: Re: Minimum (realistic) word count of non-fiction book What is a reasonable estimate for the minimum length, in word count, for a non-fiction book? I'd guesstimate that non-fiction books "generally"

@Ravi5107385

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I just popped into my office and pulled a few books off the shelf. It's easy to estimate:

Count up the total number of words on 10 random (full) lines from different places and divide by 10 to get the average words-per-line.
Count the number of lines on each page to get the lines-per-page.
Check that the book actually starts on page 1 - sometimes the stuff before it starts is counted - then go to the last page (before any bibliography, acknowledgements, appendices, etc.) and the page number (minus where the book starts) is the number-of-pages.
Optional: Flick through to see if there are lots of short chapters (creating lots of half-pages) and if there are big empty pages for PART 1, PART 2, or lots of sub-headings within chapters that use up 2-3 lines. Estimate a small reduction for the lines-per-page and the number-of-pages values. This reduction will be very small, like maybe 1-2 lines less per page, and 5-10 pages less for the book.
Multiply the three values together: words-per-line x lines-per-page x number-of-pages to get a pretty good estimate of the total word count.

Some examples:

River out of Eden, Richard Dawkins. I consider this to be very short, in fact it's just a dumbed down version of his previous works, it annoyed me but might be good as a starter for a 12-15 year-old. 50k words.
The Extended Phenotype, Richard Dawkins. This is quite long and comprehensive. Probably too long for a first book, only go this long if you've got a best-seller under your belt already. 125k words.
Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman. Very comprehensive epic! The bible for this field. Daunting to start, but easy to keep reading. 130k words.
How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie. Easy-going, fairly light, user-friendly, non-fiction book for the masses. 100k words.
Eden, Tim Smit. Personal reflections and memoirs of a big project. 90k words.

So, do this for some books in your field, find one that matches the same depth and detail that you want to attain for your book, and give yourself an estimate based on that. If you're well-known, or have achieved something lots of people are interested in, or have a previous well-selling book, go for 90-120k. If however it's your first and the content alone will be the draw for your readers, keep it lighter and more approachable, 70-90k.

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