A typical novel is 70,000 to 100,000 words long, and about 80,000 words is the most common target for a debut. Anything over 40,000 words generally counts as a novel. Fantasy and science fiction often run to 100,000 words or more, while young adult and middle-grade books are shorter.
Below are word counts by category and genre, the length of some famous novels, and what those numbers mean in pages and reading time.
Novel vs Novella vs Short Story: Word Count Categories
The clearest published cut-offs come from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), which uses them to sort entries for the Nebula Awards. They’re widely borrowed across other genres too:
| Category | Word count |
|---|---|
| Short story | Under 7,500 words |
| Novelette | 7,500 to 17,500 words |
| Novella | 17,500 to 40,000 words |
| Novel | Over 40,000 words |
Flash fiction usually means stories under 1,000 words (some definitions allow up to 1,500).
How Many Words in a Novel by Genre
These are the ranges literary agents and publishers commonly give for adult debut novels. Established authors often run longer.
| Genre | Typical word count |
|---|---|
| Literary and general fiction | 80,000 to 100,000 |
| Romance | 70,000 to 90,000 (shorter for category romance) |
| Mystery, thriller and crime | 70,000 to 90,000 |
| Science fiction and fantasy | 90,000 to 120,000 |
| Horror | 80,000 to 100,000 |
| Young adult (YA) | 50,000 to 80,000 |
| Middle grade | 30,000 to 55,000 |
| Picture books | Under 1,000 |
A first novel far outside its genre’s range, especially well over it, is harder to sell, because longer books cost more to print and are a bigger bet on an unknown author.
Word Counts of Famous Novels
| Book | Words | Reading time* |
|---|---|---|
| The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald | 47,094 | about 3 h |
| Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Sorcerer’s Stone in the US), J.K. Rowling | 76,944 | about 5 h |
| The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien | 95,356 | about 6 h |
| To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee | 100,388 | about 6½ h |
*At 260 words per minute, the average silent reading speed for fiction found in a 2019 review of 190 studies.
The Great Gatsby shows a novel doesn’t need to be long: at 47,000 words it only just clears the 40,000-word line.
How Many Pages Is a Novel?
A printed paperback page holds roughly 250 to 300 words, depending on trim size, font and layout. So an 80,000-word novel is typically about 270 to 320 printed pages, and a 100,000-word novel about 330 to 400.
In a manuscript (12-point font, double-spaced, the format agents expect) it’s about 250 words per page, so 80,000 words is around 320 manuscript pages. For shorter documents, see how many pages 1,000 words is.
How Long Does It Take to Write a Novel?
At 500 words a day, an 80,000-word draft takes 160 writing days, a little over five months. At 1,000 words a day it’s under three months. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), the challenge that popularised a 50,000-word goal in 30 days, asked for about 1,667 words a day.
Track your draft’s progress, and its reading time, by pasting chapters into the free Word Counter.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many words is a novel?
Anything over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel, and most published adult novels are 70,000 to 100,000 words. About 80,000 words is a common target for a first novel.
How many words is a novella?
Between 17,500 and 40,000 words, using the SFWA’s widely cited categories.
Is 50,000 words enough for a novel?
Technically yes, as it’s over 40,000 words. It works for middle grade, some YA and some category romance, but it’s short for most adult genres, where publishers usually expect 70,000 or more.
How many chapters are in an 80,000-word novel?
There’s no rule, but chapters of 2,000 to 5,000 words are common, which gives roughly 16 to 40 chapters for an 80,000-word book.
Check your manuscript’s word count and reading time instantly with the free Word Counter.
Sources: SFWA Nebula Awards rules; Brysbaert, Journal of Memory and Language (2019).