The more you write, the better youвЂ™ll get at finding the right formula for your work and learning which rules to bend. Draw the story out too long and you might lose them. Cut it too short and your readers may feel like theyвЂ™re missing something. That range should give you enough space to set up a premise, establish character motives, and develop a suspenseful plot with surprising twists and clues-all essential qualities of a great mystery, romance, or thriller.ДЇor new and emerging authors, itвЂ™s best to stick to the average book length until you get more writing and publishing experience under your belt. You want to keep readers engaged without giving away too much along the way. The sweet spot for mystery, romance, suspense, and horror novels is 70,000 to 90,000 words (200+ pages), because these books typically need to be page-turners. Word count for mystery and romance novels So try to keep your bookвЂ™s word count in mind without completely allowing it to impact or alter your narrative or story. However, erring too far on the low end or the high end is going to reduce the chances of your book being considered. In theory, the best thing to do is to concentrate on however many words or pages your book needs. (Who doesnвЂ™t love a series?) And what about books with 110,000 or 120,000 words or more? In some cases, this means the book is simply too long and could actually cost too much to produce, although certain genres are given leeway in this regard (think fantasy books and epics). Or it could mean that your one book might actually be better as two books. If your book comes in with a higher than normal word count, something in the range of 90,000 to 100,000 words, it could be viewed as too long or poorly edited.

Although it could also mean you did a solid editing job and the book is finely tuned for delivery.

Is there wiggle room? Sure! However, keep in mind that wiggle room on the short end, because books in the 70,000 to 80,000 word range might be viewed as too short. There are exceptions to every rule, but a few common genres fall under the same guidelines for a bookвЂ™s word count.ДЄs a general rule, book genres like fiction, nonfiction, mystery, and romance will fall into the 80,000 to 90,000 word count range. Instead of talking about page count, we can filter this through the concept of word count. LetвЂ™s take a look at some popular book genres to see how each one measures up. Different books require different strategies when it comes to page count, word count, limits, and other elements that can affect those numbers such as paper type and materials. One of the most frequent questions people making books ask is вЂњHow many pages should my book be?вЂќ The answer is, it depends on what kind of book you are making.

Book pages to word count