How Long is my Story?

Fantasy authors need to know: how long is my story? The classification of a story will vary by genre, by format and by content. so what counts as a full-length novel, novella, novelette? Here are some common measures.

• Epic novel: 100-140,000 words (although mine are shorter)
• ‘Standard’ novel: 70,000+ words
• Young Adult: 55-80,000 words
• Novella: 17-40,000 words (Book 4 of my series)
• Novellette: 7-17,000 words (my giveaway on the mailing list)
• Short story: 1,000-15,000 words
• Flash fiction: anything up to 1,000 words.

But these aren’t hard and fast rules, more like guidelines. Publishers, editors and individual authors will measure stories according to their own values.