Let me also say, I hear the question “How many pages should a chapter be?” I have never found a definitive answer to that. I’ve read hundreds of thousands of books in my lifetime and there is no set number of pages that any chapter in any book that I’ve read is. In fact, every chapter seems to be different than the one before or after it. That isn’t a question that can be answered. The best advice I can give regarding chapter length, is simply the chapter should reflect the scene you are in, and when its time to move on, you’ll know it.

Since more often than not, its about word count, here is an average book or novel word count and how it is broken down.

• A Novel is always over 40,000 words, typically between 50,000 and 110,000
• A Novella typically falls between 17,500 to 40,000 words, but I have seen mention of up to 50,000
• A Novelette falls between 7,500 to 17,500 words, but I have seen reference to 20,000
• A Short Story is most typically over 1,000 but under 7,500 words. It sometimes can be up to 10,000
• An Epic or Sequel is most often over 110,000 words
• Micro-Fiction is most commonly up to 100 words
• Flash Fiction begins about 100 words to 1000 words.

Moving beyond that…

• An average Novel length is about 70,000-130,000 words.
• A typical Young Adult Novel is 60,000 words and up. Some publishers will look at 45,000. Most publishers would prefer you stay under 80,000 words.
• Most Middle Grade Fiction is about 25,000 words to 40,000 words, which typically averages at 35,000
• Most Children’s Books are no longer than 1,000 words or an average of 32 pages.
• Cozy Mysteries are typically about 60,000-70,000 words.
• Mainstream Mysteries and Crime Fiction are an average of 90,000 to 100,000 words
• Science Fiction and Fantasy is on average 100,000 words but some publishers will consider much more, if it fits in the story
• A Memoir should average about 70,000 – 79,000 words

If you are breaking it down by Page Counts
Industry standard prefers 250 words per page. This means that a 400 page novel, will be about 100,000 words. To get an idea of page count for books you are reading in your genre, take the page count and multiply it by 250. This gives you a rough estimate of word count.

Update with some new info:
I came across this list, and I can’t remember where from. I cut and pasted it into a writing file and just discovered it after I had already published this post. Adding it now, because I feel like it covers a lot of areas.

Short-short story 500-2500
Short story 2500-5000
Novelette 7000-25,000
Novel–paperback 35,000-80,00
Novel–hard cover 25,000-150,000
Humor feature 300-800
Oped 500-1000
Book review 400-1000
Newspaper feature 800-3000
Magazine article 2000-5000
Nonfiction book 20,000-200,000
Cookbook 10,000-200,000
Juvenile picture book 500-1500 (varies)
Juvenile book–mid 3000-25,000
Middle grade 10,000 words-50,000 words
Young adult book 15,000-80,000
Poem 2-100 lines (4-16 lines preferred)
Speech 250 words = 2 minutes
12-15 pages = 1/2 hour
Book Proposal outline/summary; (varies) sample chapter(s)
Query Letter 200-500 1-2 full pages; single-spaced

How much weight do you put in your title while you are writing?

Curious to see if your title could become a best seller? For fun, try the Lulu Titlescorer to find out. http://www.lulu.com/titlescorer/index.php

You can also pit two titles against each other and see which is the better title. http://www.lulu.com/titlescorer/fight.php

So I ran my title from last year – and it had a 79.6% chance of becoming a best seller. That would be nice. Pretty good odds. lol

This years only has a 22.9% chance. That’s okay – it’s a working title. I can come up with something better, I’m sure of it.

So have you run your title through Lulu’s titlescorer? What’s your score?

After reading the article, I was planning a blog post about it, but before I did, I hopped back on twitter.

In case you’re not on twitter, let me explain what I did. On twitter you get 140 character messages. You can RT (re-tweet) something that someone else has shared to pass along to all of your followers (chances are you have some that are not following the original poster).

I did this with the article and then returned to my blog to begin the post I wanted to write. I hopped back over on twitter a short bit later to get Fiona’s twitter URL and I found the following response waiting for me.

LucidGlow: @FionaRobyn @simplywriting that’s so useless as expected, just more kissing up to the industry.

At first I was startled by the response, because it was obvious that she didn’t agree with the article at all. Being that I thought it was a good article, I was confused as to why, so I asked her. This was the response:

LucidGlow:@simplywriting It’s the entire general attitude/approach. @HoodedMan is right on the money with his article(s): My Fifty Cents.

So of course I went to read the article. I found myself agreeing with much of what amos (@hoodedman) said (based mostly on my conversations with other writers/authors and knowing what a few of the real life authors I know went through. However, with that said, I am having trouble understanding how the two posts actually relate to one another.

Am I missing the bigger point? It seems to be that they are clearly speaking about two totally different things. And why would a little early publicity for yourself, and the ability to get your name out there, actually be a bad thing?

