How many words do I have to write to create a good book?

First of all, the amount of words does not equal quality of story. You can write a 100,000 words of absolute rubbish and sell 10,00s of copies with a great marketing campaign. And if you are an avid reader like we are at DBI, then you will have come across your fair share of those!

When it comes to word count, there are no hard and fast rules for how many words you need to write. Non-fiction books have been as small as a couple of thousand words – Who Moved My Cheese? is a great example! Alternative healing books such as those written by Dawn in The Sacral Series are around 45,000 words. Walaahi, Dawn’s second book about living through the Egyptian Uprising is 77,000 words.

A typical novel ranges from 70,000 to 100,000 words, but depending on the genre and the age of your intended audience, the word count can be as low as 40,000 words. If you are writing a novel for 11 year olds, then you may want to start around 5000 words all the way through to 20,000 words. Our systems wizard read The Hobbit in just three days at the age of twelve!

When you stop thinking about word count and focus on quality content, then the book will naturally write itself. If you are feeling a bit stuck or wish to talk through the storyline with Dawn, then feel free to book a Writer’s Unblock session with her. She’ll have you back on track and feeling inspired in no time!