Novel novella short story word count

Of the 161 stories listed, 3081 is the median word count number in the middle and 4052 is the average word count. Anything in this word count wont scare off any agent anywhere. If the publisher has a convincing argument for cutting a passage or two, the book will be shorter. As with most art forms, the label is somewhat malleable. At first, novel and novella were used interchangeably in english to describe a short fictitious narrative.

But usually the novella is designated by word count, not page count. To aid you in your worthwhile endeavor, ive sought out the shortest novels written by a selection of difficult writers. When it comes down to it, though, its all about word count. Its not uncommon to have a 60,000 or even a 45,000 word novel. Because these are younger readers, the word count for ya novels is between 50,000 and 70,000 words, although the harry potter series shows that you break that norm with exceptional storytelling. A novella is a fictional piece between a short story and a novel with anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 words. Go ahead and include the word count, although again, many readers may have no idea how many words are in a fulllength novel. If its a novella, say so although you might want to specify that its not a fulllength novel, as the word novella might not mean anything to some readers. Setting your price per word is also closely tied to how many words you can write per minute.

A novella is a work of narrative prose fiction, longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. The online audience doesnt always have the time or the patience to sit through a 100,000 word novel. Rome wasnt built in a day, and it also seems that unless you are writing exclusively short stories, your literary career wont be an overnight sensation either. Page counts vary, as formatting influences page counts.

Novelettes can be defined as short yet complete works of fiction. Novellas are very hard to sell, though they are on the rise with ebooks. The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. The english word novella derives from the italian novella, feminine of novello, which means new. Try not to completely tether yourself to word counts. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. As a form, the novella combines the compression of the short story with the sprawl of the short novel, and many writers as well as readers find this attractive. Virtually every book i try to shop by a debut author thats any longer than thatregardless of categoryreceives the same response from editors. I know writers who hate short stories as they dont have nearly enough words or time to fit everything in that they want to. This is a 100% safe range for literary, mainstream, womens, romance, mystery, suspense, thriller and horror. I know this book is a shade under 20,000 words, so now i can say with certainty that any ebook listed on kindle with around 100 pages, has a word count of less than 20,000. But the word count of a chapter matters if you want your story to flow right. If your ebook a short story, say its a short story.

Short fiction forms can generally be broken down based on word count. Ya manuscripts can have a word count anywhere from 55k to 90k. When i started writing you could only sell a historical romance if it was 90,000 words or more. Differences between novel and novella difference between.

Novella, novelette, page count and word count most people these days are used to two definitions for length in a story. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. Visionerinthedark, thats short for a novel, so youd likely have trouble at that word count. What exactly separates a short story from a novella from a novel, you ask. A very good, very short one might be as little as 45 or 50,000. An average short story usually has at least 3,500 words and no more than 7,500. The novella typically runs about a hundred pages, though it can run a bit longer. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. Publishers and literary award societies typically consider a novellas word count to be between 15,000 and 40,000 words, although definitions vary. A good, short literary novel might be 60,000 words. The shortest novels written by 20 authors you shouldve. Shorter novels such as fahrenheit 451, the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, the great gatsby, and slaughterhousefive are between 4050,000 words. However, there is not much agreement in these points. I did a quick check of one of my own ebooks, which is a short novella, and saw that kindle calculated it to be 110 pages long.

Right now, when it comes to novel length word count, its all about 90,000 words. If you want to go traditional publishing, id suggest developing the story more to hit the average word count for the horror genre. As with higher word count books, however, good writing is a must. Shorter novels such as fahrenheit 451, the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, the great gatsby, and slaughterhousefive. Difference between novel and novella difference wiki. There are longer and shorter versions of each, but nothing in between.

Put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be around 8090k. Edgar allan poes the cask of amontillado is one of the most popular short stories of all time. Her novels are light but definitely have substance. Traditionally, short stories were meant to be read in a single sitting. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference.

Ive excluded nonfiction and short stories in my estimation, but allowed novellas, since the definition of the novella is hazy at best. And according to edgar allan poe, a master short story writer, a short story. Between 80,000 and 89,999 words is a good range you should be aiming for. As previously discussed, there are different requirements for both fiction and nonfiction genres. A novella is somewhere between a novel and a short story. What is the difference between a novella and a short story. Is your book a short story, a novelette, a novella or a novel. While word count is never determinative of quality, it helps determine which category your book falls into. The narrative of a novelette is usually highly focused, somewhat similar to a short story. The term novel, borrowed from the italian novella, originally meant any of a number of tales or stories making up a larger work. The main difference between short story and novel is their length. Therefore, the word count of a novel is crucial if you want your book to be fit for publication. Indeed, the english word novel derives from an italian word for a short story. If it has areas that need further explanation the word count will go up.

Word count matters because every book, regardless of genre, has an inherent contract with the reader. According to the romance writers of america rita awards criteria, a novella is 20,000 to 40,000 words while a novel is over 40,000 words. Although most print publishers will balk at printing a novel this short, this is almost perfect for the electronic publishing market length. Thats not counting his short stories ive read individually and not counting for the books ive read multiple times. Rowling, for example, started with shorter novelsthe sorcerer s stone was 76,000 wordsperhaps because her editors were restricting. Now that weve covered how many words are in a novel, its time to break it down even further by finding out the ideal number of chapters in a novel and how many words are used in a typical chapter depending on the writing genre, word count in book chapters can vary considerably. A novella must be able to stand on its own as a book, but the exact word count is not set in stone. Word count separates short stories from novelettes and novellas. Short stories generally range anywhere from 1,500 to 30,000 words whereas novels start from about 50,000 words. The novel is said to be the fictitious prose narrative that is of more than 200 pages or 40,000 words, whereas novella is said to be the fictitious prose narrative that contains lesser pages than 200 and has word range of. Were discussing short stories with the indy nanowrimo group this afternoon, and i thought it might help to have a word count chart similar to the one i did for famous novels back in november. The most general difference which is used to differentiate it between novel and novella is the length or the word count. Word count for famous novels organized by hawthorn mineart, under books, writing. Some places will say that after 40,000 words, it is a novel.

There are general guidelines for each literary category. Here are a couple of other sources on length for you. Im going to add quite a few of these to my too long tbr list. Young adult novels have a wide variation in lengths. Short stories range anywhere from 1,500 to 30,000 words.

Posted on february 8, 2012 by lindsay as weve talked about before how well does short fiction sell in ebook form. If you find your novella is as little as 30,000 words, consider merging two more linked novellas, presenting a 90,000 word package to agents and publishers. Stephen king word count 112263 274,672 bag of bones 203,3 black house 252,270 blockade billy 15,917 carrie 60,718 cell 121,931 christine 193,602 cujo 121,150 cycle of the werewolf 15,955 desperation. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. They are often whimsical, and usually revolves around the themes of romance and sentimentality or sometimes both. Word count separates short stories from novelettes and. As such, a novella is considerably longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. Do short ebook novellas sell better than longer novels. Many places have charts for word counts, which tell you at what point a story is a short story, novella, or novel. Id recommend any of laurie colwins novels or short story collections for this category. The most important difference between a short story, novelette, novella, and a novel is the word count.