Hi
How many words per page is a good average for a novel.
My book "King of Princes" has 320 pages and an average of 280 words per page on font size 16, Times New Roman.
Therefore most of the pages are over 300 words to a page. Page breaks etc bring down the average.
Any suggestions.

The font seems rather large to me. Most editors ask for 12, Times New Roman.

Hi Alice
I've just done a quick conversion to 12, Times New Roman.
That brings the average number of words per page to 442.
In the words of John McEnroe - You can't be serious.
The average age of my readers will probably be about 60, (it's a Tudor book) they'll never be able to read the small print.
The reason I chose 16 was the average per page of 280 words.
I've just done another conversion to 14, Times New Roman which would make the average word per page 352.

LLew,

When you submit your manuscript to an agent or publisher, they will expect it to be in the font size and type Alice recommended. The submitted work should be double spaced.

The average number of words per line in a 6" x 9" trade paperback is approximately 10 and each page has approximately 39 lines = 390 words/page.

Hi Shelagh and Alice
Thanks for the info.
The Welsh Book Council want it in 12, Times New Roman in 1.5 spacing.
390 words to a page mmm therefore my book will be approx 240 pages.
That sounds a bit short for a novel....do it?
It should then be 13, Times New Roman

Are you thinking of self-publishing? If it is commercially published, you won't have any say at all in the typeface and layout of the book.

I'm a bit lost for words, Llew. These questions are usually asked before a manuscript is written. Are you expecting the Welsh Book Council to find a publisher for you?

Llew, have they suggested a word count? That might be a more accurate picture of length than the # of pages.

Ann

I have always used NTR 12, double space...abut 250 per page.

Hi Ann

Quote:

Llew, have they suggested a word count? That might be a more accurate picture of length than the # of pages.

91616 words

Hi Shelagh

Quote:

I'm a bit lost for words, Llew. These questions are usually asked before a manuscript is written. Are you expecting the Welsh Book Council to find a publisher for you?

I didn't know it was going to be a novel until I'd written the "revised history" (URL: see below). As I was writing the revised history I was picturing what Harri was getting up to in my mind, so I started to capture it. Therefore, I obviously didn't ask any questions before the novel was written.
The Welsh Book Council are only going to be doing a manuscript appraisal. I'm hoping for a good appraisal which help to find a publisher.

Okay, as a comparison, Forever Friends has 88,392 words. The book is 9" x 6" and has 280 pages -- the book has ten sections, therefore, number of pages with text = 280 - 20 (section headings) = 260. Average words/page = 88,392/260 = 340

That should give you an idea of the size of the book (91616/340 = 269 pages).