentence, e.g., "This is the first in a planned series.". "Don't write your slow parts too slow, or your fast parts too fast," says the book reviewer. Length varies depending on the age of the audience you're writing for and your genre. Finally, click "Replace All.". "I'm thinking of aiming for older children," I told her. Young adult fiction: 55,000 - 79,999 words; Picture books: 500-600 words (32 page count) Westerns: 50,000 to 80,000 words; Memoirs: 80,000-89,999 words; In fact, check out the Reader's Digest website for writing tips, manuscript editing tips, and some great interviews with authors and literary professionals. 5 Tips for Effectively Writing Synopses. A hard cover novel might start with 50,000 words and go up to 110,000. Format the main content of your manuscript per these guidelines: Page Header: At the top right of every page, except the title page, display: Your last name / The book title / Page Number. Skip a couple of lines and begin the text of the chapter. "Why that particular length?" That means each section of your story should be approximately 10k words: 1. Reply Dec 29, 2015 #7. Hook-Inciting Event: 0-10,000 words. However, most literary agents. Giants of the genre (e.g. The published version of your ten to fifteen-page chapter will be about 85% of those pages, depending on trim size. It really depends on how much of the heavy lifting you did on the story preparation before hand, whether you have been editing as you go along, and . Novelette 7,500 - 20,000 words Also known as the once-popular zine. Most light novels have a word count of 40,000 to 50,000 and do not exceed 200 pages. The basic method for formatting a manuscript is to use 8.5 by 11-inch paper (A4 paper size), a simple serif font sized between 10-12 with 1-inch margins on all sides. Step 1: Create a Short Overview. The first Harry Potter book had 76,944 words. After 4-word titles, 6-word or 10-word titles . If the pace of your book is off, then your manuscript is more likely to get rejected. Commercial Fiction (including women's fiction, crime fiction, fantasy etc) 90-120,000 words . Begin chapters on new pages. Based on this dataset of novels, we can establish some guidelines for chapter length: the average word count of a chapter generally ranges between 1,500 words to 5,000 words, with 3,000-4,000 words being the most common sweet spot. If your manuscript is on the long side though, make sure it's as tight and pacey as it can possibly be as you'll often find there is room to make cuts. Literary fiction, commercial, upmarket, mainstream - 70,000-90,000. However, very few novels these days are as short as that. Use the industry standard page size of 8.5"x11" the exact dimensions of a standard piece of paper. The most accurate answer is that your book should be as long as it needs to be to fully develop and support its central argument. Novel Manuscript Length The length of manuscript depends to some extent on whether the novel is targeted for paperback sales or hard cover sales. This isn't the first novel you've finished writing. The high end starts getting long, but unlike with mainstream fiction, agents probably won't run for the hills. Manuscript Format Basics Font: 12 point Times New Roman or Courier New. If you don't like the idea of finding, hiring and paying an agent 10 or 20% of your book sales, hide your distaste. These chapters can be from any section of your manuscript, not necessary the beginning. A traditional publisher's manuscript for a nonfiction book should be between 50,000 and $75,000 words long. First, click Replace. You can add headers and page numbers in Word automatically. The average fantasy epic is bound to be approximately twice that long, and many are three or four times longer. 50,000 is the minimum novel length, which means anything over 40,000 words can not be considered a novel. A novel contains many building blocks. Hopefully, this goes without saying, but the page should be white. Anything from 80,000 to 110,000 is common, with many novels falling in the 90,000 to 100,000 count range. It should outline your plot in neutral non-salesy language and demonstrate a clear narrative arc. There is solid logic to that. The requirements allow for a range of about 2,000-3,000 words in either direction. Historical fiction also often goes a bit longer, nearer to 90,000-100,000 To determine how long should a chapter be, we examined books from a wide variety of genres. One guideline is to allow one synopsis page for every twenty-five pages of manuscriptMost editors and agentsprefer short synopses two to ten pages. After all, when your eyes are the only ones observing your work, worrying about things like proper page layout, mirror margins, section breaks, and whether or not your hyphens are in the right place . Generally speaking, a manuscript for a novel should be between 50,000 and 75,000 words. Whether that's 10K words, 30K words, 80K words or 200K words is up to the story you're planning. 