How Many Words Per Page in a Book?
Most printed books run 250 to 350 words per page, with mass market paperbacks closer to 250-300 and trade paperbacks or hardcovers landing around 300-400. If you're counting your own manuscript, the publishing-standard estimate is 250 words per double-spaced page in 12pt Courier or Times New Roman.
The short answer by book type
Word density depends on trim size, font, leading, and margins. Here's what you'll actually see on the shelf:
- Mass market paperback (the small 4.25 x 6.87 inch format): 250-300 words per page
- Trade paperback (6 x 9 inch): 300-350 words per page
- Hardcover novel: 250-400 words per page, depending on font choice
- Literary fiction with generous margins: 200-275 words per page
- Nonfiction with subheads and pull quotes: 200-300 words per page
- Textbook: 600-800 words per page in dense two-column layouts
- Picture book: 0 to roughly 50 per page, often hand-set
A 300-page trade paperback novel usually clocks in around 90,000 to 100,000 words. A 400-page literary hardcover lands closer to 120,000 words.
Why the range is so wide
Three things move the number:
Font and point size
A 10pt font fits roughly 40% more text per page than a 12pt font on the same trim. Most adult novels use 10.5 to 11.5pt body text. Large print editions drop to about 150 words per page at 14-16pt.
Trim size
A standard 6 x 9 inch trade paperback page holds about 25% more text than a 5.5 x 8.5 inch digest. Hardcovers vary the most because publishers pick trim to match the book's tone.
Leading and margins
Leading (the space between lines) and margin size eat real estate fast. A debut novel with airy margins might run 240 words per page. A dense Stephen King hardcover hits 400.
The manuscript standard you can actually use
If you're writing a book and want to estimate length, the industry rule is straightforward:
1 double-spaced page = 250 words (12pt Times New Roman or Courier, 1-inch margins)
That's what agents and editors mean when they ask for a 300-page manuscript. They're not asking for 300 printed book pages. They want about 75,000 words of typed copy.
Worked example
You've drafted a YA novel. Your Word document shows 312 double-spaced pages in 12pt Times New Roman.
- Estimated word count: 312 × 250 = 78,000 words
- Typical printed page in a 6 x 9 trade paperback: ~325 words
- Predicted printed length: 78,000 ÷ 325 = 240 pages
That's a healthy YA debut. Most YA contemporary novels target 55,000-80,000 words, and YA fantasy stretches to 90,000-100,000.
Common book-length targets
If you're writing toward a genre norm, here's what publishers expect:
- Middle grade fiction: 30,000-50,000 words
- YA contemporary: 55,000-75,000 words
- YA fantasy/sci-fi: 75,000-100,000 words
- Adult literary or commercial fiction: 80,000-100,000 words
- Adult fantasy or sci-fi: 90,000-120,000 words (some run longer)
- Adult thriller or mystery: 70,000-90,000 words
- Romance: 50,000-90,000 words depending on subgenre
- Memoir: 70,000-90,000 words
- Business nonfiction: 50,000-70,000 words
Going significantly under or over these ranges as a debut author makes acquisition harder. Established authors get more rope.
E-books, audiobooks, and other formats
E-book "pages" depend on the reader's device, font size, and zoom level. Amazon shows a "print length" based on a normalized 300 words per page. Kindle Location numbers are roughly 1 location = 128 characters of text.
For audiobooks, the working ratio is 9,300 words per finished hour at typical narration pace. A 90,000-word novel produces roughly a 9.5 to 10 hour audiobook.
Counting your own pages
You don't need to estimate. Paste your draft into a counter and you'll get the exact number, plus reading time and character count. Useful for hitting a contract word count, sizing a chapter, or checking whether your manuscript is genre-appropriate before querying.