# Number of words per page ?



## Flemming Hansen

Hello all

I've been wondering about how many words you should have per printed page. I've read book where the publisher has put too many words on each page, which resulted in me putting the book down because it was too crammed and annoying to read. What would be a good word-number for a standard paperback page?

Scrivener has the default set to 350 words/page, but I've also read on the Interwebs that some suggest 250 or 300. I'd love some opinions on this. 

Cheers


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## Ireth

250-300 is the average amount of words per page for standard manuscript format (12 point Courier, double-spaced on 8.5" x 11" paper, 1-inch margins all around). This changes when the manuscript is published and the font and page sizes change.


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## JonSnow

So I recently went through my vast collection of fantasy books to find this very answer, for my own writing. I wanted to have an idea of how many pages my novel in Microsoft Word would translate into standard book print. What I came up with was between 300-400 words per page. The "average" would be around 280-300, for a series like Dragonlance, or some of Terry Brooks' works (these are considered easier, shorter reads). For longer, more epic series by Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin, Terry Goodkind, you would be upwards of 350-380 words per page.


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## Flemming Hansen

Thank you both for your replies.


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## Addison

Flemming Hansen said:


> I've read book where the publisher has put too many words on each page, which resulted in me putting the book down because it was too crammed and annoying to read.



That doesn't sound like too many words. That sounds like too much black and not enough white. When you're writing a story, however long or short, you want there to be a balance between long and short paragraphs. Give breaks of white for the readers to relax because, as you've experienced, it gets annoying and hard to read. 

There's no word count per page. But when it comes to flash fiction, short stories, novellas and novels it's completely different by overall word count. Flash Fiction is 50 words or less. Short Stories generally run by either seven to ten pages following standard format or a max of a few thousand words. Novellas fall between ten thousand and thirty or so thousand words. Novels...well your first one depends on you. Then it's you putting your head together with an editor. Then, if it's a sequel or you're signed to a contract, they tell you how many words.


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## WhiteRaven

So if I have a story that is 16 pages typed, approximately 9,500 words, will I have difficulty trying to get it published because it seems to be between a short story and a novella? It is a Word document in Calibri 11 point font, which seems standard for my Word program.  I didn't even think about font type or size when I started typing.


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## Benjamin Clayborne

9,500 words is fine as long as the market you're submitting to wants stories that long. Some markets don't want anything over 4,000, some are okay with 1,000-20,000, etc.


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## shangrila

I wrote out a few pages from a small paperback book once and ended up with something around 260 per page. I guess mine was on the low end though.


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## T.Allen.Smith

shangrila said:
			
		

> I wrote out a few pages from a small paperback book once and ended up with something around 260 per page. I guess mine was on the low end though.



No, I think that's about typical. Most submission packages I've seen ask for 12 point font, double-spaced, in Courier New or TNR. I write this way since that's the way the work s submitted & it averages around 250 words per page.


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## Akahige

So if I'm understanding this correctly, if you set your WP to 12 pt Times New Roman and do double spacing, this will give you a fairly accurate idea of how many pages you'd have with a typical paperback?


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## JonSnow

Double spaced is too much. I'd do 1.5 spacing... without the extra line between paragraphs. Keeping 12 pt font, you'll be around 350-375 words per page, which is pretty normal for a modern fantasy novel. As I said earlier, I have actually gone through a bunch of my fantasy collection and actually counted the words per page. Larger/epic novels tend to be 350-400, where smaller novels tend to be around 300. I also use the "Justify" format so it stretches the words from margin to margin... With my 12pt font, justify paragraph format, 1.5 spacing, and 5 character tab (for new paragraph), I average 380 words per page.

This might not be the format you have to submit your manuscript in (I haven't researched that). But it will give you a really accurate measurement of how long your novel will be once it reaches print.


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## JonSnow

Akahige said:


> So if I'm understanding this correctly, if you set your WP to 12 pt Times New Roman and do double spacing, this will give you a fairly accurate idea of how many pages you'd have with a typical paperback?



In short, submission format isn't a good measurement of how long your novel will be when it prints. 12 pt with double space gives you 250 words per page... actual book print will end up being 300-350 (maybe more, if its really long). So submission specs and "true length" specs are totally different.


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## T.Allen.Smith

JonSnow said:
			
		

> In short, submission format isn't a good measurement of how long your novel will be when it prints. 12 pt with double space gives you 250 words per page... actual book print will end up being 300-350 (maybe more, if its really long). So submission specs and "true length" specs are totally different.



This is true, but your overall word count determines the length of the book. Printing standards and inner design layouts will vary. Because of that variance I don't see any reason to be concerned with anything other than total word count.

The reason to type in 12pt & double spacing is to make it easier on your critique readers & editors. The spacing allows room to make notes and annotations.


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## JonSnow

T.Allen.Smith said:


> This is true, but your overall word count determines the length of the book. Printing standards and inner design layouts will vary. Because of that variance I don't see any reason to be concerned with anything other than total word count.
> 
> The reason to type in 12pt & double spacing is to make it easier on your critique readers & editors. The spacing allows room to make notes and annotations.



You are absolutely right. I think the only confusion here is some people are assuming that the submission format is going to translate into actual book length. I've seen this misconception on other forums, too... not just this one. 

You could also just divide your total word count by 350 and it would be a good barometer for how many pages your manuscript will be in the average paperback print... I just think some people like to see a true "length" in front of them as they work. In the end, all that really matters is word count, because you never know what the final page count will end up being, until it is actually printed.


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## Benjamin Clayborne

JonSnow said:


> Double spaced is too much. I'd do 1.5 spacing... without the extra line between paragraphs. Keeping 12 pt font, you'll be around 350-375 words per page, which is pretty normal for a modern fantasy novel. As I said earlier, I have actually gone through a bunch of my fantasy collection and actually counted the words per page. Larger/epic novels tend to be 350-400, where smaller novels tend to be around 300. I also use the "Justify" format so it stretches the words from margin to margin... With my 12pt font, justify paragraph format, 1.5 spacing, and 5 character tab (for new paragraph), I average 380 words per page.
> 
> This might not be the format you have to submit your manuscript in (I haven't researched that). But it will give you a really accurate measurement of how long your novel will be once it reaches print.



Every manuscript format guide I've ever seen says double-spacing. I suppose there's some editors/readers who wouldn't mind 1.5, but I wouldn't advise it.

Manuscript format is usually about 250 words per page. Printed hardback books, in my experience, tend to be about 350 words per page. But frankly, I don't care how many pages a book is; I want to know how many _words_ it is, since the number of words doesn't vary based on physical format. (And pages are irrelevant once you get into ebooks anyway.)


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## Chilari

Essays for uni were meant to be submitted double spaced, and I always set it at a 1.8 multiple to save printing costs (I probably saved a grand total of Â£3 across my four years studying through this method). Nobody ever said anything. At a glance you can't even tell, really.


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