Short answer: most adult novels are 70,000 to 120,000 words, and around 90,000 is a typical average, according to Jericho Writers’ guidance. Genre moves the range a lot, from 50,000 for category romance to 180,000 and beyond for epic fantasy. Formally, anything of 40,000 words or more is a novel under the Nebula Awards rules.
Word counts by genre
| Genre | Usual range (words) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Adult fiction, overall | 70,000 to 120,000 | About 90,000 on average |
| Crime and thriller | 75,000 to 120,000 | 75,000 is “fine as a lower limit” |
| Romance (category) | 50,000 to 60,000 | Longer romantic fiction 75,000 to 100,000 |
| Women’s fiction | 75,000 to 110,000 | |
| Historical fiction | 75,000 to 100,000 | Epics 150,000 to 180,000+ |
| Fantasy | Up to 180,000+ | Science fiction varies by sub-genre |
| Literary fiction | 60,000 to 120,000 | Novellas as short as 45,000 to 50,000 |
| Family saga | 150,000+ | “Not really in saga territory” below that |
| Young adult | 50,000 to 70,000 | Some reach 100,000+ |
| Memoir and biography | 70,000 to 100,000 | |
| Popular non-fiction | 70,000 to 120,000 |
Ranges from Harry Bingham’s average novel word count guide at Jericho Writers, read 30 September 2026. Middle-grade children’s books vary too much by age band for one range; measure three recent books aimed at the same age.
Novel, novella or short story?
The most widely used definitions come from the Nebula Awards rules:
| Category | Words |
|---|---|
| Short story | fewer than 7,500 |
| Novelette | 7,500 to 17,499 |
| Novella | 17,500 to 39,999 |
| Novel | 40,000 or more |
How long are famous novels? We counted eleven
Most “famous novel word count” lists online repeat each other. So we downloaded the Project Gutenberg text of eleven classics and counted them ourselves, from chapter one to the end, with Gutenberg’s own header and footer removed.
| Novel | Words (our count) |
|---|---|
| The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, R. L. Stevenson (1886) | 25,700 |
| Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll (1865) | 26,700 |
| The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925) | 48,500 |
| The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle (1902) | 59,400 |
| Treasure Island, R. L. Stevenson (1883) | 68,300 |
| Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (1818) | 75,200 |
| Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë (1847) | 116,700 |
| Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (1813) | 122,600 |
| Dracula, Bram Stoker (1897) | 161,500 |
| Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (1861) | 185,600 |
| Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë (1847) | 186,500 |
Rounded to the nearest hundred. Other editions and counting methods differ by a few per cent; ours treats a hyphenated word as one word.
Two things stand out. The Great Gatsby, which most people think of as a full novel, is under 50,000 words. And the Victorian doorstops were written for a market that sold novels in three volumes or in monthly parts; at 186,000 words today, Jane Eyre would be a very hard sell as a debut.
What your word count does to your price, if you self-publish
Amazon doesn’t limit words; it limits pages (24 to 828 for a black-and-white paperback). But every page is printed, and KDP takes the printing cost out of every sale. On Amazon.co.uk a black-and-white paperback over 110 pages costs £0.85 plus £0.010 a page to print.
Here is what that means per copy, using the typical 200 words a page at 5 × 8 in and 250 at 6 × 9 in, plus 10 pages for front and back matter:
| Words | Pages at 5 × 8 in | Print cost | Royalty at £9.99 | Pages at 6 × 9 in | Print cost | Royalty at £9.99 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50,000 | 260 | £3.45 | £2.54 | 210 | £2.95 | £3.04 |
| 60,000 | 310 | £3.95 | £2.04 | 250 | £3.35 | £2.64 |
| 70,000 | 360 | £4.45 | £1.54 | 290 | £3.75 | £2.24 |
| 80,000 | 410 | £4.95 | £1.04 | 330 | £4.15 | £1.84 |
| 90,000 | 460 | £5.45 | £0.54 | 370 | £4.55 | £1.44 |
| 100,000 | 510 | £5.95 | £0.04 | 410 | £4.95 | £1.04 |
| 120,000 | 610 | £6.95 | too low* | 490 | £5.75 | £0.24 |
| 150,000 | 760 | £8.45 | too low* | 610 | £6.95 | too low* |
Royalty at £9.99 is KDP’s 60% rate (for list prices of £7.99 and up) minus the printing cost. *“Too low” means £9.99 doesn’t cover the printing cost, so KDP won’t let you use that price; you would have to charge more.
