You type the last line, open the word count, and it says 63,412. Whether that's a novel, and whether it's the right length, depends on who's counting: an award committee, an agent, a publisher with a printed submission spec, or the buyer of your paperback.
How Many Words Is a Novel?
A novel is a work of fiction of 40,000 words or more. That's where the award bodies in the table below draw the line: the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America for the Nebula Awards, the World Science Fiction Society for the Hugo Awards, the Horror Writers Association for the Bram Stoker Awards and the British Fantasy Society.
What agents and publishers expect from a first adult novel is higher:
- 80,000–89,999 words is "a good range you should be aiming for" for adult literary and commercial fiction, in Chuck Sambuchino's word count guide for Writer's Digest.
- 75,000–100,000 words, with 80,000–90,000 as the sweet spot, in literary agent Rachelle Gardner's guidelines for adult fiction.
- 50,000–75,000 words for a series romance, from Harlequin Presents at 50,000 to Harlequin Historical at 75,000.
- 100,000–130,000 words for science fiction and fantasy at Baen Books, which says it is "uncomfortable with manuscripts under 100,000 words."
So a 63,412-word manuscript is a novel by every definition. For a thriller, 63,412 is short; for a category romance, it's right in the range.
Novel vs. Novella vs. Novelette vs. Short Story
The categories below the novel come from award rules, and the award bodies agree only on the top line.
| Award body | Short story | Novelette | Novella | Novel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFWA, Nebula Awards | under 7,500 | 7,500–17,499 | 17,500–39,999 | 40,000+ |
| WSFS, Hugo Awards | under 7,500 | 7,500–17,500 | 17,500–40,000 | 40,000+ |
| HWA, Bram Stoker Awards | up to 7,499 | none | 7,500–39,999 ("long fiction") | 40,000+ |
| British Fantasy Awards | under 15,000 | none | 15,000–40,000 | over 40,000 |
| World Fantasy Awards | not stated | none | 10,001–40,000 | not stated |
Publishers set their own lines for what they buy. Tor.com Publishing's novella call asked for 20,000 to 40,000 words.
Below the short story, the limits come from magazines and contests. SmokeLong Quarterly publishes flash up to 1,000 words, and a drabble, as Writer's Digest defines it, is a story of exactly 100 words.
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Novel Word Count by Genre
Agents publish ranges; publishers publish specs. An agent's range is advice about what sells to editors, and a publisher's count is a condition of submission.
| Genre | What agents and guides suggest | What publishers ask for |
|---|---|---|
| General and commercial fiction | 75,000–100,000 (Gardner, Bransford); 80,000–89,999 (Writer's Digest) | 70,000–110,000 (Entangled Sideways, thriller and women's fiction) |
| Literary fiction | 50,000–120,000 (Bransford); 80,000–89,999 (Writer's Digest) | No publisher count found |
| Mystery | 75,000–90,000 (Bransford) | No publisher count found |
| Thriller | 80,000–100,000 (Bransford) | 70,000–110,000 (Entangled Sideways); 55,000–60,000 for romantic suspense (Harlequin Intrigue) |
| Romance, category | 50,000–90,000 for romance overall (Bransford) | 50,000–75,000 by Harlequin line; 45,000–65,000 (Entangled) |
| Romance, single title | 50,000–90,000 (Bransford) | 75,000–100,000 on average (Entangled); 85,000–100,000 (Love Inspired Trade) |
| Fantasy | 80,000–120,000 (Bransford); 100,000–115,000 (Writer's Digest); up to 120,000 (Gardner) | 100,000–130,000 (Baen) |
| Science fiction | 90,000–120,000 (Bransford); 100,000–115,000 (Writer's Digest) | 100,000–130,000 (Baen) |
| Historical fiction | 80,000–120,000 (Bransford) | 70,000–75,000 for historical romance (Harlequin Historical) |
| Horror | 80,000–89,999, grouped with commercial fiction (Writer's Digest) | No publisher count found |
| Young adult | 55,000–79,999 (Writer's Digest); 50,000–90,000 (Gardner); 60,000–80,000 (Bransford) | 80,000–100,000 for 13+, 90,000–120,000 for 16+ (Entangled) |
| Middle grade | 20,000–55,000 (Writer's Digest); 25,000–40,000 (Gardner); 30,000–60,000 (Bransford) | No publisher count found |
The agent sources are Rachelle Gardner's 2021 guidelines, former agent Nathan Bransford's word counts by genre (which he calls his "rough stab"), and Chuck Sambuchino's Writer's Digest guide from 2016.
