A Vocabulary Refresher
for Self-Publishing Authors

Measurable progress

What is goal-setting without timelines and milestones? Your word count is a great way to measure your daily writing progress. Without it, you’re bound to burn out pretty quickly. Finishing a 50,000-word book in a month is more doable when you pace yourself and write 1,700 words a day instead of writing 10,000 words in sporadic, espresso-fueled bursts.

Readers’ expectations

Readers usually have a good idea of what they should see in a particular section of the bookstore. Each genre comes with an expected length; you wouldn’t expect a middle grade children’s book to have more than 100 pages, or a sci-fi novel to have less than 300 pages.

Familiarize yourself with the typical length of books in your genre so that readers are more likely to pick up your book. You could even aim for the higher end of the word count range to make readers feel like they’re getting their money’s worth.

Submission guidelines

If you’ve taken your readers’ expectations into consideration, then your book would be more likely to follow publishers’ requirements. Traditional publishers usually base their submission guidelines on readers’ preferences to increase the likelihood of making a profit. They’d only be willing to ignore industry standards when you’re an established author.

Word count guide

From the writing stage to the publishing stage, your word count can make or break your book. Use the following the figures as a rough guide to give your book a chance to succeed.