Piper Nuelle

Writing a book is a huge, monumental task that can take you on not only a journey of writing and building worlds and creating characters that people come to love, adore and even hate at times, but it can also be a journey of self discovery. You learn things about yourself as you write. You learn about your own writing voice and style, you learn what it is you love to write about and you also learn that you can achieve something totally amazing.

One of the things you need to think about as you take the first steps on the journey of writing your book is how long you want it to be. Books vary in size depending on the type of book you plan to write, is it romance, rom-com, fantasy, horror, adventure, a kids book, thriller, crime and so on… Every genre of book has a standard quota for how big or small the book should be, so it’s good to think about it first and then plan accordingly, setting your self word count goals as you write. You need to map it all out to make the writing process easier on yourself, plan your route from A to B, A being the empty blank page your start with to B being the finished manuscript you hold in your hand as a book.

Below I have listed wordcounts for book sizes which I think might be helpful for someone just starting out. Obviously this is just what I have come across on my own writing journey and it may differ slightly from genre to genre;

• FLASH FICTION – Or can also be known as EPISODES (Think television series) – These are short stories which usually amount to around 500 – 1,000 words give or take. They are meant to be short and bite sized and easy and quick to consume. They could be for anything from; Short stories, Anthology entries, Skill books, Leaflet style paperbacks, Instruction manuals, A niche subject book, A companion book for a business… There could be a number of reasons why someone could need to or want to write something quick, sharp and small, like a flash of words that a reader could read within 10-20 minutes or so. There people that enjoy flash fiction such as; Commuters, Parents with young kids that don’t have a lot of time on their hands, Teenagers that maybe have shorter attention spans, people reading on a specialised subject or niche. Life can sometimes be so busy that less is more, and with the internet and people reading more online in quick successions, less is definitely more.
• SHORT STORY – This one grows from Flash Fiction with a longer word count. It can still be considered short and read and consumed rather quickly but it gives a little more room to make more of a story and some descriptions. The usual word count is around 1,000 – 10,000 words and is great for; Short stories, Competitions in magazines, Small books that are seen in magazine sections, Niche subject books and more.
• NOVELLA – A Novella is a book which has a word count of around 10,000 up to 50,000 words. There is also another term named Novelette which tends to float between the Novella word count up to around 20,000 words but it’s not one I have come across much but it is around. Depending on the word count amount Novella’s and Novelettes have, they can be a lot quicker to write and produce than that of larger novels and can come with a higher turn over of books because of the speed they are written and edited at. Again these can be used for; Short stories, A multiple story book like an Anthology, certain genres may use this type of wordcount too such as Romance and Erotica which has quite a large following and a thirst for more at a quick rate.
• NOVEL – A novel is the bigger yet more well known sized book that looks normal sized on a book shelf and is one we have more or less come to recognise as ‘a book’. The word count tends to be anything from 50,000 words up to 100,000 words. This along with Novella is the most popular form of word count and book size and is one most used by debut authors. A lot of genres use this format of word count and book size and are classed as novels such as; Fantasy, Crime, Thriller, Horror, Science Fiction, Action, Adventure, Suspense, Women’s fiction and even Romance and Erotica can also fall into this word count too depending on the author and the plot and story being told around it.
• EPIC NOVEL – 100,000+ words and one used for more seasoned authors and writers. Some sequels can attain epic novel word counts and there are certainly certain genre’s that garner this larger word count such as; Fantasy, Horror and even at times Historical Fiction. These are of course monumental to write and edit, but can be amazing when planned out and written properly, but are of course more time consuming to read.

One thing to remember is that rules are there to be bent, broken and changed. These are only guidelines and they can differ and change from time to time, and this is more my opinion on research I have conducted and from books I have read. I have noticed that the Fantasy books I have read tend to be larger than the Romance books I have read. Whilst Romance has a story and a plot, it is more based on two characters getting to know one another and falling in love… It’s a quick, feel good read. Where as Fantasy tends to have huge storylines, large plots and worlds to follow suit. There may be armies of characters to consume and get to know and the adventure and magic inside them often needs to be explained and described because originally only the author knows all the background and lore behind it, so to the reader, they need to be told to understand which understandably takes more words to do.

There will always be exceptions to the rules and guidelines, there will always be one book out there that will break the boundaries and become something new and fresh that no one has done before and it will bend the word counts to suit its own needs and purposes. But that is the great thing about writing and being creative, we all have our own ways of doing things and creating books.

I hope this blog post has helped you to understand the world of word counts for books. And keep an eye out on my blog if you are starting a writing journey of your own because I am planning to write more helpful blog posts from everything from word counts, to world building, from characters and scene setting, to dialogue and editing… I want to help as many people as I can on their own author journeys and I hope you will be along for the ride.

Take care, xo Piper xo