Book writing: number of pages and length of chapters
Regardless of the genre, there is no hard and fast rule about how many pages or words each chapter should contain or how many chapters a book should have. However, there are some general guidelines in this article that can help you determine the number of pages and chapter lengths needed for your book.
Pages in a chapter:
Many people read in bursts, at lunchtime or on the subway to go to work; readers enjoy chapters that can be finished in ten to fifteen minutes.
I try to set the length of my chapters based on how long it takes me to read the material. If it goes past fifteen minutes, I may decide to split a chapter in half and make two chapters out of it. Keep in mind that I write mostly nonfiction.
As you probably know, there is a difference in the way fiction and nonfiction are handled. In a fiction book, writers use shorter chapters. Some are only one page if that’s all it takes to suck the reader into the action of other characters in other scenes. When writing nonfiction, your chapter content should be specific to your chapter heading or title.
Twenty pages per chapter is a good rule of thumb, but the most important thing is to include everything related to a particular topic in one chapter. For example, if your book is about fishing, you want to fit most of your fly-fishing information into one chapter. All your information on bait and lure would be in another chapter.
Chapters/Pages in a Book:
These guidelines should give you a general idea of how to determine the length of your chapters and your book.
If your book is titled “The Accuracy of the US Census,” it might have 52 chapters (one on each state). If your book is titled “Ten Tips for Marketing,” it may have only ten chapters. There is no rule about how many chapters a book can or should have.
To be considered a book rather than a pamphlet or pamphlet, a book must be at least 10,000 words. If your book is longer than 475 pages, you may want to consider producing it in two volumes.
Because you will be submitting your manuscript as an 8.5″ x 11″ word processing document, you cannot be sure of its final length until your publisher formats it for printing. I have found that 250-300 words approximates a page of 12 point font text in a standard size book (5.5″x8″ or 6″x9″) neatly bound.
