How many words?

[Falsafa]

Hey guys, can anyone give me a rough estimate about how many words go into a printed page? I have always used a text editor, so I don't really know how to count pages.

How many words constitute an average-length novel? How many does a short story range between? If anyone can answer those questions, I will be grateful.

Thanks
The Real Falsafa

[Maeve]

Hey guys, can anyone give me a rough estimate about how many words go into a printed page? I have always used a text editor, so I don't really know how to count pages.

How many words constitute an average-length novel? How many does a short story range between? If anyone can answer those questions, I will be grateful.

Thanks
The Real Falsafa

Estimate word count at 250 words per page.
The average novel length is about 60,000 words, or 250 pages. Historical novels and others go as high as 100,000 words or even more.

I have written a DWT post on novel length which should be coming up soon.

[Falsafa]

Thanks, Maeve. This will help me estimate how far away from my goal I am. I am working on a short story collection, and I wanted to know how many more stories before it's publishable. :)

[Ali]

In my experience as a reader (not an expert!!), short story collections can be considerably shorter than novels. Readers tend to read short stories more slowly, and the stories are often separated with a blank page or two, an image and perhaps a brief introduction for each.

So you might find that, say, 40,000 words is enough.

Ali

[Ali]

Actually, Maeve, I'm interested that the average novel is only 60,000 words! I'd heard that 100,000 was about average and anything below 80,000 would be hard to sell.

I'm going to have to sit down with a bunch of novels and start counting now ;-) Or maybe I'll just wait and read your article when it appears!

Ali

[Maeve]

Length depends a lot on genre, style, and the story to be told.

Frothy mysteries by established authors, like The Cat Who series by Lilian Jackson Braun can be as short as 200 pages or about 50,000 words. Her earlier books in the series were closer to 300 pages (75,000 words). I rather think the well is running dry there.

Meatier mysteries like those by P. D. James can run 400+ (100,000 word range). The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco exceeds 600 pages in my paperback copy (150,000 words). Ken Follett's new historical novel, World Without End, has just over 1,000 pages in hardback (roughly 280,000 words according to the 250 word per page rule of thumb).

The mystery that I'm trying to sell is 280 pages in manuscript (about 70,000 words), but the historical novel I'm working on is up to 275 pages and I'm not even halfway through.

I think the best thing for a writer to do is to get the first draft down before worrying about word count. In the revision process it will become clearer how many pages are really needed to tell the story without flab.

[Falsafa]

Okay, that's true - storytelling is more important than volume. But how many short stories (counting words) do I have to accumulate to be able to sell them?

Ali says 40,000, any other bids?

[Maeve]

Okay, that's true - storytelling is more important than volume. But how many short stories (counting words) do I have to accumulate to be able to sell them?

Ali says 40,000, any other bids?

I'm not a big short story fan so the handful of collections I have in my home library are atypical. One, for example, is a very long collection called The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits. Another is a slim volume of stories by a writer who already had a reputation and therefore a willing publisher.

You may want to have a look at The Best Short Stories of 2007 edited by Stephen King. It contains 20 short stories that appeared in various periodicals during the year. If the stories average 4,000 words apiece, that comes to an 80,000 word book.

You may also want to check out the following links:

Stephen King's views on the health of the American short story (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/books/review/King2-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)

and a site (http://www.bestamericanshortstories.com/) with information about The Best Stories of 2007.

[Falsafa]

How about the number of symbols? I think that would be a more appropriate measurement. How many symbols per page?

[alex.peterson]

Well i have listened that for a perfect writing first we should concentrate at least an hour on that topics in which we are going to write. Is it workable The relaxation factor is clearly visible so what do you guys think about it ?

[DanielScocco]

I will publish Maeve's post this coming week to solve our problems :) .

[DanielScocco]

Actually I think it was already published:

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/a-novel-is-fiction/