Does word count matter in writing? What is the point of keeping a daily word count?
We’ll tell you why word counts matter, especially in your book, the word counts for social media, including finding word counts on Word and Google docs, plus tips and tricks to working out your daily word count average to write your book, and more. PHEW!
So grab your snorkel and some flippers and let’s do a deep dive – we promise you’ll be back by lunch.
WHY IS WORD COUNT IMPORTANT?
Books are made up of words. There. We’re done.
Only kidding. Don’t go yet as there are a few surprising reasons why the word count matters in books.
It matters for novels that used to be judged (and not just by their covers either) by how they sat on the bookshelf. Bookshop owners only allocated so much space for certain genres on their specifically created bookshelves. When a book is too big it looks messy on the shelf. If it takes up too much spine space they can’t get as many books to fit within that crucial selling space.
Even if you are self-publishing word counts matter as you’ll be charged by the word amount when it comes to editing.
Oh, and then there are the printing and postage costs that are a BIG factor to consider where it’s all carried along to the reader who may choose between a book that’s $4.99 or $29.99.
So word count does matter not only for you, the printers, the publishers, and that poor postman making his deliveries, but to the reader, too.
WHAT IS THE AVERAGE WORD COUNT FOR WRITING BOOKS?
Readers of certain genres have expectations, too.
The voracious romance readers has a category class of romance, which means smaller word counts in their stories, making them cheaper to buy. Compare it to world-building fantasy novels, and you’ve got a brick made of paper.
Honestly, there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to word counts in publishing, we could only find guidelines. You can search for hours (like we did) trying to find the set-in-stone word count for books and couldn’t.
So, with our scrolling fingers retiring we came up with a combined list from our research to provide the word count averages for a book.
with our scrolling fingers retiring we came up with a list of word count averages for a book… Share on X
BUT FIRST SOME HOUSEKEEPING:
In the following list, you’ll see the letter k after a bunch of numbers.
The k = thousand.
So, 45k = 45,000
We did it so it didn’t scare you off with the amount of 000 (zeros) in the following word counts.
Okay, take a deep breath and let’s do this…
SOMEONE SAY THIS IS THE STANDARD WORD COUNT:
We’ll let you be the judge of this, as you’ll soon learn by the end of this article that it’s you who makes the rule. In the meantime, the following average number of words are found in:
- Adult fiction is: 60k–100,000 words
- Novels: 50,000–110k
- Novellas: 30,000–50,000 words
- Picture books: < 700 words
- Short Stories: 1–10k
- Flash fiction: 100–500 words
WHAT IS THE AVERAGE WORD COUNT FOR GENRE FICTION?
- Adult literary fiction, commercial, women’s fiction: 70,000-100,000 words
- Sci-fi and fantasy: 80k – 125k
- Historical Fiction: 85k – 100k
- Mystery/ Crime: 70k – 90k
- Category/ Novella Romance: 15k – 45k
- YA/ New Adult: 50k – 80k
- Middle Grade: 25k – 40k
- Romance: 45k – 90k
- Thriller: 70k – 90k
- Adult Non-Fiction and memoirs: 30k – 90k
THOSE BOOKS THAT BREAK THE WORDCOUNT RULEBOOK:
As mentioned earlier, the above word counts are only a guideline, although publishers prefer you to stay within those boundaries, there are exceptions to the rules like:
- George RR Martin for Storm of Swords Game of Thrones was 298K.
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was 47k words.
- Becoming by Michelle Obama came in at 165k.
- Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, 95k.
- Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, ended at 105k.
- Twilight by Stephanie Meyer came in at 120k words.
- The Wizard of Oz – 40k.
- Jane Eyre – 180k.
- The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After by Julia Quinn, 97k.
- The first Harry Potter book had 76,944 words. By the fifth book in the series, the word count had grown to 257,000 words.
FINDING YOUR WORDCOUNT IN YOUR WIP
Now you know what word count to aim for, where do you find your current WIP wordcounts?
