Average length of women's fiction novel

Womens fiction is a publishing industry term thats rarely used by readers but is useful to writers, booksellers, and publishers. If that subtitle is key, a shorter main title may qualify. Longer womens fiction allows the development of multilayered, multicharactered subplots. For the first time in my adult life, i found myself single, scared, but liberated as well. The average wordcount for adult fiction is between 70,000 to 120,000 words. With such diverse novels, there was something for everyone. If eat, pray, love by elizabeth gilbert came to your mind, pat yourself on the back. Thats why ive got this list of historical fiction books about incredible women. With that in mind, ive tried to put together the definitive post on word count for fiction novels, young adult, middle grade, childrens books and even memoir.

Nonfiction wordcounts sit between 70,000120,000 words. After nearly four years with jeff, everything fell apart. Ill walk along published may 12, 2011 has an average chapter length of 1,021. In harry potter and the chamber of secretes jkr just over 3k as her average chapter length and 5k in the order of the phoenix so 3 to 5k sounds about right to me. At a writers conference i recently attended, publishing veteran jane friedman said 80,000 words is good for most fiction, below 60,000 isnt novel length territory, and above 120,000 is likely too much. This is a 100 % safe range for literary, mainstream, womens, romance, mystery, suspense, thriller and horror. Several years ago, my son wrote a short story that i found to be very good, as did many of his teachers. This 90,000word guideline for how many words in a novel is just that, a guideline. It is distinct from womens writing, which refers to literature written by rather than promoted to women. Womens fiction is an umbrella term for books that are marketed to female readers, and includes many mainstream novels, romantic fiction, chick lit, and other sub genres. While many of the publishers may be the same for both genres, editors are looking for the key elements that make for compelling womens fiction. Womens fiction tends to be longer, about 100,000 words or more, but it can be as short as 50,000 words plus. Nonfiction books have shrunk drastically in the last decade.

Of course, rules are made to be broken, especially in literature. Why else are there categories for women writers and no equivalents for writers who happen to. But i dont like to do things halfheartedly, so here is the bigger picture of length in fiction a novel is anything over 50,000 words. Novelist jane smiley suggests that length is an important quality of the novel. I know exactly what you mean about refusing to say womens fiction novel. Womens history month might be winding down, but bustle s love for women in literature never does. Between 80,000 and 89,999 words is a good range you should be aiming for. A tasty blend of romance, mystery, and french cooking. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. Womens fiction is a sign of a sexist book industry. The skys the limit for the maximum length, though anything over 250,000 is getting into war and peace territory. Books in the womens fiction genre are made up of stories that focus and center on experiences in womens lives, often in a commercial genre form.

Smiley lists novels as typically being between 100,000 and 175,000 words, 3 while national novel writing month requires its novels to be at least 50,000 words. Novel 50,000 110,000 most print publishers prefer a minimum word count of around 70,000 words for a first novel, and some even hesitate for any work shorter than 80,000. One assumes, seeing these varied authors representing womens fiction that what one needs to write womens fiction is a uterus. I always get accused of writing romance since my books have romantic threads, so when i first wrote a romance novel, i assumed it would be easy. Womens fiction versus romance irene vartanoff author. Few people agree upon what womens fiction actually is. Welcome to part two of my favorite reads of 2017 list. According to amazons great text stats feature, the median length for all books is about 64,000 words. A study done last spring showed that the average length of a nonfiction bestseller has dropped 42% in the last seven years. My womens fiction novel, summer in the city which is on super discount this week only for 99 cents at amazon, is a good example of the differences between womens fiction and romance.

The rebound list a steamy romantic womens fiction novel. Typically, a book that is published in paperback format at a length of 300400 pages will come in between 80,000 and 100,000 words. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. A womens fiction novel about the power of friendship. Liz kay on broadening the scope of stories by and for women. The heart of the story may include romance but it is invariably a novel driven by a relationship at the very core of the plot. Plus, i already have like five of these posts coming up if you missed part one i shared. Books with really long titles add your favorite books that have titles that have at least six words, not counting what comes after the colon. This category becomes more entrenched in literary culture each year. Martin and harper lee keep things more evenly paced in a game of thrones and to kill a mockingbird, respectively. This could be the simplest answer of course, that crime and thrillers paranormal or otherwise represent a much smaller percentage of published books. Womens fiction is classified as a genre all on its own. A romance novel or romantic novel is a type of novel and genre fiction which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Womens fiction genre whats the best definition for womens fiction.

