How many words per average novel page?

[Val Jester]

Hello, I was just wondering how many words the average novel has on a page?

I am writing a novel right now, and i'm up to 4025 words in 10.5 size Times New Romans, I was wondering if anyone could calculate how many pages that would be in a, for example, Harry Potter sized book.

Thanks in advance.

[Rozaline]

A quick google search suggest that the average is somewhere between 250 and 300 words per page for a general paperback novel.

[Firefly]

If you're using a program that has a word count feature on it, try taking a page from a book and typing it in that program and check it from there

[Q Wands]

What a strange query.

Word counts vary depending on font, double or single-spaced, whether there is more narrative or dialogue, and so on. I tend to get about 500 words, single-spaced, per page which is probably a fair estimate. Although drafts are often double-spaced to aid editing, books are single-spaced. Four-thousand words then would be about 8 pages single-spaced for a decent sized hardback; maybe 12 to 16 pages for a paperback.

What is a Harry Potter sized book? Hardback or soft? A5, A6? Book sizes, ergo their page sizes, also vary.

I suspect you are trying to work out how many pages you have written as a judge of how far into your novel you are, but publishers won't ask you how many pages your story is, they will ask you how many words you've written. And the average novel, for the purposes of word count only, is between 80,000 and 120,000 words.

Hope this helps.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by Q Wands

And the average novel, for the purposes of word count only, is between 80,000 and 120,000 words.

Really? My current one is 230,000 in and still counting!

[Q Wands]

Seriously, that could be a problem, Daedalus. From what I read, a lot of publishers don't want to see more than 120K from a new (ie previously unpublished) author. I've heard of some being asked to cut 150K down to 120K.

Edit: My novel in progress will blow that limit if it carries on as it has been, lol.

[Young Skywalker]

Hello All... I'm new here and new to novel writing.

I am using MS Word and it tells me that I have over 51,000 words. It's a political thriller and I think I'm about halfway through. I had read somewhere that 100,000 words was fairly standard for a book of this genre.

Can anyone help confirm that? Also, how many book-sized printed pages that 51,000 words would equate?

Thanks.

[JBStone]

Originally Posted by Young Skywalker

Hello All... I'm new here and new to novel writing.

I am using MS Word and it tells me that I have over 51,000 words. It's a political thriller and I think I'm about halfway through. I had read somewhere that 100,000 words was fairly standard for a book of this genre.

Can anyone help confirm that? Also, how many book-sized printed pages that 51,000 words would equate?

Thanks.

First, I don't know why you felt the need to revive a two-year-old thread to ask a question that has already been answered. The post by Q Wands should give you some idea. But as she stressed in her post, page count is irrelevant. No one will ever ask you how many pages it is. They'll ask you how many words it is, since page counts will vary depending on the size of the print and on the size of the book.

I just googled "How long should my thriller novel be" and I found several articles that attempt to answer this question.

[Young Skywalker]

Originally Posted by JBStone

First, I don't know why you felt the need to revive a two-year-old thread to ask a question that has already been answered. The post by Q Wands should give you some idea. But as she stressed in her post, page count is irrelevant. No one will ever ask you how many pages it is. They'll ask you how many words it is, since page counts will vary depending on the size of the print and on the size of the book.

I just googled "How long should my thriller novel be" and I found several articles that attempt to answer this question.

Thank you JBStone... didn't intend to be a pest. I found ths thread (and this forum) through Google. I will keep any future dead-thread revivals to a stark minimum. I'll check out your Google search as wel.

[JBStone]

You're not a pest, Skywalker. It's just that reviving threads this old is generally frowned upon.

Anyway, I probably shouldn't be so bold as to offer advice to a guy who is closer to finishing a novel than I have ever been, but I would worry less about page counts and more about story. I understand making your story marketable and all that, and that's actually good foresight on your part wanting to know what the "industry standard" is for your type of novel. But don't let that get in the way, is all I'm saying.

[Young Skywalker]

Originally Posted by JBStone

You're not a pest, Skywalker. It's just that reviving threads this old is generally frowned upon.

