Ever wonder how long a particular type of writing should be? One author I know says, “It is as long as it needs to be”. While this is no doubt true, there is an accepted “official” length for various types of writing. When I went looking for a list I had seen some years ago, I couldn’t find it. I was, however, able to find the one below.
Gloria T. Delamar created this chart 11 years ago. While I was unable to contact her, I was able to copy her wonderfully useful chart.
| Chart | ||
|---|---|---|
| Average # Words |
Approx. pages, double-spaced |
|
| Short-short story | 500-2500 | 2-10 |
| Short story | 2500-5000 | 10-20 |
| Novelette | 7000-25,000 | 28-100 |
| Novel–paperback | 35,000-80,000 | 140-320 |
| Novel–hard cover | 25,000-150,000 | 100-600 |
| Humor feature | 300-800 | 2-4 |
| Oped | 500-1000 | 2-5 |
| Book review | 400-1000 | 2-5 |
| Newspaper feature | 800-3000 | 4-12 |
| Magazine article | 2000-5000 | 8-20 |
| Nonfiction book | 20,000-200,000 | 80-800 |
| Cookbook | 10,000-200,000 | 40-800 |
| Juvenile picture book | 500-1500 | (varies) |
| Juvenile book–mid | 3000-25,000 | 12-100 |
| Young adult book | 15,000-80,000 | 60-320 |
| Poem | 2-100 lines (4-16 lines preferred) |
1-3 |
| Play: one act | 20-30 minutes | 20-30 playing time |
| Play: three act | 1 1/2 – 2 hours | 90-120 playing time |
| TV script | 1/2 hour | 25-40 |
| TV script | 1 hour | 55-70 |
| Movie scenario | 1 1/2 – 2 hours | 120-250 playing time |
| Radio feature copy | 15 ds lines = 1 minute 3 min = 2 pages |
|
| Public Service Announcement | 45 wds = 20 sec 90 wds = 40 sec |
one page; all caps |
| Speech | 250 words = 2 minutes 12-15 pages = 1/2 hour |
|
| Book Proposal | outline/summary; | (varies) sample chapter(s) |
| Query Letter | 200-500 | 1-2 full pages; single-spaced |
Uphill Writing 