{"id":106,"date":"2026-09-28T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foxwriters.com\/blogs\/?p=106"},"modified":"2026-09-28T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T10:00:00","slug":"how-long-should-a-book-be-word-counts-by-genre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foxwriters.com\/blogs\/how-long-should-a-book-be-word-counts-by-genre\/","title":{"rendered":"How Long Should a Book Be? Word Counts by Genre"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Typical word counts for fiction and non-fiction so your manuscript meets reader and publisher expectations.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why length matters<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Readers and retailers have expectations. A book far outside the norm is harder to sell.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Typical ranges<\/h2><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Novels: 70,000 to 100,000 words<\/li><li>Memoir: 60,000 to 90,000 words<\/li><li>Business books: 40,000 to 60,000 words<\/li><li>Picture books: under 800 words<\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What to do if you are over or under<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Edit for pace first. Cut what slows the story, or expand where readers need more.<\/p><blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Every book starts with one decision: to begin.<\/p><\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Typical word counts for fiction and non-fiction so your manuscript meets reader and publisher expectations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-tips","tag-sample-content"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foxwriters.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foxwriters.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foxwriters.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foxwriters.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foxwriters.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foxwriters.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foxwriters.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foxwriters.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foxwriters.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}