How many words in an average novel?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Most publishers look for "standard length," from first-time writers especially-for them it's just a ballpark figure to let them know you have some sense of pace (internally) and the novel market (externally). It usually amounts to 80,000-120,000 words.

At bottom, though, the better rule of thumb is "as many words as it takes to get your story told." If that number is significantly lower than 80,000, be aware that some folks will put in a class other than the novel.

Answer 2

There is no such thing as an "average" novel. Each one is as long as it needs to be.

Answer 3

234,381

Answer 4

As many as it takes!

Answer 5

3 and a question mark

Answer 6

2 words ( average + novel)

Answer 7

Depends on how long the story takes to tell.

Answer 8

round 45,000-150,000
45 is for kid's novel,
150 is J.K.'s
and there are 1,000,000 words in Munazef Rodriguez' novel called Saint Temple Crusaders Gone Crazy and Mocked Every Faithful One. i finished reading the book while I realized that my house's already flooded with water thigh-high, I think I've forgotten to fasten the tap and let water spill while I were reading, and the water had flooded the entire city.

Answer 9

3

Answer 10

National Novel Writing month aims for 50,000 words which would make for a pretty short novel (animal farm sort of length)

Answer 11

you can approximate about 300 words per page - - depending upon print size and if there is a lot of dialogue.. which would give you in the area of 90,000 words for a 300 page book.. and tell your mum never to pay an agent.. they work on commision and get paid only if they sell a work.. beware the con of an agent who wants upfront money etc.. best to you..

Answer 12

Hi there. I can tell you from 20+ years experience that most publishers won't consider a manuscript worth reading unless it has at least 40,000 words. Why? Because it needs a good beginning, a mild climax about a third of the way, which then builds to a major climax at the end. It's hard to write any worthwhile story and get all three parts into it with fewer than 40K words.

Also, many publishers now are accepting LONGER manuscripts, thanks in part to H.Potter's success. My latest hard cover release is 126,000 words, which seemed long when I wrote it, but the publisher wanted an epic style book and that's why they bought it. So, to answer your question, think longer rather than shorter. The current average for published fiction is about 80,000 words for novels, I believe.

Good luck with your writing!

Jon Baxley
Author, editor, proofreader and ghost writer

THE SCYTHIAN STONE (eBook fantasy adventure)
THE BLACKGLOOM BOUNTY (hard cover and eBook medieval fantasy epic)

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Answer 13

Stephen King said in the afterword to "Different Seasons" which was a collection of novellas, that, although there's no real definition, under 20,000 can usually be called a short story, over 40,000 a novel, and in between, a novella.