Writers: Why Your Word Count Matters

Word count matters whether you self-publish or traditionally publish!

I grew up assuming publishers and readers wanted lengthy books. I thought more was better, but I couldn't have been more wrong!

Your word count matters for the following two reasons:

Cost of Production & Reader Expectation.

When word counts reach over 100,000--the cost to produce the book rises considerably, and this forces printers (P.O.D. or standard) to charge higher than average prices. This not only reduces profits, but it can reduce sales if your book's price is higher than the standard book pricing readers are accustomed to paying. This is a big problem for self-published books, and it can also prevent your book from being traditionally published. 

Launching a debut author for a publisher is expensive and risky enough without adding to the pile a massive book. There are exceptions. High fantasy and literary novels tend to bear higher word counts more gracefully. World building and epic plots require a lot of words and readers are willing to pay for them!

Speaking of genre fiction, humans are creatures of habit and are used to certain genres being certain lengths. Readers are as likely to shy away from a too short book as they are from a too long book. A sixty-page mystery will probably sell as little as a six-hundred page children's book. Think Goldilocks--you want your word count to be just right!

Here is a list of average fiction book lengths per genre. These are suggestions not rules, there is wiggle room--but if you follow these guidelines, at least your book won't be rejected, passed over, or over-priced for something as silly as the word count!

Common Fiction Word Counts By Genre: The Safe Zone

Board books--0 to 100 words

Picture books--500 to 600 words (always 32 pages)

Early-Readers--200 to 4,500 words

Chapter books--5,000 to15,000 words

Middle-Grade--20,000 to 55,000 words
Upper Middle-Grade--50,000-60,000 words (new category!)

Young Adult--55,000 to 70,000 words
Memoir--75,000-90,000

Commercial fiction--80,000 to 90,000 words

High Fantasy up to 100,000-115,000 

But what if you're thinking, I want to stand out! I want to break the rules and be different. That's fine, this is art, but don't forget that a book is also a product. It's packaged and sold and placed on a shelf with similar products. Being odd and different and unpredictable makes your book hard to pitch and hard to place. You can break the mold so hard that no one knows what to do with you--and that can leave you with no readers. Remember, agents are reading thousands of queries and looking for reasons to say no. 

When I write, my primary focus is on advancing the plot, and this helps keep my word count down. I would rather be in the position of adding description and details than cutting beloved prose. If your pacing is tight and your book is getting really long--it might actually be two books, or three! Ask people who read heavily in the genre you write to give you feedback. 

The key is not to alienate an agent, editor, reader, or to lose a publishing deal because of an out of whack word count. Instead, give your story its best chance to succeed!

Jennifer Lynn Alvarez

Author of the Guardian Herd series and the Pet Washer series.

Book One

Book One