Anyway, I probably shouldn't be so bold as to offer advice to a guy who is closer to finishing a novel than I have ever been, but I would worry less about page counts and more about story. I understand making your story marketable and all that, and that's actually good foresight on your part wanting to know what the "industry standard" is for your type of novel. But don't let that get in the way, is all I'm saying.

I agree wholeheartedly. I have had this story in my head for some time and am now putting it to paper (or to MS Word actually). Since I had never come close to finishing a book, I was just curious as to what standards that there might be or what measurements are used.

This is new territory for me and I think that a forum like this is a wonderful concept. I appreciate your replies and thank you for your advice.

[Mike C]

for calculation purposes assume 250 words per page.

[Maria Cunanan]

I think that you should go and visit www.gumbowriters.com. There you can see some good advices.

[Ethan Blake]

Hi Val,
The average U.K. novel has between 400 and five hundred words to a page, depending on size of words and sentence construction, when publishers put out a call for submissions for first time novels it is usually 60 - 100k words.
The smaller publishing houses will take less 50 - 80k words
Hope this helps
Regards
David

[W1tn355]

Sorry, I am not trying to undermine you what so ever but, I do believe that your math may be a bit off. If you are insisting that on average a page is 500 words or 4,000 words the equivalent of 8 pages. By simple math you saying the average book is 80,000-120,000 words, would mean on average a novel is 160-240 pages. These would be classified as short novels or more so novels for older kids or younger teens. I haven't read a book that short in a long time. So there might be more to it I'm not quite sure I'm just curious. I am also writing a novel right now which is why I came across this thread. I am currently 12,000 words in and I have counted through a few novels that I own and most pages are a bit over 300 words-just under 400 a page. But, yes it does depend on spacing, and size of the actual book and so on. But the easiest way I would say to measure is simply by finding a few books that you own and like and taking the 2 minutes to count. it helps you to get an idea for a novel that you enjoy and the sizing and everything that is involved.

Originally Posted by Q Wands

What a strange query.

Word counts vary depending on font, double or single-spaced, whether there is more narrative or dialogue, and so on. I tend to get about 500 words, single-spaced, per page which is probably a fair estimate. Although drafts are often double-spaced to aid editing, books are single-spaced. Four-thousand words then would be about 8 pages single-spaced for a decent sized hardback; maybe 12 to 16 pages for a paperback.

What is a Harry Potter sized book? Hardback or soft? A5, A6? Book sizes, ergo their page sizes, also vary.

I suspect you are trying to work out how many pages you have written as a judge of how far into your novel you are, but publishers won't ask you how many pages your story is, they will ask you how many words you've written. And the average novel, for the purposes of word count only, is between 80,000 and 120,000 words.

Hope this helps.

[Devon]

Wow. A 2008 thread. Old, old, old! Lol.

Still, useful. . . .

[Dragon King]

This is weird - this thread is the reason I joined I googled the question, found this thread and started to look around. The rest is history...

[Kas81]

Ah well at least we know who to blame now for your existence

[Dragon King]

Only a month late there Kas...

[Kas81]

Yes an exact month...almost

[kylewrittenword]

Originally Posted by Q Wands

What a strange query.

Word counts vary depending on font, double or single-spaced, whether there is more narrative or dialogue, and so on. I tend to get about 500 words, single-spaced, per page which is probably a fair estimate. Although drafts are often double-spaced to aid editing, books are single-spaced. Four-thousand words then would be about 8 pages single-spaced for a decent sized hardback; maybe 12 to 16 pages for a paperback.

What is a Harry Potter sized book? Hardback or soft? A5, A6? Book sizes, ergo their page sizes, also vary.

I suspect you are trying to work out how many pages you have written as a judge of how far into your novel you are, but publishers won't ask you how many pages your story is, they will ask you how many words you've written. And the average novel, for the purposes of word count only, is between 80,000 and 120,000 words.

Hope this helps.

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Dude, this was helpful. I was wondering this same thing, but I was more wondering how many words were in a while book. I have an online book that is 23 chapters at 3,000 words per chapter on average, sometimes as much as 4900 words, or as few as 2000 words. Your average novel word count was a great reference.