Definition: is the number of words in a document or passage of text.
How to check what your word count is in a word document:
OPEN your Microsoft Word document/file
On the top, click on REVIEW tab
If you highlight the paragraphs or sentences, you will see only the specific word count for that which is highlighted. If you do not highlight any area, you will see the entire document’s word count.
On a Mac, click on the Launchpad icon in your dock (the gray rocket ship). Type ‘Word’ in the search bar at the top of the screen.
Fiction
Picture Books 0 to 1000 words (600 is average)
Chapter Books 5,000 to 15,000 words (10,000 is average)
Short Story 1000 to 7,500 words
Novelette 7,500 to 17,500
Novella 20,000 to 40,000
Middle Grade 35,000 to 65,000
Romance Novels 70,000 to 90,000
Paranormal 75,000 to 95,000
Young Adult 50,000 to 80,000
Mystery 75,000 to 90,000
Horror and Thriller 80,000 to 100,000
General Fiction 75,000 to 100,000
Historical 100,000 to 120,000
Fantasy and Sci-Fi 180,000 to 200,000
Literary Novels 50,000 to 120,000, but can be up to 200,000
Non-Fiction
Biographies and Memoirs 70,000 to 100,000 words
Popular Nonfiction 70,000 to 120,000
Niche Nonfiction – the sky is the limit
*As an interesting side note, ‘Amazon’s Text Stats’ show that the average length of all books on Amazon is about 64,000 words.