Do word counts count?

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There are surprisingly few articles on the subject of word and page counts in novel writing. Yet, it is something that perplexes many indie authors.

According to Colleen Lindsay, associate director for marketing, social media and reader experience for NAL/Berkley and former book agent, the rule of thumb on word count for mainstream YA fiction novels is between 45 and 80 thousand words. She goes on to say that YA paranormal and fantasy average word counts tend to run a little higher with the top of the range at 120 thousand. She notes that many publishers try to stay below 100 thousand to keep production costs low.

Chuck Sambuchino, Writer’s Digest, tightens up that range even more. His advice for YA authors is to keep it between 55 and 70 thousand words. According to him, under 55 is okay, though not optimal, but never drop below 47 thousand.

Both Lindsay and Sambuchino agree that there are always exceptions to the rule. However, their opinions differ from what I am currently seeing from established authors in the industry, which seem to be consistently over 80 thousand words for YA novels.

Barnes & Noble Bestselling Teen Fiction 5/30/13
Novel	Page Count	Word Count*
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green	368	92,000
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey	480	120,000
Divergent by Veronica Roth	576	144,000
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak	576	144,000
The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen	384	96,000
Insurgent by Veronica Roth	544	136,000
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton	192	48,000
The Maze Runner by James Dashner	400	100,000
Crushed by Sara Shepard	352	88,000
The Elite by Kiera Cass	323	80,750

*Word counts are estimated based on the standard of 250 words per page

Sambuchino suggests that the range may be higher for commercially-successful authors. According to him, first-time authors should stick to the lower end of the range. The thought behind this is? The bigger the book; the bigger the cost to produce it. Therefore, publishers may shy away from unproven authors with large projects. It is a business, after all.

To get an idea of word count average for indie authors, below are the current bestselling books from Smashwords, a leading distributor of indie novels. As you will see, these are significantly lower word counts than their B&N counterparts.

Smashwords Young Adult/Teen Bestsellers 5/30/13
Novel	Words
The Posterchildren: Origins by Kitty Burroughs	127,604
Pieces of You by Cassia Leo	75,781
A Vow of Glory by Morgan Rice	74,154
Wisdom by Amanda Hocking	91,079
Minutes Before Sunset by Shannon Thompson	76,491
Just a Little Honesty by Tracie Puckett	34,908
Fate and Fury by Quinn Loftis	106,000
Free Falling by Kirsty Moseley	132,429
Flit by Abieth Winter	78,832
Kings of the World by Matt Pike	101,699

And another interesting note on the Smashwords bestsellers is that one, Just a Little Honesty, would actually be categorized as a Novella. Novellas are becoming more and more popular. Not only are they easy to read on an electronic device, but authors are using them more and more to market their full-length work, and in doing so, are offering them for free which makes them extremely attractive to readers.

As for average word count ranges for novellas, there doesn’t seem to be an industry standard yet. I’ve seen stated ranges anywhere from 7 to 50 thousand words. Perhaps the most “official” range that I’ve seen is the one quoted by Science Fiction Writers of America for their Nebula Awards. To qualify for the Novella Nebula (say that five times fast), your work must be between 7,500 and 40,000 words.

There are so many theories on this topic. Make sure you collect them all to make an informed decision.