25 to 40 pages Length of the manuscript. Both rules of thumb are imperfect, but we've found the "250-300 word per page" rule works better more often than the "60 percent per page" rule. Short Story 1,000 - 7,500 words This is what we consider the classic short story found in fiction journals and anthology collections. Let's just make this easy and say you're writing an 80k-word story. So, a 55,000-word manuscript is about 220 typeset pages, and a 100,000-word manuscript is about 400 typeset pages. Answer (1 of 4): How long did it take you to write the 120,000 word manuscript? YA contemporary averages 69,000 words, whereas fantasy averages 83,000. Manuscript Format: Title Page. Fiction titles are often shorter than nonfiction titles. Ace Trainer Ritchie. Sci fi and fantasy tends to go a little longer 90,000-110,000 maybe 125,000. One major commercial publisher considers the ideal length of book to be 95,000 words for this reason. Most novels are between 60,000 and 100,000 words. But genre books ( fantasy, sci-fi, or historical fiction) are often longer; around the 125,000 word mark. Young Middle Grade or MG 15,000 to 25,000 words. Align to the left-hand side only; the right-hand side should remain jagged. This is ideal for a first time attempt as publishers buy books based on how much space they take up on a bookseller's shelves. What size font and spacing should a novel be? "What's the age range?" she asked me when I broached the subject. That's because they understand what sells and what doesn't. A bloated manuscript falls into the latter. Include the title of the story: both in the pitch and synopsis and in the actual file name: "Rainbow Ridge synopsis.doc," not "synopsis.doc" or "mybook.doc.". Adult or Young Adult A standard adult or young adult novel should be less than 100,000 words. Use a nice ordinary font. It's highly unlikely to find a literary agent who'll represent your 300,000 word novel. Word count is more important 70-75k words translates into a 300-350 page book. A synopsis is a 500-800 word summary of your book that forms part of your agent submission pack. For example, the Terry Pratchett First Novel Award guidelines in 2012 said they were looking for: Historical fiction novels are generally between 85,000 to 100,000 words, though some are longer. Anything over 110,000 words is probably too long, whether or not you are aiming for an epic, or saga, manuscript. And a 28,000 word manuscript is more like a booklet or novella of 90 pages. In broad terms, if you are writing adult non-fiction (which includes romance, mystery, suspense, thriller or horror) you should aim for anything between 80,000 and 100,000 words, although there are novels that well exceed this count. Too many authors try to stretch their novels into 200,000-word epics, only to bore their readers to tears. Don't format your manuscript on a black- or cream-colored page. Write a one- or two-page synopsisabout 500-1000 words, single spacedand use that as your default, unless the submission guidelines ask for something longer. 2) It should be just long enough to tell your story. Take your word count and divide it by 300. The average novel is between 80,000-100,000 words. (If I say any more or less our Production department may find out and then I'll be in trouble!)". Example: Dax MacGregor / My Story / 152. strongly prefer one page. How long should my book be? The title page should have: Your contact details in the top left-hand corner. Others try to get the entire story over with in 50,000 . Even if you're planning to self-publish, it's a good idea to stay within these guidelines. In most cases, traditional publishers will require an author to submit a manuscript with no more than a certain number of words, unless special conditions are met. Technically there's no maximum length for a novel, but there are guidelines you can follow to determine whether your story is the appropriate length, or too long. Again, look at the journal's Guide for Authors, but an ideal length for a manuscript is 25 to 40 pages, double spaced, including essential data only. 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. Writing a novel starts by writing out a scene. Stay around 100 words per chapter. the name you want the novel to be published under. A typical manuscript page (8.511 paper, 1-inch margins, standard 11- or 12-point font, doublespacedlike you would type in Word) is considered to be 250 words. This is a 100% safe range for literary, mainstream, women's, romance, mystery, suspense, thriller and horror. Always use present tense and third person for both the pitch and the synopsis. Everything in the essay, including long quotes and the Works Cited list, should be double spaced. Last updated: Sep 8, 2021 5 min read. In that case, it should be between 30,000 and 50,000 words." The precision of her answer was