How long should a book be? Word counts by genre
The word counts agents and editors usually expect for a first novel in each genre, for young adult and children's books, memoir and nonfiction. They are ranges, not rules: plenty of good books sit outside them.
General publishing-industry guidance, from Writer's Digest and Jericho Writers.
Check your word count
Adult fiction
| Genre | Typical words | Still workable |
|---|---|---|
| Literary and general fiction | 80,000 to 100,000 | 70,000 to 110,000 |
| Romance, single title | 75,000 to 100,000 | 70,000 to 110,000 |
| Category romance | 50,000 to 60,000 | 50,000 to 60,000 |
| Mystery, crime and thriller | 80,000 to 100,000 | 70,000 to 120,000 |
| Horror | 80,000 to 100,000 | 70,000 to 110,000 |
| Historical fiction | 75,000 to 100,000 | 70,000 to 110,000 |
| Science fiction and fantasy | 100,000 to 115,000 | 90,000 to 124,000 |
| Westerns | 50,000 to 80,000 | 50,000 to 80,000 |
- Literary and general fiction. Literary novels vary most: a short one can be 60,000 words, and a long one well past 110,000.
- Category romance. Series lines such as Harlequin and Mills & Boon set their own lengths, line by line; check the line’s guidelines.
- Historical fiction. Epic historical novels and family sagas run far longer, often 150,000 words or more.
- Science fiction and fantasy. Epic fantasy and space opera often run longer; Jericho Writers puts fantasy’s ceiling near 180,000 words.
Children and young adult
| Genre | Typical words | Still workable |
|---|---|---|
| Young adult | 55,000 to 80,000 | 47,000 to 100,000 |
| Middle grade | 20,000 to 55,000 | 20,000 to 55,000 |
| Picture books | Up to 600 | Up to 1,000 |
- Young adult. Over 80,000 words needs a reason; Jericho Writers allows up to 100,000 when the story justifies it.
- Middle grade. Simpler stories for younger readers run 20,000 to 35,000 words; upper middle grade, for readers around twelve, 40,000 to 55,000.
- Picture books. Usually 32 printed pages. Many are far shorter than 500 words, and some have none.
Nonfiction
| Genre | Typical words | Still workable |
|---|---|---|
| Memoir | 80,000 to 90,000 | 70,000 to 100,000 |
| Popular nonfiction | 70,000 to 120,000 | 70,000 to 120,000 |
- Popular nonfiction. Nonfiction varies most by subject: a practical how-to book is often shorter, and a niche subject has no fixed length. A book proposal states the length you plan.
Before you cut or pad
- These are for a debut. The ranges describe what agents and editors expect of a first book they have to sell. An author with readers already waiting gets more room, and self-published books, especially in series, follow their readers rather than these numbers.
- A first draft is allowed to miss. Most drafts change length in revision, often by a lot. Finish the draft first; then cut or grow it.
- Look at books like yours. The surest guide is a handful of recent books in your exact genre from the publishers you want. Estimate their length from a sample page and the page count.
- Check the submission guidelines. Agents, imprints, series lines and contests often state a length. Theirs beats any table.
Sources
- Writer’s Digest, “Word Count for Novels and Children’s Books: The Definitive Post”. Chuck Sambuchino’s guidance for a debut, last updated in 2016: adult novels, science fiction and fantasy, westerns, memoir, middle grade, young adult and picture books.
- Jericho Writers, “How Many Words Are There In A Novel?”. Harry Bingham’s ranges by genre, from a UK literary agency and writers’ service, including romance, crime, historical fiction, memoir, popular nonfiction and young adult.
Where the two differ, the typical range is the one both allow and the workable range the widest either gives; a genre with one source keeps that source's figures. Last read on November 4, 2026. Expectations shift slowly, so treat any figure here as a starting point and check the agents or publishers you are writing for.
In Author Sweets
Set a word target for the book in Book settings and the statistics panel keeps your count against it as you write. The word goal calculator turns a target into words a day, and the story structures page lays a book out as chapters before you start.