The sorcerers stone 77,325 words the chamber of secrets 84,799 words the prisoner of azkaban 106,821 words. With the imminent release of the first of peter jacksons threepart adaptation of the hobbit, i revisited j. Hatchet with 41,672 words and holes with 46,554 words are ideal. Feb 20, 2008 writing a full length book in a month. This book was written in 1937 and even today it is a best seller all over the world. Shorter novels such as fahrenheit 451, the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, the great gatsby, and slaughterhousefive are between 4050,000 words.
Let me tell you about how i had to remove my membership from a childrens writer forum because i responded to a newbie about this topic. Know your content, know your mainline pitch and some. The hobbit cliffsnotes study guides book summaries, test. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. As a result, a 100k manuscript can size up very differently on a shelf. Tolkien 97,364 anne of green gables lucy maud montgomery 99,121 to kill a mockingbird harper lee 99,277 all the pretty horses cormac mccarthy 99,560 welcome to the monkey house kurt vonnegut 100,388 to kill a mockingbird harper lee count confirmed. However, there is a wide range of acceptable word counts for nonfiction books. Wordcounter will help to make sure its word count reaches a specific requirement or stays within a certain limit. Stephen king word count 112263 274,672 bag of bones 203,3 black house 252,270 blockade billy 15,917 carrie 60,718 cell 121,931 christine 193,602 cujo 121,150 cycle of the werewolf 15,955 desperation 195,011 doctor sleep. Since just comparing the number of unique words in a book does not take its length into account i decided to calculate the percentage of unique words of the whole text. Put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be around 8090k. Page count is determined by the publisher, not the writer.
Word counts of the most popular books in the world foster grant uk. Can jackson legitimize his second trilogy with the hobbits much slender 95,022 word count. Virtually every book i try to shop by a debut author thats any longer than thatregardless of categoryreceives the same response from editors. Immediately tolkien began work on the lord of the rings, published in 195455 after years of painstaking revision.
The book was first published on september 21, 1937 and is set in the years 2941 to 2942 of the third age before the events of the lord of the rings. Peter jackson confirms the news on facebook 15 years ago, when peter jackson first set out to make a movie adaptation of j. Initially intended as a standalone story for children, it was later realigned more into the middleearth legendarium by 1951, when a revised edition was released. Search for word count totals in books word counters. Sharp objects has a word count of 80,565 and my utility calculates it at 80,7.
Minimum realistic word count of nonfiction book writing. Pencilthin books on narrow topics that are under 50,000 words are quite common. At an average reading rate of 125 words per minute, thats about 145 hours of reading. The binding, font and paper size establish how many pages a published book will be. His books have been translated into over 30 languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide. Its great to know the length of such good books especially for budding writers. Is there a website that gives the word counts on books that. The hobbit is a story about little bilbo baggins and his notsolittle adventure. Only one book order of the phoenix topped 200,000 words, but. The actual word count for harry potter and the sorcerers stone is 78,792 and my utility calculates 77,876. I actually read the book after seeing the first two hobbit movies. The hobbit, prequel and origination story to the lord of the rings trilogy, is about bilbo baggins a shireling that is used to an ordinary and wellmaintained life. These details come from the silmarillion and the book of lost tales published posthumously, in 1983 and 1984.
Aug 28, 2006 it is a way an author can estimate word count, but its just as easy these days to use the word count function on your average word processing program to get a pretty accurate count. Tales and adventures sprouted up all over the place wherever he went, in the most extraordinary fashion. The ultimate measure of a storys size is its wordcount, however, so the. That said, this figure differs from book to book and organization to. The hobbit has more unique words and a higher unique word density than both the silmarillion and each volume in the lord of the rings. Lewis the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe, roald dahls charlie and the chocolate factory, and george orwells animal farm all came in under the 40,000 mark 38,421 words, 30,644 words, and 29,966 words, respectively. A book like harry potter and the sorcerers stone, with 78,792 words, is higher than recommended, but with any genre, there are exceptions. Tolkiens 1937 novel, which i had not opened since i was a teenager. Jun 27, 2019 put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be around 8090k.
What isnt often considered is the sheer number of words a person who reads the entire series consumes. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words. Beyond creating entire languages for elves and orcs, tolkien was known for making up english words as well. So it is advisable to follow the guidelines on word length for this category. The book remains popular and is recognized as a classic in. Balin, dwalin, bifur, bofur, bombur, dori, nori, ori, fili, kili, oin, gloin the other twelve dwarves who go with thorin, gandalf, and bilbo on the long journey. Right now, when it comes to novellength word count, its all about 90,000 words. Find and circle the words and characters based upon the book by j. Failing to mention the word count, or committing the faux pas of stating the page count instead, will also see a quick rejection.
Many, yes, but there are exceptions due to the layout and font size of a particular book. The entire lord of the rings series including the hobbit 576,459 words. The hobbit is a timeless classic, which is a tale of bilbo baggins, the wizard gandalf, gollum, and the spectacular world of middleearth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon smaug the magnificent. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. Tolkien as the name of a race of small humanoids in his fantasy fiction, the first published being the hobbit in 1937. When combined, the total harry potter word count is over a million words. Nanowrimo just finished for this year is a website which encourages people to write a 50,000 word book during november. The oxford english dictionary, which added an entry for the word in the 1970s, credits tolkien with coining it.
