How Long Is a Novel?
Most published adult novels run between 70,000 and 100,000 words, or about 280 to 400 printed pages. Fantasy runs longer, romance and mysteries often shorter. Nobody will stop you, but an agent might.
The Short Answer
If you want one number, it’s 80,000 words. A first novel between 70,000 and 100,000 words won’t surprise anyone in most genres, and that’s what these ranges are for: not surprising anyone before they’ve read a page.
These are conventions from publishing, not rules. No authority publishes them, and agents, editors and blogs will give you figures that differ by ten thousand words. Treat what follows as the usual ranges for a debut with a traditional publisher.
Typical Word Counts by Genre
| Genre | Usual range |
|---|---|
| Literary fiction | 70,000 to 100,000 |
| Romance | 50,000 to 90,000 |
| Mystery and crime | 70,000 to 90,000 |
| Thriller | 70,000 to 100,000 |
| Science fiction | 90,000 to 120,000 |
| Fantasy | 90,000 to 120,000, epic fantasy often more |
| Historical fiction | 80,000 to 110,000 |
| Horror | 70,000 to 90,000 |
| Young adult | 50,000 to 80,000 |
| Memoir | 70,000 to 90,000 |
The exceptions you’re thinking of are real, and they mostly had earlier books that sold. A debut gets less room than a writer with an audience, because a long book costs the publisher more to print and asks more of a reader who has no reason yet to trust the author.
How That Turns Into Pages
A printed page holds roughly 250 words, so 80,000 words comes to about 320 pages. The page count depends on your trim size, your font and your margins, and the same book can honestly be 280 pages or 360. Don’t plan by pages until you’ve set the type.
When Length Really Matters
You’re querying agents. A manuscript far outside the range for its genre gives a busy reader an easy reason to stop. If yours is 180,000 words, it’s probably worth finding out whether it’s really two books.
You’re printing the book yourself. Print-on-demand costs rise with pages, and Amazon’s KDP sets limits on how long a book can be, depending on format and ink. The longer the book, the less room you have left between what it costs to print and what readers will pay.
You’ve finished and you’re short. A first draft at 55,000 words isn’t a failure. Many writers underwrite, and a revision adds what’s missing. Others overwrite and cut a fifth. Find out which you are by finishing.
Track It Without Watching It
A word count is useful for a project and bad for a morning. Set a target if it helps, and look at it less often than you want to. In Shiro, you can set a total, a daily goal and a deadline, and get a forecast of when you’ll finish at your current pace. Whether to believe it is up to you.
The Questions People Ask
How many pages is 80,000 words?
About 320 in a typical paperback, at roughly 250 words a page. Trim size, font and spacing move it a good deal in either direction.
What counts as a novel rather than a novella?
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association draws the line at 40,000 words for its Nebula Awards. Below that, down to 17,500, is a novella. Publishers are less exact, and few would call 40,000 words a novel on a bookshop shelf.
Do these numbers apply if I self-publish?
Not as rules. Nobody can turn your book down for being long. Readers still have expectations for a genre, and print costs rise with page count, so a very long book costs more to make and to buy.
Last revised November 2026.