Romance Word Counts: The Exact Numbers Publishers Print
Category romance is sold in lines with a fixed length, so publishers print a count for each line. These are the counts on Harlequin's submission page as of October 2026:
| Harlequin line | Word count |
|---|---|
| Harlequin Presents (Mills & Boon Modern) | 50,000 |
| Harlequin Romance (Mills & Boon Love Always) | 50,000 |
| Harlequin Medical Romance | 50,000 |
| Love Inspired | 55,000 |
| Love Inspired Suspense | 55,000 |
| Harlequin Intrigue | 55,000–60,000 |
| Harlequin Heartwarming | 70,000 |
| Harlequin Romantic Suspense | 70,000 |
| Harlequin Special Edition | 70,000 |
| Harlequin Historical (closed to submissions) | 70,000–75,000 |
| Afterglow by Harlequin | 75,000 minimum |
| Love Inspired Trade | 85,000–100,000 |
Entangled Publishing draws the line between the two kinds of romance in its own FAQ: category romances are "shorter (45k-65k), trope-driven", and single-title romances are "standard-length (75k-100k, on average)". Its imprints run from 45,000–60,000 words for Bliss to 70,000–120,000 for Amara. Harlequin's digital imprint Carina sets a minimum of 50,000 words and no upper limit.
Fantasy and Science Fiction Word Counts
Nathan Bransford tops out at 120,000, which he calls "kind of the upper limit for the genres that allow some leeway."
George R.R. Martin and Brandon Sanderson had both published novels before A Game of Thrones and The Way of Kings. Andy Weir's debut The Martian sits inside the range Baen and Writer's Digest give.
Young Adult, Middle Grade and Children's Books
Children's books split into more categories than adult fiction, and literary agent Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literary breaks them down in her post "Wordcount Dracula", last updated in May 2026:
| Category | Range | Sweet spot |
|---|---|---|
| Picture book | 0–1,300 | 300–550 |
| Early reader | 100–2,500 | – |
| Chapter book | 4,000–13,000 | 6,000–10,000 |
| Highly illustrated middle grade (8+) | 13,000–35,000 | 18,000–25,000 |
| Realistic middle grade (10+) | 25,000–75,000 | 40,000–60,000 |
| Fantasy middle grade | 35,000–90,000 | 45,000–75,000 |
| Realistic young adult | 40,000–90,000 | 45,000–75,000 |
| Fantasy young adult | 50,000–150,000 | 65,000–85,000 |
Laughran's note on the 2026 update says middle grade is now split in two because of "a trend toward shorter MG books". For picture books she advises keeping the text under 600 words, 800 at the very top.
What a Word Count Means for a Self-Published Novel
On KDP nobody rejects a manuscript for length, but length still sets three things you pay for or sell: the page count, which drives the print cost; the reading time a buyer pictures; and the running time of an audiobook. Here's what each common length comes to:
| Words | Pages 6×9 | Pages 5.5×8.5 | Print cost 6×9 | Royalty at $14.99 | Reading (h:mm) | Audiobook (h:mm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50,000 | 132 | 160 | $2.58 | $6.41 | 3:12 | 5:23 |
| 60,000 | 158 | 192 | $2.90 | $6.10 | 3:51 | 6:27 |
| 70,000 | 184 | 224 | $3.21 | $5.79 | 4:29 | 7:32 |
| 80,000 | 210 | 256 | $3.52 | $5.47 | 5:08 | 8:36 |
| 90,000 | 236 | 288 | $3.83 | $5.16 | 5:46 | 9:41 |
| 100,000 | 262 | 320 | $4.14 | $4.85 | 6:25 | 10:45 |
| 120,000 | 314 | 384 | $4.77 | $4.23 | 7:42 | 12:54 |
| 150,000 | 392 | 478 | $5.70 | $3.29 | 9:37 | 16:08 |
- Pages assume typical fiction set in 11 pt Garamond at 1.15 line spacing, measured in the Words to Pages Calculator, rounded up to an even number because every leaf has two sides. A larger font or wider margins mean more pages.
- Print cost is KDP's US rate for a black-and-white paperback on white paper: $1.00 plus $0.012 a page for 110 to 828 pages. The KDP Royalty Calculator has every marketplace, paper and trim size.