How long a book should be depends on the genre and the intentions of the writer. For childrens fiction, the general rule is the younger the audience the shorter the book, and for ya novels the average is 50,00070,000 words. There are similarities between womens fiction and romance, but also distinct differences. Second comingofage novels, with much older women, are generally found in the womens fiction genre. Womens fiction is a sign of a sexist book industry joanne harris says the book industry is sexist. Most print publishers prefer a minimum word count of around 70,000 words for a first novel, and some even hesitate for any work shorter than 80,000. How does your book measure compare to whats succeeding in todays marketplace. The first time someone referred to my novel as womens fictionthe less infantilizing term for chick liti died a little inside. But the truth is that most of the books i read are by women. While romances, mysteries, and scifi novels often have pretty clear characteristics, womens fiction is so wide, the parameters are difficult to define. Within the publishing industry we tend to talk about the length of a book in words rather than in pages. Word count for novels and books is something i dont think about too often until i travel to a writers conference, and then someone asks a simple, innocent question. Neither too long nor too short, this book length signals a novelists competency and knowledge of the publishing market to prospective agents and editors. When i got back home i checked and found that her latest book published april 1, 2014, ive got you under my skin, has an average chapter length of 768 words.

The main plot of a womens fiction story is driven by the female leads emotional journey. There are many subgenres of the romance novel, including fantasy, historical romance, paranormal fiction, and science fiction. New writers tend to assume that a chapter must be a certain set length in order to maintain the average novel length of around 80,000 95,000 words, but in truth, chapters can be as long or as short as you need them to be. Yet any piece of fiction climbing over the 110,000 word mark also tends to give editors. This week, however, bestselling author paula mclain brings markham out of obscurityor at least out of the part of our minds only reserved for womens history month. A womens fiction novel can be about multiple relationships and characters. Through dinahs voice, this novel imagines the womens stories that the bible doesnt tell. For adult fiction especially crime, thrillers, womens fiction, saga and romance, 100,000 words is a good. The figure was found through looking at a number of books text stats, until brave new worlds 64,531 word count landed in the exact center of all books50% of books have fewer words and 50% of books have more words. There exists no comparable label in english for works of. Alternatively, this is an acceptable length for a short work of nonfiction. But if youre seeking a traditional new york publisher, here are some guidelines for how long a book should be. These novels set the bar high for the year to come they made us laugh, they made us cry, they made us feel all the things. A word count guide for 18 book genres, including fiction.

Literary agent paula munier says a 90,000 word count is the sweet spot for debut fiction. And as you can see, it varies, depending on the story. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. To call it provocative and rebellious is an understatement. For readers of paula mclain, nancy horan, and melanie benjamin, this captivating novel is inspired by a littleknown interlude in the artists life. Also, heres another list i may swipe and add in here.

In 2011, the average length of a bestselling non fiction book was 467 pages, but that dropped to 273 pages in 2017. The average chapter word count of these novels falls within the 2,0005,000 range. For a womens fiction novel, you are typically going to be dealing with a woman out of her 20s, or maybe in her late 20s, and she could be of any age outside of that. On the rules of literary fiction for men and women the. Do check your comparable titles recent debuts onlyto make sure your story falls in that range. As persuasion progresses, jane austen seems to elongate hers, building them up on a crescendo. The most popular fiction book, product, novel, gift, and item sold of all time for women, men, and kids.

Writers digest recommends 80,000 to 89,999 words as a 100% safe range for literary, mainstream, womens, romance, mystery, suspense, thriller and horror. Rather than stumble into another ill advised relationship, i would spend the next few months findin. If you want to selfpublish, it doesnt matter how long your book is or isnt because you have total control. Word counts for different kinds of novels vary, but there is are general rules of thumb for fiction that a writer can use when trying to figure out just how long is too long. When i refer to socalled womens fiction, im not applying the term the way its sometimes used. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. The publisher kept sending it back to me, saying my womens fiction voice was too strong in the story. The year 2018 proved to be a stellar year for womens fiction. Browse our latest titles in the womens fiction category to discover your next read from. An average novel length is between 80k and 100k, again, depending upon the genre. Using this exercise, you should end up with a good idea of book length expectations for a novel like yours. Gilberts book is a perfect example of what womens fiction is.