How many words in a novel? Word counts by genre for 2026

Most adult novels land between 70,000 and 100,000 words. That is the range literary agents quote most often for a debut, and it maps to roughly 250 to 400 printed pages at a standard 6 x 9 inch trim. Anything above 40,000 words is technically a novel; below that you are in novella territory.

Genre moves the target. Romance commonly runs 50,000 to 90,000 words, with category romance shorter still. Mystery and thriller sit around 70,000 to 90,000. Science fiction and fantasy run longer — 90,000 to 120,000 is normal, and epic fantasy can go well past that. Young adult usually falls between 50,000 and 80,000, and middle grade between 25,000 and 55,000.

Shorter forms have their own conventions. A novella is generally 17,500 to 40,000 words, a novelette 7,500 to 17,500, and a short story anything under that. These are the bands used by most genre awards and magazines, so they are a useful shared vocabulary.

For self-published authors, word count matters for a different reason than it does for agents: it decides page count, and page count decides print cost and royalty. A 120,000-word paperback costs noticeably more to print than an 80,000-word one, which squeezes margin at the same list price.

It also shapes reader expectations on the product page. Amazon displays an estimated page count, and readers in fast-paced genres treat a 600-page thriller with suspicion. A debut that is far outside its genre's norm is often a sign the manuscript needs another structural edit rather than a bigger book.

Do not pad or cut to hit a number. Use the range as a diagnostic. If you are 30 percent over, look for subplots that do not change the ending and scenes that repeat an emotional beat. If you are 30 percent under, the problem is usually missing middle-act complications, not missing description.

To count accurately, use your word processor's built-in count on the final file after removing front and back matter. Notes, comments and tracked changes can inflate the figure in some tools.

Manucheck reports your manuscript's word count, estimated print page count and reading level alongside its formatting checks, so you can see where your book sits against its genre before you choose a trim size or set a price.