So I decided to post this on my blog and open up the comments so we can talk about it (mostly because 140 characters on twitter does not allow me to ask questions or say what I need to say). So please, take the time to read both articles and then come back here and tell me what you are thinking, if you agree with one or both, if you disagree with one or both and just generally tell me your thoughts. I promise to respond

So I put it on the back burner, and last night thought about it again. I applied using the SAME two clips I had used back then (the same two I tend to use most of the time because they have not been published anywhere).

Within two hours I got an email congratulating me on being accepted to Suite 101. Wow. I got accepted using the same two writing samples I used last time that seemed to have deemed me not worthy? I changed TWO words to make them past tense. That is all I changed, and honestly if anything – I would have thought that might have been more of a problem than the original way it was written. So funny.

Uhm. So now what? Got any words to share? I have no idea what in the world to write about, since I wasn’t thinking they would accept me again. What articles do well on Suite101? What articles stink on Suite101? I realize it is a residual site, so I want to find articles to write that are interesting and would keep people coming back long term.

Do any of you write for Suite101? Has anyone had my experience? You are rejected and then reapply later, and are accepted? My favorite part is that it was the same two articles. LOL The original “editor” must not have liked my topics. haha

Fill me in on your experiences with this site. I’d love to hear them!

Apparently, they give you a firm fee for the completed book (quotes seem to be between $1000-$1500) depending on who you ask, however you earn no royalties from future publications of the book. Only the one time fee.

If you have had, or anyone you know has had, any experience with Atlantic Publishing, I would be grateful if you would comment below and tell me about them. I am especially interested in people who have completed the book, and hopefully received their check. I would be interested in hearing the good, the bad and the ugly, so don’t hold back.

I want to know ALL about your experiences with Atlantic Publishing.

I know I have looked at books before and wondered how many words they actually are. For some odd reason, this helps me immensely in my own word count goals. I like to see what the finished product could wind up looking like. Since I write young adult fiction, my word counts are often different. I don’t write fantasy so when my books tend to get on the longer side, I have to cut scenes and chapters that don’t matter as much. Oh, the horror. What? Things I have written don’t matter? Well if they don’t matter to the story, they don’t really need to be in there.

Here are some of the most famous books and their word counts:

Harry Potter Books
Philosopher’s Stone-77,325
Chamber of Secrets-84,799
Prisoner of Azkaban-106,821
Goblet of Fire-190,858
Order of the Phoenix257,154
Half Blood Prince-169,441
Deathly Hallows-198,227

Other Famous Books
Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe-36,363
The Hobbit-95,022
Moby Dick-206,052
Oliver Twist-155,960
Old Yeller-35,968
Anna Karenina-349,736
War and Peace-587,287
Jane Eyre-183,858
The Outsiders-48,523
Schindler’s List-134,710
The Red Badge of Courage-47,180
Gone with the Wind-418,053
The English Patient-82,370
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl-82,762
A Prayer for Owen Meany-236,061
Crime and Punishment-211,591
Treasure Island-66,950
Little Women (Books 1&2)-183,833
The Brothers Karamazov-364,153
Sense and Sensibility-119,394
Great Expectations-183,349
Watership Down-156,154
Ender’s Game-100,609
Moby Dick-206,052
A Separate Peace-56,787
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-30,644
Emma-155,887
The Wind in the Willows-58,428
The Hours-54,243
The Golden Compass-112,815
The Fellowship of the Ring-177,227
The Two Towers-143,436
The Return of the King-134,462
The Lord of the Rings-455,125
The Tenth Circle-114,779
My Sister’s Keeper-119,529
Crime & Punishment-211,591
A Tale of Two Cities-135,420
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea-138,138
White Teeth-169,389
Atonement-123,378
The Mouse and the Motorcycle-22,416
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-109,571
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer-69,066
The Secret Garden – 80,398
The Grapes of Wrath-169,481
The Great Gatsby-47,094
One Hundred Years of Solitude-144,523
Memoirs of a Geisha-186,418
The Last of the Mohicans-145,469
Lord of the Flies-59,900
Cold Mountain-161,511
Cold Sassy Tree-145,265 F
The Color Purple-66,556
The Catcher in the Rye-73,404
The Joy Luck Club-91,419
Snow Falling on Cedars-138,098
1984-88,942
Black Beauty-59,635
Cold Mountain-161,511
Anne of Green Gables-97,364
Midnight’s Children-208,773
Brave New World-63,766
Gullivers Travels-107,349
A House for Mr. Biswas-198,901
All the Pretty Horses-99,277
A Suitable Boy-591,554(estimate)
The Yearling-128,886
White Fang-72,071
Wuthering Heights-107,945