Book Length – Average length of a non-fiction book

One of the questions new writers always ask is “How long should my nonfiction book be?” In this article I will try to answer that question.

However, part of the reason new writers find it hard to pin down an answer is because the answer is so hard. It is not as simple as it seems.

First, you must make two decisions. Specifically, you need to decide what kind of book you will write and how you will publish it. For example, are you going to write an e-book and give it away as a bonus? Or are you going to sell it on Amazon? Are you going to write a popular tutorial and use a traditional editor? Or are you going to write a textbook and sell it in college bookstores?

The shape of the book often dictates the size of the book. While the theme will have a big influence, there are many other elements that you need to consider. Many of these are related to marketing.

First of all, you need to set a standard length of one page. Some writers will claim that there is only one standard length of a page. Unfortunately, they never agree on what the standard is! Fiction typically uses 250 words per page, although 300 is also a common value. Nonfiction generally has longer sentences and fewer blank spaces because it has no dialogue. Sometimes 300 to 500 words are used as a criterion, although 250 is also used. Personally, I somewhat arbitrarily use 250. But like all numbers when discussing the length of a book, you should think of them as yardsticks. instead of firm numbers.

Now that we have the length of a page, even an arbitrary one, we can estimate the size of books and articles.

Take a look at your business library. You’ll find that almost all of his books are over 100 pages (between 25,000 and 50,000 words depending on your style). By fiction standards, that’s considered very short, novel-length in fact. In fiction, a short book is 50,000 to 80,000 words (approximately 200 to 300 paperback pages). Although science fiction and some other genres have been dragging on and can now exceed 400 pages (200,000 words). A typical “popular” business book is between 25,000 and 75,000 words. About that size is the territory of the academic or business technical book.

You’ll usually find that the books naturally group together after about 100 pages. The reason for this is related to the price of a print run. The cost of producing each book is related to the format size (eg, trade paperback, paperback, letter, etc.), the binding, and the number of pages. The latter tends to be priced at 100 pages, so preferred lengths tend to be multiples of 100. For example, most short works of fiction are 200 pages (around 50,000 words (romances, westerns, etc.) The next step is long fiction in Extra Long is usually around 400 pages (100,000 words), although it can go further.

Ultimately, you should consult your local bookstore to determine the appropriate size. You will find that certain markets have a preferred size (or sizes). Some publishers will also include their preferences in directories like Writers’ Market, though most now prefer the writer to guess.

Of course, what you want the length to be and what the actual length will be can be quite different.