SHORT FICTION

NOVELS

CHAPTERS

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO READ YOUR CHAPTERS?

To find out more, check out our posts on flash fiction (https://rdsy.me/2ZqFbB8) and short

stories (https://rdsy.me/2XGW0at).

What Should My Word Count Be?Fear not, here are the standard

word counts for popular genres.

reedsy

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Popularly credited to Ernest Hemingway, this six-word

story is an extreme example of short fiction. Here are the average word counts for standard

forms of short fiction:

In general, novels are defined as works of fiction over 40,000 words. The average word count,

however, will vary depending on genre.

In Reedsy’s survey of over 200 novels from a range of genres and eras:

Ask yourself how long it will take your readers to get through each chapter. The average adult

comfortably reads just over 200 words per minute, which means it takes…

had an average chapter length of

2,000 - 4,500 words

55% of novels

⏰ 10 mins to read a 2,000-word chapter⏰

15 mins to read a 3,000-word chapter

⏰

20 mins to read a 4,000-word chapter

Here are just a few of the titles on that survey:

To find out more, check out our post all about chapter length – https://rdsy.me/2WDUWmi

To find out more, check out our comprehensive post on how long your novel should be.

https://rdsy.me/2Xd7w00

🐭 Microfiction: 100 – 500

💥

Sudden fiction: up to 750

⚡

Flash fiction: up to 1,500

✏

Short stories: 2,000 – 5,000

✒ Novelettes: 7,500 – 17,500

📖

Novellas: 17,500 – 40,000

📘 Commercial and literary: 80,000 – 100,000

Ex. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee - 99,121

(

Science fiction and fantasy: 100,000 – 115,000

Ex. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowlings - 107,253

Young adult: 55,000 – 70,000

Ex. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - 62 662

Middle grade: 20,000 – 55,000

Ex. Diary of a Wimpy Kids by Jeff Kinney - 19,784

❤

Romance: 80,000 – 100,000

Ex. The Princess Bride by William Goldman - 89,426

*

Mystery: 75,000 – 100,000

Ex. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie - 82,960

🧟

Thriller: 80,000 – 100,000

Ex. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn – 80,565 words

,

Memoir: 80,000 – 100,000

Ex. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs – 97,600

🤠

Western: 45,000 – 75,000

Ex. True Grit by Charles Portis – 54,955

Title

One Hundred Years

of Solitude

Middlesex

The Martian

A Game of Thrones

1984

Persuasion

Gone Girl

The Giver

Holes

#Chapters

20

28

26

73

24

24

64

23

50

Total word count

144,523

168,640

119,970

295,816

88,942

83,237

145,719

43,617

47,079

Words Per Chapter

7226

6023

4614

4052

3706

3468

2277

1896

942

(average)

ONE LAST THING: PROFESSIONAL EDITING

Reedsy’s editors have years of experience at the world’s largest publishers. To make sure your manuscript is in line with industry expectations, send a request today and start working with the best.

https://rdsy.me/31zf6Sj