THE RULE
40,000 and over
The Hugo Awards and the Nebula Awards both define a novel as a story of 40,000 words or more.
Measure a classicCOUNTING THE WORDS
Forty thousand
words.
A novel has a size, on paper.
Measure a classic
40,000words and up
The clearest published lines come from two science fiction and fantasy awards, the Hugos and the Nebulas. Both say a novel is 40,000 words or more, with the novella, novelette and short story below it.
At a glance
- Under 7,500: short story
- Under 40,000: novella
- 40,000 and up: novel
- Same lines at both awards
40,000words
Minimum length of a novel
Both awards set the same bands: short story under 7,500 words, novelette 7,500 to 17,500, novella 17,500 to 40,000, novel 40,000 and over.
THE RULE · HUGO & NEBULA
≈ 122thousand
Pride and Prejudice, first chapter to last
Counted from the Project Gutenberg text, leaving out the editor's preface and front matter. Different editions and counting tools will give slightly different totals.
OUR COUNT · PROJECT GUTENBERG
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
Where the line is,
and how far past it.
One number from the rulebooks,
one from counting a classic ourselves.
The Hugo Awards also have a Best Series category, for works in at least three instalments totalling at least 240,000 words.
MEASURE A CLASSIC
Novel or
novella?
Pick a book to see its length and where it falls on the award bands. The bar shows length, from just over the novella line to a doorstop.
Word counts are our own count of the Project Gutenberg text from the first chapter to the end, rounded to the nearest thousand. Bands from the Hugo and Nebula Award rules.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Four bands,
one big line.
Length is not the only thing that makes a novel.
But when awards need a rule, they count words.
THE NOVELLA
Shorter than you think
From 17,500 to under 40,000 words is a novella. By our count, A Christmas Carol is about 28,000 words, so by these rules it is a novella.
See the counts
THE LONG ONES
Some run to 200,000
Our count of Moby-Dick from the Project Gutenberg text comes to about 210,000 words, more than five times the novel line.
Count your own
COUNT A BOOK YOURSELF
A rough count
in four steps.
You do not need special software to see roughly where a book falls. Public-domain texts are free to download, and most word processors count words.
Find a plain text
Project Gutenberg offers free plain-text editions of many out-of-copyright novels.
Cut the extras
Delete the licence text, contents, prefaces and notes, so only the story is left.
Let the computer count
Paste it into a word processor and read the word count. Tools split words slightly differently, so treat it as approximate.
Compare with the bands
Under 7,500 is a short story, 7,500 to 17,500 a novelette, 17,500 to 40,000 a novella, and 40,000 or more a novel.
WHO SETS THE LINES
Rules made
for prizes.
The Nebula Awards have been given since 1965 for novel, novella, novelette and short story, by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. The Hugo Award rules come from the constitution of the World Science Fiction Society.
These bands exist so that each prize compares like with like. They are a useful yardstick for any fiction, but a publisher, a competition or a course may set its own limits, so always check the rules you are writing for.
Questions
Questions people ask
How many words make a novel?
The Hugo and Nebula Awards both define a novel as 40,000 words or more. Other prizes and publishers may set their own limits.
What is a novella?
Under the same award rules, a story of at least 17,500 but fewer than 40,000 words.
What is a novelette?
A story of at least 7,500 but fewer than 17,500 words, between a short story and a novella.
Is A Christmas Carol a novel?
By our count of the Project Gutenberg text it is about 28,000 words, which puts it in the novella band of the award rules.
Why do word counts for the same book differ?
Editions differ, some counts include prefaces and notes, and counting tools split words like hyphenated terms differently. Treat any count as approximate.
Sources
Where the facts come from
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