The World of Kids' Chapter Books (2024)

FAQs

What is the word count for children's chapter books? ›

Chapter Book Word Count: 1,500 to 10,000. Young Middle Grade Word Count: 15,000 to 25,000. Middle Grade Word Count: 25,000 to 65,000. Upper Middle Grade Word Count: 65,000 to 85,000.

There are no set in stone rules governing chapter length. And if you've read enough books, you've likely noticed that some chapters in the same book can be a few pages long (or shorter), while others are closer to 6,000 words.

As a general rule, if a chapter is under 1,000 words, it might not be a whole idea or chapter. It might be part of something else. See if it makes more sense to combine it with another chapter. If your chapter is more than 5,000 words, see if you can break it into different ideas.

"Look, mom, I'm getting it." I would say since a chapter book is maybe 3,000, 5,000, 7,000 words, 10,000 words is getting up into the longer side of things. I would maybe aim for your chapters to be 10% or 12% of your total word count, or maybe even 8%. So use that as a rule of thumb.

40,000 words is 80 pages single-spaced or 160 pages double-spaced. Typical documents that are 40,000 words include include novels, novellas, and other published books.

10,000 words is 20 pages single-spaced or 40 pages double-spaced. Typical documents that are 10,000 words include college dissertations, theses, and in-depth blog posts and journal articles.

So if we're writing a 100,000-word novel, we'll have about 50 scene/chapters in our novel. From our earlier beginning, middle and end discussion, we know that 15 of those 50 scenes are already spoken for.

A 30,000 word count will create about 60 pages with single spacing or 120 pages double-spaced when using normal 1-inch margins, 12 pt.

500,000 words is 1000 pages single-spaced or 2000 pages double-spaced. Typical documents that are 500,000 words or more include full-length novels. It will take approximately 1,667 minutes to read 500,000 words.

The average chapter in Harry Potter is over 5,000 words or 20 pages. The shortest book, Philosopher's Stone (Book 1) also has the fewest average pages per chapter, while the longest book, Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) has the largest average pages per chapter.

How short is too short for a chapter? ›

At the shorter end, short can be very short. I've quite often written chapters that are 500 words or so. (That's a page and a half or so of an ordinary paperback.) If you want to go to 300 words or even less, you can.

As a general rule of thumb, shorter chapters tend to be more snappy and fast-paced, whereas longer chapters offer more opportunities for plot and character development, world-building, and other integral story elements. That's why the average chapter length tends to be between 1,500-8,000 words.

As a general rule, novels between 70,000 and 90,000 words will probably have anywhere between 15 and 25 chapters. But in the end, the number of chapters in your book should be secondary to your story.

You can have a two-word chapter or a 20,000-word one.

Optimum chapter lengths vary according to genre

This will, however, vary according to genre. Chapter lengths in books for younger readers often err on the shorter side, while fantasy novels tend to let it flow, sometimes up to 10,000 words per chapter. Think here of books such as J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

Chapters do not have to be uniform in length. They can be half a page to twelve pages long, though, five to eight pages seems to be the norm in contemporary children's and young adult novels.

The average adult reads 250 words per minute, therefor a chapter should not exceed 5000 words. (20 minutes x 250=5000). Children who read chapter books average 150 words per minute. The recommended chapter length is 3000 words or less.

Chapter length averages

On average, chapters tend to range from 1,000-5,000 words, with most falling in the 2,000-4,000 range. But chapters can be much longer or much shorter. There are plenty of bestselling books where some chapters are only a page and some where they don't even use chapters in the traditional sense.

Normal Chapters, 2,000 To 4,000 Words

Just take a look at the list above. You'll notice an impressive range of fiction in this 'normal' range.