Genre guide · Nonfiction
Essay Collection: word count & book length
How long a essay collection book should be, which trim sizes suit it and what that means in printed pages. Typical length: 50,000–80,000 words.
About essay collection
A collection of personal or critical essays, often previously published in magazines, linked by theme or voice.
Printed length in recommended trim sizes
| Trim | Pages at 11 pt | Spine (white) |
|---|---|---|
| 5.5 x 8.5 in Digest | 182–282 pages | 0.41–0.64 in |
| 6 x 9 in US Trade | 160–248 pages | 0.36–0.56 in |
Page counts for these lengths
Tips for this category
- List original publication venues on the copyright or acknowledgments page.
About Essay Collection
An essay (, ESS-ay) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal and informal: formal essays are characterized by "serious purpose, dignity, logical organization, length," whereas the informal essay is characterized by "the personal element (self-revelation, individual tastes and experiences, confidential manner), humor, graceful style, rambling structure, unconventionality or novelty of theme," etc. Essays are commonly used as literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author.
From the Wikipedia article “Essay”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Most-published essay collection works in Open Library
| Title | Author | First published | Editions |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Prince | Niccolò Machiavelli | 1515 | 1,407 |
| Walden | Henry David Thoreau | 1854 | 1,140 |
| Nineteen Eighty-Four | George Orwell | 1949 | 727 |
| Orthodoxy | Gilbert Keith Chesterton | 1874 | 551 |
| Heretics | Gilbert Keith Chesterton | 1905 | 551 |
| Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow | Jerome Klapka Jérôme | 1880 | 433 |
| De la démocratie en Amérique | Alexis de Tocqueville, Gustave de Beaumont | 1835 | 424 |
| The Federalist, or, The New Constitution | Alexander Hamilton, James Madison | 1788 | 350 |
| Essais | Montaigne, Michel de | 1600 | 294 |
| Ἱστορίαι | Ἡρόδοτος | 1494 | 284 |
Open Library lists 9,283 works under this subject.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a essay collection book be?
What trim size is best for essay collection?
Sources & data
- Subject statistics from Open Library.
- Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).