General Word Count Guidelines

You know, I've always wondered what kind of word counts I should be looking to accomplish for a full-fledged novel. Part of this is because of NaNoWriMo, where you have to try to make 50,000 words in a month, the idea being that you would potentially have a first draft of your novel in hand. And part of this is my own general curiosity as an e-book indie author, just to find out how I 'measure up' to other authors who have published physical books. 

Scouring the net, I have seen a whole bunch of word counts, and so I have a very generalized idea now for how many words a finished novel should be. Bear in mind that these are very loose numbers, and I can tell you that none of my 'finished' novels reach these general goals. As an indie author, I think that's okay though, and it could be a useful tool to give you something to strive for.



Book Genre                              General Word CountsMiddle Grade                                25,000 to 40,000Young Adult Fiction                    50,000 to 80,000New Adult Fiction                       60,000 to 85,000Romance                                       60,000 to 100,000Mystery, Thriller, Suspense      70,000 to 90,000Non-Fiction                                  70,000 to 110,000Horror                                           80,000 to 100,000Literary Fiction                           80,000 to 110,000Fantasy, Science Fiction           90,000 to 125,000