Do you ever wonder what would be the perfect page length for your book?
It’s a difficult question to answer because it really depends on many factors related to your book.
Nonetheless, there are some useful guidelines that I can give you to achieve your finished manuscript in the most efficient time.
Firstly, I don’t recommend measuring your book-length by the number of pages. Many people write in different fonts so a much better way to measure the length of your book is by word count.
Secondly, it depends on the type of book and whether your goal is predominantly for the online market, or you intend to print it and use it as a marketing tool.
Let’s look at both options.
#1: Short books for the predominantly online market
In general, shorter business and self-help e-books are around 15,000 – 25,000 words and this will produce a physical book of around 100 – 150 pages.
These books are ideal for authors who are looking to produce multiple books, especially on online platforms.
My friend and client Steve Scott presents a wonderful example of this. He publishes a book every couple of months and has written over 50 books now. You can find his books here.<https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Scott/e/B0098NFKNM>
A lot of people ask me where someone would find the time to write so many words. If you think about 15,000 – 25,000 words in your head, it can seem like a daunting task!
If you take a step back and break that down though, it equates to around 2 months of time if you can take an hour a day and write 500 – 1000 words.
Once you start to segment the enormity of the task ahead, it becomes much a more manageable and achievable vision.
If this is your first book, or you’re looking to position yourself as an industry expert, a longer book isn’t usually required. This shorter avenue is an excellent way of becoming an author.
#2: Printed books used as a marketing tool
If you’re the kind of person who will be using the book as a marketing tool and the physical look of the book is important, a longer word count can help it stand out and sell more copies.
In this case, a word count of around 25,000 – 40,000 words will result in a book of approximately 200 – 300 pages. It’s going to be a solid looking book that will impress.
Pro tip to increase the length of your book
Tens of thousands of words may seem daunting, but you can easily double the size of your book by interviewing others. This brings the following benefits:
- Great connections
- Quality content
- Influencers will share your book with their followers
The power of interviewing people for inclusion in your book is vast. It’s a technique that I personally used in my book because it works so well. <http://jyotsnaramachandran.com/book/>
By approaching influencers, the words will flow and it will boost your word count and the quality of your overall book.
The presence of industry influencers in your manuscript will also benefit the marketing of your book. These strong connections will hopefully share your published work with their media circles and followers, boosting your profile.
My advice – forget about the word count and focus on your writing.
If you’d like to discuss page length for your manuscript then I’d be delighted to schedule in a call and speak with you.
