How Many Words Is a Novel? Word Counts by Genre, and What They Mean for Editing and Print

How many words is a novel? Most adult novels land somewhere between 70,000 and 100,000 words, and anything from about 40,000 words up counts as a novel at all. But the number that matters is the one for your genre. A pacy crime novel and an epic fantasy are both novels, yet one can be half the length of the other. This guide gives you the typical word counts by genre, shows how your word count turns into printed pages, and explains what length does to your editing quote and your print costs, because that part rarely gets mentioned.

Key takeaways#

• A novel starts at about 40,000 words. Most adult novels sit between 70,000 and 100,000 words, with around 90,000 often quoted as typical.
• Genre sets the target. Thrillers run leaner, fantasy runs longer, and young adult and middle grade books are shorter.
• These ranges are industry guidance, not rules. A great book that sits outside them can still work, but you need a reason.
• Word count drives page count, and page count drives print cost, spine width and even your inside margins on KDP.
• Longer books cost more to edit and take longer, so know your exact count before you ask for a quote.

Where does a novel start? Novel vs novella vs short story#

There's no law that defines a novel, but the most widely used dividing lines come from the SFWA's Nebula Awards for science fiction and fantasy, and plenty of writers outside those genres use them too:

• Short story: fewer than 7,500 words
• Novelette: 7,500 to 17,499 words
• Novella: 17,500 to 39,999 words
• Novel: 40,000 words or more

So a 45,000-word manuscript is technically a novel. In practice, though, readers of most adult genres expect more than that. If you're writing for adults and your draft is under 60,000 words, check it against your genre's typical range below before you call it finished.

Typical word counts by genre#

Here's what most industry guidance says for each genre. We've pulled these together from long-standing advice for writers, such as Harry Bingham's guidance at Jericho Writers, and from the genre ranges in our own word count tool. Treat them as the middle of the road, not hard limits. Different sources give slightly different numbers, and that's the point: there's a range, not a magic figure.

Two things to notice. First, most of these ranges overlap around 80,000 to 90,000 words, which is why that figure gets repeated so often for first novels. Second, the ranges are wider at the top than the bottom. Being a little long is usually easier to fix than being too thin, because cutting is a normal part of editing. Adding a missing subplot is a rewrite.

Does word count matter if you self-publish?#

If you're going to a literary agent, length is one of the first things they check, and a debut far outside the usual range has to work harder to get read. When you self-publish, nobody stops you. You can publish a 35,000-word romance or a 180,000-word fantasy tomorrow.

But readers still have expectations. They browse your genre, see what a typical book in it looks like, and notice when yours feels thin or heavy for the price. And length has practical costs that land on you, not a publisher. That's where the next two sections come in.

How many pages is your word count?#

Page count depends on more than words. Trim size, font, type size, line spacing, margins and how each chapter opens all change it. Our word count tool estimates pages at about 250 words per page, which is a fair guide for a typical novel interior at 5 x 8 inches. A 6 x 9 inch page has a bigger text area, so it fits more words and the same book comes out shorter.

Here's the simple maths at two densities. These are estimates to plan with, not what your finished book will be.

Remember to add pages for the front matter (title page, copyright page, dedication, contents) and back matter (acknowledgements, author bio, a teaser for your next book). Our guide to the front matter of a book explains what goes where. If you haven't chosen a size yet, see how to choose a book trim size.

What length means for print#

Page count feeds straight into three things for a print-on-demand paperback.

Print cost. On KDP and IngramSpark, the printing cost of each copy is based largely on page count. Every page you add comes off your royalty on every sale, or pushes your list price up. You can test your own numbers with our free print cost tool, and our hardcover vs paperback guide shows how format changes the picture.

Spine width and cover size. More pages means a thicker spine, which changes the size of your full-wrap cover. Your cover can't be finalised until your page count is. Our cover size calculator works out the spine for you.

Inside margins. This one surprises people. On KDP, the minimum inside margin (the gutter) grows with page count so the text doesn't disappear into the spine. It's 0.375 inches for 24 to 150 pages, 0.5 inches for 151 to 300 pages and 0.625 inches for 301 to 500 pages, rising again above that. A typical 80,000-word novel lands right around the 300-page line, so a late edit that adds or removes a chapter can change the margin your file needs.

There's also a ceiling. KDP paperbacks in standard sizes like 5 x 8 and 6 x 9 can have up to 828 pages on white paper, or 776 on cream. Very few novels get anywhere near it, but a long epic in a large font can.

What length means for editing#

Editors price by the word, by the hour or with a fixed quote, and all three scale with length. A 120,000-word manuscript has half as many words again as an 80,000-word one, so expect the edit to take longer and cost more in proportion. Turnaround stretches too. Our guide on how long it takes to edit a book gives timelines by length, and how much book editing costs in the UK breaks down how editors charge.

That's why it's worth doing a tightening pass yourself before you pay anyone. Cut the scenes that repeat what the reader already knows, the second and third examples of the same point, and the paragraphs of backstory that slow your opening chapters. Every 1,000 words you cut is 1,000 words you don't pay to have edited. If you're unsure which kind of edit your draft needs, start with do I need an editor?

Our own editing packages are priced by word count. Fresh Eyes is £197 ($249) for up to 20,000 words, Deep Clean is £297 ($377) for up to 40,000 words, and Full Makeover is £397 ($497) for up to 60,000 words. Most novels are longer than that, so for a full-length novel we give you a free exact quote within one business day. Book formatting works the same way: fixed tiers up to 60,000 words, then an exact quote for longer books.

Length matters for audiobooks too. As a rule of thumb, a manuscript produces about one finished hour of audio for every 9,000 to 10,000 words, so an 80,000-word novel comes out at roughly eight to nine hours.

Over or under your genre range? Your next step#

If you're well over your genre's range, look for structure before sentences. Is there a subplot that doesn't change the ending? Two characters doing one job? A middle where nothing new happens? A developmental or structural edit is built to find these. If the story genuinely needs the length, consider whether it's really two books, especially in fantasy and series fiction.

If you're well under, don't pad. Readers can smell filler. Ask what's thin instead: a relationship that changes too quickly, a villain we never see, a climax that resolves in a page. Beta readers are good at spotting these. Our guide to finding beta readers shows you where to look.

If you're in range, stop worrying about the number and start worrying about the book. Word count gets a manuscript a fair hearing. It's the story that keeps readers turning pages.

How to get an accurate word count#

Word, Google Docs and Scrivener all count words, but they don't always agree. Use one tool and stick with it. Count the story only, from chapter one to the end, and leave out front and back matter. When you mention your length in a query letter or a quote request, round it to the nearest thousand: "a 92,000-word thriller" reads better than "91,847 words".

If you'd like a second opinion, paste a chapter into our free word count tool to see words, estimated pages and reading time in one go, or try the reading time calculator to see how long your book will take readers to finish.