That depends on what tool you use for writing, below we’ll show you the most popular writing tools— Google Docs and Word.
finding your word count is easy… Share on X
FINDING YOUR WORD COUNT IN GOOGLE DOCS:
You can find your word count in Google Docs in two ways:
Go to Tools in the top toolbar.
Or you can use the shortcut key of ctl+shift+c (as per the screenshot)
Both ways will provide you with a box that shows you the number of pages, words, characters, and a place to tick should you wish to display it while typing.
What you get is the little box on the bottom that you click to give you the above numbers.
FINDING YOUR WORD COUNT IN WORD:
You can generally find the word count number on the bottom left of your screen.
Alternatively, you can tap ‘Wordcount’ into the help box to show you, as per the screenshot above.
SHOULD I KEEP COUNT OF MY WORDS OR PAGES IN YOUR DOCUMENT?
Keeping count of your pages used to matter back when they were handwritten or typed out with those old-fashioned typewriters.
Today, it’s the word count that matters. Every time. Because you can change the font size and layouts of the page to suit your publishing purposes.
SOME RANDOM QUESTIONS ASKED ABOUT WORD COUNTS:
WHAT IS THE WORD COUNT OF A 300-PAGE BOOK?
The average for a 300-page book is 90k, but that also depends on the size of font, spacing, and margin layout.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO READ A 300-PAGE BOOK?
To read a 300-page book takes the average reader 8 hours to complete.
HOW DO I FIND OUT HOW BIG MY BOOK WILL BE?
You can estimate how long your book can be for print by dividing your word count by 300.
For example, you have a 66,000-word count.
66,000 / 300 = 220 pages.
This is only an approximate figure, as it will depend on the font size you use and the page layout in your paperback’s design.
IS WORD COUNT THE SAME AS CHARACTER COUNT?
For a word to matter, the entire word is counted. It does not include spaces.
Character counts, as used for social media, includes the use of letters, spaces, the times you use the enter key, and emojis. Everything is counted.
THE WORD COUNTS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA
On social media, there is a word limit for each platform – actually it’s a character count limit that includes spaces. The following is subject to change at the whim of the social media creators. So, here’s a ballpark version in case you wanted to know:
The following social media maximum character counts are:
- Facebook post – 63,206 characters
- Facebook & Instagram Ads
- Headline – 40 characters
- body text – 125 characters
- link descriptions – 30 characters
- Facebook comments – 8000 characters
- Instagram post – 2,200 characters
- A Twitter tweet – 280 characters
- LinkedIn post – 140 characters (and it’s 100 characters before the ‘See More’ cuts you off)
- Pinterest Pin Title – 100 characters
- a Pin description – 500 characters
- TikTok – 300 characters
- Snapchat – 80 characters
- YouTube – 5000 characters! Epic.
According to Buzz Sumo, the best average character count for engagement on most forms of social media is <50 characters
WHY SHOULD I SET UP A DAILY WORD COUNT?
One of the main reasons you should keep a daily word count is to keep you accountable for your words.
Knowing you have so many words a day will help motivate you to write your book that much quicker.
Knowing you have so many words to write per day can help motivate you to write your book… Share on X
Setting a daily, or weekly number becomes a powerful motivational tool to help you achieve your author goals.
Writing a book is loooong process, so beating your daily averages and watching that word count climb helps you to achieve that author goal.
THE DAILY WORD COUNT AVERAGE FOR PROFESSIONAL WRITERS:
Everyone writes at their own pace based upon their lifestyle, family, work, and life commitments, etc.
A blogger aims for 500-1500 words a day.
The average for some authors is 1000-3000 words per day. 5000-10000 when in the editing phase.
Some famous writers chose their daily word count to suit them, such as:
- Stephen King 2k (6-10 pages)
- Ernest Hemingway – 500 words
- Michael Rowbotham – 500 words
- Sophie Kinsella – 1k
- Mark Twain – 1,500 words
- Nicholas Sparks – 2k
- Lee Childs – 1,800 words
- Anne Rice – 3k
- John Steinbeck – one page a day. Which suits his most popular writing quote: “…Write freely and as rapidly as possible.”