satisfying, but it also piqued my curiosity. "That would be ages eight to twelve, then. Why Your Manuscript Format Matters When entering other competitions, I regularly saw suggested word ranges of 60-100,000 words (50-80 being more the range for YA) for manuscripts, sometimes with higher limits of 120 or 150,000 words for fantasy, especially epic fantasy. I received a reply from an agent who mentioned the length of my nonfiction manuscript (180,000 words) as one reason why he would pass on it, but he did say that it had "possibilities." Someone on the forum (I think it was Victoria) stated that agents might immediately take a pass on a manuscript that is 180,000 words long. Novelette (7,500 - 20,000 words): Often a novelette-length work is difficult to sell to a publisher. The romance genre has word count standards of its own. Generally a 50,000-word novel would be the minimum word count. You should include two to three chapters in your book proposal. Most traditional publishers will place restrictions on an author and require that the manuscript not exceed a specified word count, unless special concessions are made. You should see a box labeled "Find and Replace.". The majority of books are between 60,000 and 100,000 words long. The length of a novel should depend on two things, and two things only: 1) It should be long enough to qualify as a novel; and. How to Format Your Page Single title 90,000 to 110,000 words. Commercial and literary novels are generally 80,000 to 110,000 words. Scenes, individual story units smaller than chapters and somewhat self-contained, are . Chapter Book This varies widely, depending on grade and reader level, usually starting at 4,000 words and 15,000 words max. So a 25,000-word manuscript is about 100 pages. Suggested length of synopsis, according to Wood: ten to twenty-five pages (each chapter one to three pages). If you have a series in mind, this is a good time to mention it. You've worked your way through a structured revision process such as Janice Hardy's 31-day revision workshop. Center the chapter title, even if it's only Chapter One, about one-third of the way down the page. Biography: 80,000-200,000 words. Similarly, if your manuscript is very short, look at your character and plot development. Step 3: Fill in the Details. They should represent your content. If you've written a 50,000-word fantasy epic, chances are you're too short. Category romance 55,000 words. If so, you might give yourself a goal of writing a 96- to 128-page book in the 6" X 9" format, thus only about 30,000 to 40,000 words. . I asked agents Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen of Larsen Pomada Literary Agency to add their thoughts to the subject. A single novel can be lengthier, but if it exceeds 110,000 words, publishers may consider shortening it, unless it is a certain type of bookbooks exceeding 110K words are typically termed "epics.". Well, average novel length is more like 80K-120K words but to answer your question, your story should be as many words as you need in order to tell it in the best way possible. Page Numbers: Pages are numbered continuously, with page one being the first page after the title page. The best thing you can do is engage in some market research. Your manuscript should be formatted as follows: Set the margins for your document at 3 cm (1.18 inches) on all four sides. Use 12-point Times New Roman (Courier and Arial fonts may also be acceptable as they are non-proportional) in black type only. Beginner's Guide To Formatting & Breaking Scenes In Your Fiction Novel. We all know of outliers within each genre that have been published well under, or well over, these word counts. How-to / Self-Help: 40,000-50,000 words. Most agents/editors will not be interested in a synopsis longer than a few pages. Look up the publishers you would like to approach with your finished manuscript. Although literary agents don't agree on many things when it comes to query letters, the best query letter length is something that all book agents DO agree on. As mentioned, general fiction for adults should come in at 100,000 words. Even with modern printing techniques, it is difficult to print more than two or three volumes of a . Please don't tell us "my book is 150 pages long.". That means your manuscript must be at least 35-40,000 words long. For a nice looking manuscript, you want to present it in something like the following way: Make sure to use double or 1.5 line spacing. Most traditional publishers will place restrictions on an author and require that the manuscript not exceed a specified word count, unless special concessions are made. In Microsoft Word, this option is found under File > Page Setup. Novel: A manuscript over 40,000 words is considered to be a novel. The best query letter length is 1-2 pages, single-spaced, Time New Roman font, 12-point. 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