For the book hatchet, the actual word count is 41,672 and i give you 41,212. The hunger games has a word count of 99,750 and my utility calculates it at 98,916. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan. But, most nonfiction publishers want to be sold the concept, and therefore be able to discuss the direction of the project, before you write the book. Opt already knows how many words opt has in the ms.
He had not been down that way under the hill for ages and ages, not since his. The hobbit, or there and back again an unexpected party 4 remarkable tale. Even with the extra pages from tolkien, its hard to imagine. Suddenly inspired, he wrote the words, in a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
In any case, to see how authors use this tactic to set their pacing, we also mapped out the word count of every chapter in four famous books. You wont have time for a step to step guide, youll be writing flat out just to finish a first draft. As the 75th anniversary of jrr tolkiens novel the hobbit approaches, expert thomas shippey asks why it. Book length word count science fiction and fantasy world. How many words are there in the harry potter book series. The definitive collection of tolkiens classic fairie tales, in the vein of the hobbit, illustrated by oscar winner alan lee never before published in a single volume, tolkiens four novellas farmer giles of ham, leaf by niggle, smith of wootton. The harry potter books are popular, and once someone reads the first book in the series, they often end up reading the entire series. The hobbit tells a fantastic story of adventure, danger, friendship, and courage, and serves as a prequel to the even more immersive and epic book series, the lord of the rings. It is a way an author can estimate word count, but its just as easy these days to use the word count function on your average word processing program to get a pretty accurate count. Rowling started with two books of relatively conventional length before she had the latitude to start busting word count limits in the harry. After six years of intermittent composition, the hobbit was published as a childrens book to critical and popular acclaim. Jackson made the lord of the rings trilogy with a one book to one. Famous book series and novel word counts count words and. Word counts of famous book series harry potter by jk rowling.
Stephen king word count 112263 274,672 bag of bones 203,3 black house 252,270 blockade billy 15,917 carrie 60,718 cell 121,931 christine 193,602 cujo 121,150 cycle of the werewolf 15,955 desperation. The sorcerers stone 77,325 words the chamber of secrets 84,799 words the prisoner of azkaban 106,821 words the goblet of fire 190,858 words the order of the phoenix 257,154 words the half blood prince 169,441 words the deathly hallows 198,227 words total 1,084,625 words. As you read the hobbit, you might find yourself confidently checking a dictionary for a definition only to find it not there, because with tolkiens knowledge of the fundamentals of language, his madeup words sound real. Generally speaking a 70,00090,000word count is a comfortable range. R tolkien that takes place in the fictional world of middle earth, which is the setting of most of the authors works. For example, atonement has a word count of 123,378 and my utility comes up with 110,765 words. As the 75th anniversary of jrr tolkiens novel the hobbit approaches, expert thomas shippey asks why it still manages to capture. The word count range for middle grade is 20,000 to 60,000.
Generally speaking a 70,00090,000 word count is a comfortable range. Bert, tom, and william trolls from whom bilbo takes the key to a cave from which he and the dwarves take gold and the swords they use in battle with the goblins and in the battle of. The harry potter books are popular, and once someone reads the first. However, since each tome blitzed the 100,000 word mark the fellowship of the ring has177,227 words, the two towers has 143,436 words, and the return of the king has 4,462 there was more than. The average chapter word count of these novels falls within the 2,0005,000 range. It has fewer words than the other six books, making it the shortest book in the series. For example, if an author has to write a minimum or maximum amount of words for an article, essay, report, story, book, paper, you name it. If you liked electric literatures game of books infographic that compared the length of a song of ice and fire to classic novels, you might enjoy this infographic created for cartridge discount.
Tolkiens own children, the hobbit has sold many millions of copies worldwide and established itself as a modern classic. But while the length of a novel is to a large extent up to its writer, lengths may also vary by subgenre. Peter jackson confirms the news on facebook 15 years ago, when peter jackson first set out to make a movie adaptation of. Jul 18, 2014 if you liked electric literatures game of books infographic that compared the length of a song of ice and fire to classic novels, you might enjoy this infographic created for cartridge discount. A nonfiction book attractive to publishers of bestsellers starts at around 75,000 words. That left me with 66 logos word lists, each giving me every originallanguage word in a given book of the bible. In many ways a reworking of the plot of the hobbit, the length, intensity, and complex theses of the rings. Any book that falls into this category needs to be a real pageturner.
Too many words and you risk losing your audience, too few and they might feel like they missed something. The hobbit, or there and back again is a childrens fantasy novel by english author j. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. The graphic looks at the length of some famous novels, poems, and plays from literary history. And as you can see, it varies, depending on the story. However, it will be on the short side, as the average length of a novel hovers around 50,00070,000 words. To simplify things, i divided the total word count for the hobbit 95, 022by three and used that count for each of the three hobbit movies 31,674 because run times for the next two hobbit movies are unknown, i reused the run time for the first hobbit movie 169 minutes, or 10,140 seconds for the next two installments. That said, if your book is around 40,000 words, youre in good company. Since this was the first book, rowling had more time to edit the book and make the writing more concise.
Harry potter and the philosophers stone 76,944 words. Also, heres another list i may swipe and add in here. Famous book series and novel word counts number of words. Tolkien 18921973 was a distinguished academic, though he is best known for writing the hobbit, the lord of the rings and the silmarillion, plus other stories and essays.
I was quickly flooded with emails from many an angry author for daring to put a word count on a level of book. Read the hobbit absolutely for free at readanybook. For those who like to keep track of their reading word count. Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book. The first book, harry potter and the sorcerers stone, has 76,944 words.
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