How Many Words Should Your Text Have?
Word and character count are actually more important in writing than most people think. When you’re writing, you need to pay attention to the word count of your material. Not only is it a way to measure your productivity but it also is an indicator of your text’s effectiveness.
Not every text needs a million words while some actually do need a million words! It all depends on what genre you are writing for. So how do you know that your text is appropriate after you count words and have an idea of how long it is? Here is a guide to let you know how well you are doing when the word count tool tells you how much content you have:
1. Sentences:
There is no perfect word count for a sentence, but a good, complete sentence should contain about 15 to 20 words averagely. Try to use simple, easily constructed sentences so that people will better understand your content. If you make use of long sentences, chances are that you will need to join it with several conjunctions and punctuation which will eventually confuse readers. The longer the sentence, the harder it is to make sense to a reader. Go straight to the point so that you don’t lose busy readers who don’t have the patience to reason through several clauses. Writing simply shows a regard for your reader’s time and attention.
2. Paragraphs:
As a general rule of writing, it is advisable to keep paragraphs under 200 words, that’s around 8 sentences. This is by no means a standard and you can count words in some paragraphs that exceed that depending on the idea that is being shared and the type of content. Either way, it is best to keep paragraphs from being too long because most readers don’t like seeing large blocks of text. If you limit a paragraph to a key idea or concept, then you will find your text looking more readable.
3. Essays:
Standard essays contain about 3-5 paragraphs at the least. It also depends on the subject you are writing on. The minimum is based on the requirements for an introduction, 2-3 paragraphs for key points in the body and one for the conclusion. There is also going to be a rubric that you have to follow if it is an academic essay. Don’t forget to use a word count tool to keep track on the word count to stay within requirements. You will also be judged based on the ideas you present and not the number of paragraphs or character count.
4. Emails
In a research conducted by an email marketing company, Email Labs, it showed that the average person spends around 20 seconds reading emails. Sending long emails could make the reader feel stressed and not read the entire thing. There really is no right amount of words that you should send in an email. The general rule for emails is “the shorter the better.” Keep your message brief and concise, deliver the message without distractions. Make sure the content can be easily given the eye scan and still make sense.
5. Books:
There are many genres of books and the length of a book is typically determined by the amount of details that you need to fit into it to make it a good one. Each genre has an expected word count and this comes from understanding the target audience that your book is written for. When you know your market and industry, it is easy to know what the average requirements are. Some industry norms are as follows:
- - Under 500 words is typically called flash fiction
- - Short stories are 1,000 – 8,000 words
- - Novella stories are 10,000 – 40,000 words
- - Novels are 50,000 – 60,000 words.
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6. Novels:
Most novel manuscripts typically come up at about 40,000 words and require at least 50,000 words to be considered a finished product. A good novel typically does not exceed 100,000 words. This is applicable to most fiction books, social commentary materials and teenage romance novels. The word count expectation is so that the book can be printed in a legible font size without appearing too bulky and discouraging to casual readers.
6. Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books:
This genre does not follow any convention towards the character count or word count of the books. Most fall within the 90,000 – 120,000 words count. Sci-Fi readers are a forgiving lot and so even when authors go over this range, there is unlikely to be any negative feedback from publishers or the readers. This also depends on how accepted the writer is and the length of previous offerings. Fantasy and Sci-Fi books take readers on a fantastic journey that requires a lot of imagination and so the content tends to be highly descriptive and comprehensive. If it’s a good story, the audience won’t mind a read that lasts for many days.
8. Adult Novels:
These generally stay below 100,000 words to keep publishing costs low. Also, this genre does not really require long manuscripts because of the attention span and type of content. The more erotic the content is, the shorter it usually is to make it a fun, fast-paced entertaining read. 80,000 words is the average number when you count words on most of them.
9. Children’s Novels:
Most children’s novels are either made for bedtime stories or as a child’s first experience to reading a book. The word counter limits are not fixed but they are more likely to be around 30,000 words. Going above 40,000 words will prove a discouraging read for most children. They also tend to contain a lot of colored pictures and illustrations so that already takes up plenty of space which the publishers consider into cost.
