Key Takeaways
- Focus on the target book size by using word count rather than page count as your guide.
- Professional writers gauge book length based on market standards, not just the number of pages.
- Consider the average word counts for different genres when planning your book.
- Use a target word count to set writing goals and establish milestones during the project.
- Understanding the target book size helps in developing the story effectively.
Perhaps you want to write a book or have one written for you. And when it comes to size, you think about the number of pages. Non-professional writers often do. But you shouldn’t focus on page count. Instead, target the right size for your book.
I’ll explain.
Writing clients often tell me they want their book to be ‘XXX’ hundred pages… 200, 400, etc. Usually a round number. Sometimes they’ll give an example. Something like this: “My story’s a bit like ‘Outlander,’ time travel and romance. Fictional but based on actual events in a different country and setting. It goes from the present to two centuries ago and back to the present. So, maybe my book should be about the same size.”
It takes experience to judge the right length for a story, and professional writers use the market to gauge the parameters. But page count shouldn’t guide your book planning. Instead, use a word count target. I’ll get into that further, but first, here is some context.
One of my past projects, a Historical Fiction series, averaged over 177,000 words per book. In a 6-inch by 9-inch format: Book One is 151,550 words at 422 pages. Book Two is 155,096 words at 436 pages. Book Three is 166,685 words at 478 pages. Book 4 (ending the epic saga), is 237,350 words and over 706 pages.
Book One in the fiction series Outlander by Diana Gabaldon is 850 pages, 255,781 words (format: 6.11-inch width x 1.42 spine x 9.23 length). To provide a nonfiction example, ‘Who Moved My Cheese’ by Spencer Johnson is 25,504 words, comprising 96 pages in a 5 x 6.75 format. And ‘If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood’ by Gregg Olsen is 115,391 words, 431 pages in 5.5 x 8.25 paperback format.
As with any published book, the page count includes all parts (not just the narrative). Front matter includes the Title Page, Copyright Notice, Table of Contents, and often an opening statement by the author or an epigraph (to set the story’s tone). It can also include other information the author and story might need to help the reader. The series project I mentioned above includes 6-8 maps per book, a historical setting preface, a recap of events in the preceding books, a Dramatis Personae (a guide to the cast of characters), and a book-specific opening epigraph. In the back (the back matter), the last page is the author’s bio. With some variation, all published books have front and back material that adds to the page count of the actual narrative.
So—and this is not uncommon—I often walk clients through how a print book’s page count is affected by its format. A 50,000-word book in a 5×8 Trade Paperback format will have more pages than the same number of words in a 6×9 book. The publisher or self-publisher will determine the book size/format they want to produce.
When discussing writing, co-writing, and ghostwriting projects, I focus on word—not page—count. I can then set precise writing goals using a target word count and establish the work’s time frame. When working with a client, those goals become a contractual milestone schedule of deliverables for their project. It includes the Planning & Development stage (the story outline, initial scene/chapter list, and writing plan), the Writing stage (number of words delivered each month), the Internal Edit stage (writer/client collaboration), and if included in the contract, a Post-Draft Edit period of writer collaboration with the client’s third-party editor.
If you want to write a book, I recommend setting a word count target and using it to plan story development and the actual writing (your monthly word count goals). Below are average word counts or word count ranges for works of fiction and nonfiction. These matter because a book intended for commercial sale is a product, and the market has expectations. A professional writer or ghostwriter will know that market if you plan to have your book written for you. Still, you need to know it too.
Suppose the book you want to write (or have written) is complex, with multiple characters, story arcs, settings, and locations. [See what I mentioned above about the word count size of Outlander and the series I worked on for a client.] In that case, it will probably require a higher word count than the averages below.
Fiction
Based on an analysis of the top 15 sellers in the respective categories at Amazon:
- Fantasy: 109,000
- Historical: 102,000
- Horror: 102,000
- Literary: 98,000
- Science Fiction: 98,000
- Action/Adventure: 96,000
- Contemporary: 96,000
- Women’s Lit: 94,000
- Mystery/Thriller/Suspense: 91,000
- Romance: 91,000
- Crime: 89,000
- Religious: 75,000
- Erotica: 58,000
Nonfiction
- How-to / Self-Help, Career, and Education: 40,000–50,000 words
- Standard Nonfiction: 70,000 to 80,000 words
- Creative Nonfiction: 80,000 to 100,000 words
- Memoir / Biography: 60,000 to 120,000+ words
Stories can and should find their natural length. Achieving that comes from professionally proofreading/developmentally editing drafts that follow the first. [The first draft should be used to work out the basic story, arcs, theme, and content.] Then refine all elements further, assess and sometimes adjust the flow and pace, and mark up for another round of editing/rewriting.
You can make the above process more efficient by using the average word count for your book type as a guide. Make your book’s optimal length an early consideration in the planning process. It matters to your story development.
About Us
Adducent, founded July 5, 2000, is a story and book development firm based in Jacksonville, Florida. Founder and Creative Director Dennis Lowery is a U.S. Navy veteran who spent the 1990s in aerospace manufacturing and more than eight years in business consulting with M&A attorneys and investment bankers before the company shifted its focus to writing and publishing in 2009.
Adducent has published 114 titles under its imprints — FORTIS (nonfiction and memoir), BOOKNOLOGY (business and educational nonfiction), ESCRIRE (fiction), and STANDFAST, established in 2026 for titles from the special-operations and intelligence communities. Every one was developed, edited, and produced under Dennis Lowery’s direct editorial direction. Fourteen arrived as standard nonfiction and were rebuilt as creative nonfiction.
Read about our Editorial and Publishing direction (and a subset list of client endorsements) here.
Read about ‘Who We Publish’ here.
Read about ‘Who’s Endorsed Books We’ve Published’ here.
Two have been selected for United States military professional reading lists: Fortune Favors Boldness, by Vice Admiral Barry M. Costello, on the U.S. Navy, Chief of Naval Operations Professional Reading Program; and What Now, Lieutenant?, General Richard ‘Butch’ Neal’s memoir, on the U.S Marine Corps Commandant’s Professional Reading List.
Distribution is global print-on-demand through Ingram, a network that, by Ingram’s account, reaches 50% of the world’s population. Clients own all rights to their work. Dennis, who also ghostwrites for clients and other publishers, is a member of the Authors Guild, the United States’ oldest and largest professional organization for writers.