The lesson: each extra 10,000 words adds about 40p (6 × 9 in) to 50p (5 × 8 in) to every copy. A 120,000-word novel on a small page barely earns anything at a normal paperback price. That’s not a reason to cut good writing, but it is a reason to choose the trim size and typesetting carefully. A well-set page can hold more words without looking cramped, and that is often the difference between a royalty and none. Run your own numbers in the word count to page count tool and the KDP royalty calculator. For the page sizes themselves, see standard book sizes UK.
A long book doesn't have to cost you your royalty
We typeset to your genre's conventions and to KDP's rules, so the page count is as low as it can be without looking cramped. You see every page before you pay. From £69.
See formatting pricesHow to find your word count
- Microsoft Word: the count is in the status bar at the bottom left, or under Review, Word Count.
- Google Docs: Tools, Word count, or Ctrl+Shift+C (Cmd+Shift+C on a Mac).
- Scrivener: Project, Project Targets shows the running total for the manuscript.
Count the manuscript only, without front matter such as the dedication, contents and acknowledgements. Agents mean the story when they ask for a word count.
Too long or too short: what to do
If you’re well over your genre’s range: cut before you pay for an edit, because editors charge by the word. Look for scenes that repeat an emotional beat, subplots that don’t change the ending, and backstory the reader never needed. Our editor cost guide shows what each 10,000 words costs to edit.
If you’re well under: don’t pad. Check whether the story has room for a subplot that tests the main character, or whether it’s really a novella; novellas sell well as ebooks and in series.
If you’re self-publishing a long book anyway: that’s your call to make. Choose a larger trim size, let a typesetter fit the text properly, and price it so the royalty is worth having. What it costs to self-publish in the UK shows the whole budget.
Frequently asked questions
How many words are in a novel?
Most adult novels are 70,000 to 120,000 words, with about 90,000 typical. The Nebula Awards count 40,000 words or more as a novel.
How many words should a first novel be?
Aim for the middle of your genre’s range: 80,000 to 100,000 words for most adult genres. Very long debuts are harder to sell to agents and cost more to print if you self-publish.
How many pages is 80,000 words?
About 330 pages at 6 × 9 in, or about 410 at 5 × 8 in. Font, size, spacing and chapter openings change the real figure.
What is the difference between a novel and a novella?
Under the Nebula Awards rules a novella is 17,500 to 39,999 words and a novel is 40,000 or more.
Is 50,000 words long enough for a novel?
Yes. It suits category romance and some young adult. For an adult thriller or literary novel it will look short to agents, who usually expect 70,000 or more.
Does word count matter if I self-publish?
Not to Amazon, which limits pages (24 to 828 for a paperback) rather than words. It matters to your genre’s readers, and to your royalty, because every page adds to the printing cost of each copy.
Sources
- Jericho Writers, Average novel word count (Harry Bingham): https://jerichowriters.com/average-novel-wordcount/ (read 30 September 2026)
- Nebula Awards rules, category definitions: https://nebulas.sfwa.org/about-the-nebulas/nebula-rules/ (read 30 September 2026)
- Project Gutenberg plain texts, eBook numbers 43, 11, 64317, 2852, 120, 84, 768, 1342, 345, 1400, 1260 (counted 30 September 2026)
- Amazon KDP, paperback printing cost: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201834340
Who wrote this. I am Robert Prime. I run publishing.co.uk, a UK book formatting service, and the page count of a finished book is the number our work changes most. The genre ranges are Jericho Writers' published guidance, credited above; the classic counts and the print-cost table are our own arithmetic, and the method is stated so you can check it.
