Every genre has defining features. Romance novels have two points of view (POVs) for each love interest. Young adult novels have a 14-17-year-old protagonist. I’ve discussed earlier how POVs have genre norms as well (read here!) but genres also have word count norms! Your word count is more definitive for the length of your book than pages.
Last week, I shared how to write a 90k novel in 90 days as a starting point. Today, I’m going to share the common word counts for each genre, which will allow you to figure out exactly how many words you’ll be aiming for in your novel!
Middle School Fiction
For children between the ages of 8 and 12, the average word count for books is between 20k and 50k words. Here a good rule of thumb goes: the higher the word count, the older the reader.
Young Adult Fiction
YA fiction are (marketed) for teenagers between 13 and 18. The average word count for YA novels is anywhere from 40k to 80k words, with fantasy and sci-fi novels reaching the higher end of this range.
Adult Fiction
Adult fiction is only slightly longer than YA novels. Most adult fiction books average between 70k to 100k words. Publishers make a point to say that anything above 110k words is more difficult to market.
Romance Novels
Romance novels are the epitome of a good time read—they are entertaining, happy, and fun! With a fast and fun read, romance novels can be as short as 50k words! The sweet spot is around 60k to 70k—long enough to be entertaining but short enough to enjoy pool-side in the summer. There are some romance novels that go up to 100k but those are usually romance novels with a side of fantasy or historical fiction that require more world-building.
Mystery Novels
Mystery or Thriller novels balance the knife’s edge of a riveting summer time read with heavy source material. Unlike a romance novel, a mystery novel can be slightly longer with an average word count around 70k to 90k. In other words, short enough to be a quick read but long enough to be suspenseful.
Historical Fiction
Historical fiction, regardless of its sub-genre (romance, mystery, etc.), tends to have a higher word count of about 100k. This is because, like fantasy and sci-fi, there is a lot of world-building to establish a concrete basis for the reader.
Fantasy/Sci-Fi
The ultimate world-building books are, unsurprisingly, the longest books in the list. Fantasy and Sci-Fi novels range from 90k to 120k words! Be warned, though! If you are attempting to traditionally publish, most agents and publishers are skeptical about signing a brand new author with an 120k word novel. For your first novel, it’s recommended to stick below 100k. (No matter what genre you write in!)
Poetry Book
Poetry books are not measured by word count. They are measured by how many poems are in the book. The average poem count for a poetry book is between 70 and 100 poems! My poetry book BORN FROM ASHES has around 111 poems.
Food for Thought
As with anything, these are recommendations and ranges! You do not have to stick to any specific word count to consider your book complete. However, with an average word count in mind, go to my previous post (here) and reevaluate your writing schedule! If you are aiming for 60k words, you can do that in 60 days! (Or you can write it in 90 days without ever writing on a weekend!) It’s up to you!
