The broad bands
| Form | Typical length |
|---|---|
| Flash fiction | under 1,000 words |
| Short story | 1,000–7,500 words |
| Novelette | 7,500–17,500 words |
| Novella | 17,500–40,000 words |
| Novel | 40,000 words and up; most adult novels 70,000–100,000 |
The novella and novelette boundaries above are the ones used by major speculative-fiction awards; other organisations use slightly different cut-offs.
By category
- Literary fiction: 70,000–100,000 words.
- Romance: 70,000–100,000 (category romance shorter).
- Mystery 70,000–90,000; thriller 80,000–100,000.
- Fantasy and science fiction: 90,000–120,000; epic fantasy often longer.
- Young adult: 60,000–90,000. Middle grade: 30,000–55,000.
- Picture books: 300–800 words over 32 pages.
- Memoir: 70,000–90,000. Self-help: 40,000–70,000.
See the full genre length guide for more than fifty categories.
Why debut length matters more
Publishers take a risk on new authors, and very long debuts cost more to edit, print and ship. A 150,000-word debut fantasy is a harder sell than a tight 110,000-word one. Established authors and self-published series have more freedom — but readers still notice padding.
What length means in print
An 80,000-word novel is roughly 275 pages at 6 x 9 in and 320 pages at 5.5 x 8.5 in, at 11 pt. Doubling the length roughly doubles print cost and spine width. Check any length in the word count to pages tables.
Cutting and expanding
If you are far over, look first at whole scenes and subplots rather than sentences; structural cuts save thousands of words. If you are under, ask whether the book is actually a novella — a perfectly good, marketable form — before adding material that does not serve the story.