“Write freely and as rapidly as possible.” John Steinbeck
HOW DO I SET UP A DAILY WORD COUNT?
Look through the genre word count list (above) to find where your story fits best.
Then work out how long you would like to write. Say you want to write five days of the week, Monday to Friday, either before or after work or during your lunch break. You pick when and where.
So, if we were to work off a commercial fiction novel for 85,000 words, we’re able to calculate the word count formulas…
How to set up your daily word count & why… Share on X
WORD COUNT FOR 365 DAYS OF THE YEAR:
So for those who wish to write daily, for an 85,000-word book if we divided it by the days of the year, then round it out, that would be 233 words per day.
The formula is: 85000/365 = 233 words
WORD COUNT PER WEEK:
For an 85000-word novel, divided by the 52 weeks of the year, that was rounded out, you’d need to write 1,635 words per week.
The formula is: 85,000/52=1635
WORD COUNT FOR THE DAY:
Say you only wanted to write Monday-Friday (not counting public holidays) you could take your weekly word count (from above) and divide it into the days you want to write.
The formula is 1635 /5 = 327 words per day.
If you only have the weekends = 1635/2 = 826.5 words
TIPS TO HELP YOU KEEP YOUR DAILY WORD COUNT:
There are many tools and tricks out there. We’ve tried and trialled plenty to give you all the tips on the planet, but it’s ultimately your choice. You get to make your own rules.
So, here are some basic tips:
Time: pick a time and stick to it so that it becomes a habit. The writing habit is what you’re aiming for.
Place: a corner table, a closet nook, a space set up to write where all you do is sit, open your laptop and go.
Limit Distractions: turn off the notifications on your laptop/ desktop – especially emails, and switch your phone to silent. Ensure you have a drink and water handy to not leave that desk area or distract you while you write.
Writing plan: Having a basic outline, or even a few scribbled notes on what you’re writing about can help you stay on track. It’s like a to-do list, in only a few words to keep you going, especially if you’re in the middle of an epic scene – but had to go to work, and couldn’t get back to your desk until the next day. At the end of a writing sprint, jotting down some points of where you want to go with the story, will help to jog your memory letting you get right back into the swing of things so much quicker.
Don’t rush yourself: If you aren’t used to writing such large amounts of words, this will take time. Just start with one hundred words. Then 150, 200, and so on. You’ll soon find yourself writing like a pro, slamming out your daily word count goals in no time.
THE WORD COUNT TRACKER TOOL
We went to basics and built our own word count tool for what we wanted. We know it works as we use it for every book.
I’m an international multi-bestseller of over a dozen full-sized novels, a 7+ book series, even with a book topping the 100k mark. I’ve used the fancy wordcount tools, apps, and other gadgets, finding I spent way too much time learning how to use these tools instead of writing.
This free word count tool works and doesn’t need a degree to know how to use it.
It’s the word counter. Sexy title, huh?
How it works is that you set up your word count goal, and then your daily word count (as per the formulas above).
At the end of each writing session, you simply add your word count for the day, find them on Word or Google and enter it into this free word count tracker.
Then watch those numbers climb closer to your book’s finish line.
It’s a great motivation tool to help you keep on track with your goals by achieving your daily word count.
Also, set some pesky reminders for yourself, especially when starting out like setting an alarm on your phone, or desktop calendar reminding you with the simple message: Have you completed your word count for today?
You’ll be a word-nerding number cruncher in no time!
THE FINAL WORDS ON WORD COUNTS:
It shouldn’t matter what the word count is in the end it’s your story and should be told how you want to tell it. Your way. And that’s what can make a difference between a good story cut short or a long-winded book. It needs to keep the reader’s attention, or they’ll close that book.
Write what you want from beginning to end. Then have fun with the word count in the editing/ rewrite phase.
Be sure to bookmark this page for future reference, and don’t forget to grab the FREE WORDCOUNT TRACKER HERE >>
Happy Writing.