- Royalty is KDP's 60% rate for list prices of $9.99 and up, applied to $14.99, minus the print cost, before Expanded Distribution.
- Reading time is 260 words a minute, the adult silent rate for fiction in Marc Brysbaert's 2019 meta-analysis of 190 studies, as in the Reading Time Calculator. The audiobook uses ACX's figure that narrators average about 9,300 words per hour, as in the Audiobook Calculator.
Going from 80,000 to 120,000 words costs you $1.25 a copy at the same price, and adds four hours to the audiobook. That's a reason to cut a draft that runs long. A short draft is a different problem: padding it raises the print cost too. To see how length fits with your price, read how to price a book.
Word Counts of Famous Novels
The counts below come from Renaissance's AR BookFinder, the database schools use for reading levels and the source Jennifer Laughran recommends for children's and YA word counts. Other lists give different numbers for the same books, because they count a different edition or count with a different tool. The Fellowship of the Ring is 177,227 words in AR BookFinder and 187,790 in Nathan Bransford's list.
| Novel | Author | Category | Words |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte's Web | E.B. White | Middle grade | 31,938 |
| The Giver | Lois Lowry | Middle grade / YA | 43,617 |
| Fahrenheit 451 | Ray Bradbury | Science fiction | 45,910 |
| The Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald | Literary | 47,094 |
| The Road | Cormac McCarthy | Literary | 58,702 |
| Carrie | Stephen King | Horror, debut | 59,859 |
| The Fault in Our Stars | John Green | Young adult | 65,752 |
| The Catcher in the Rye | J.D. Salinger | Literary | 73,404 |
| Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | J.K. Rowling | Middle grade fantasy, debut | 77,508 |
| 1984 | George Orwell | Dystopian | 88,942 |
| The Hobbit | J.R.R. Tolkien | Fantasy | 95,022 |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | Literary, debut | 99,121 |
| The Hunger Games | Suzanne Collins | Young adult | 99,750 |
| The Martian | Andy Weir | Science fiction, debut | 104,588 |
| Jurassic Park | Michael Crichton | Thriller | 117,645 |
| Twilight | Stephenie Meyer | YA romance, debut | 118,975 |
| The Da Vinci Code | Dan Brown | Thriller | 138,952 |
| Gone Girl | Gillian Flynn | Psychological thriller | 145,719 |
| The Shining | Stephen King | Horror | 160,341 |
| Dune | Frank Herbert | Science fiction | 181,493 |
| A Game of Thrones | George R.R. Martin | Epic fantasy | 292,727 |
| The Way of Kings | Brandon Sanderson | Epic fantasy | 383,389 |
Treat any famous count as approximate.
Words per Page and per Chapter
Page counts mean little until you say which page. The figures below are typical fiction counts from the Words to Pages Calculator:
- Manuscript page, Times New Roman 12 pt, double-spaced, US Letter with one-inch margins: 321 words on average.
- 6" x 9" paperback, Garamond 11 pt at 1.15 spacing: 384.
- 5.5" x 8.5" paperback, same type: 314.
In Courier New, the typewriter-style font, a double-spaced page holds 234 words, close to the old rule of 250; in a proportional font like Times New Roman, the same page holds more.
There's also a ceiling. KDP prints a black-and-white paperback of up to 828 pages on white paper in the common trim sizes. At 384 words a page, that's about 318,000 words in a 6" x 9" book: room for A Game of Thrones, not for The Way of Kings without smaller type.
No rule sets the length of a chapter. Divide your target length by the chapters in your outline to see where you stand: an 80,000-word novel in 30 chapters averages about 2,700 words each, roughly ten minutes of reading. If you have not planned your chapters yet, outlining the book is the step that fixes them.
Is 50,000 Words a Novel?
Yes, 10,000 words past the 40,000-word line. The number is familiar because of NaNoWriMo's November challenge: you "won" by writing 50,000 words in the month. Its own FAQ called that figure "a threshold, not necessarily a stopping place", and said you still win "if you reach 50k but have not yet completed your novel."
Fifty thousand words is a full Harlequin Presents and well short of what Baen expects from a fantasy. If yours is short for its genre, it may need more story, or more time as a first draft that isn't finished yet.
Check Your Novel's Length Against Its Genre, Then Price It
Find your genre's row in the table above and set your count against both columns. If you publish it yourself, run the count through the Words to Pages Calculator and the Royalty Calculator before you set the price.
