Typically, a novel has around 10-12 chapters. However, this can vary depending on the author's preference and the length of the novel. For example, a shorter novel may only have 5-7 chapters, while a longer one may have 20 or more.
How Many Chapters to Include. Just how many chapters should you include in your novel? Most novels have between 10 to 12 chapters, but that's not set in stone.
Most nonfiction books have between 5 and 20 chapters. Any less than 5 and your chapters may be running long or may contain too many ideas. That said, there are plenty of books with 30 or 40 chapters. And some books, usually with very short chapters, can have 50+.
3. Average Chapter Length of Biographies. The average chapter length in a biography is around 6,000-8,000 words. This is equivalent to 12-16 pages, which would produce roughly 28-37 chapters in a 450-page biography.
Chapter length averages
On average, chapters tend to range from 1,000-5,000 words, with most falling in the 2,000-4,000 range. But chapters can be much longer or much shorter. There are plenty of bestselling books where some chapters are only a page and some where they don't even use chapters in the traditional sense.
There are no rules when it comes to chapter length. The important thing is to concentrate on making your chapters fit your story, not on making your story fit your chapters. Many novelists these days prefer chapters that are between 1,500 words—or six book pages— and 8,000 words, or 32 book pages.
Let's look a little closer at the length of chapters. The average chapter in Harry Potter is over 5,000 words or 20 pages. The shortest book, Philosopher's Stone (Book 1) also has the fewest average pages per chapter, while the longest book, Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) has the largest average pages per chapter.
The average reader will read 600 pages in 16.7 hours when reading at a speed of 300 words per minute (wpm). Typical documents that are 600 pages or more include full-length novels.
Depends on your goal. If your goal is information it's okay to skip around in the book; actually, I would even advise someone to skip around a bit if they are reading nonfictional text. By skipping, I mean skim. If your goal is enjoyment then the story will be a lot more interesting if you read it all the way through.
Most experts agree that 3,000-5,000 words per chapter is a good guideline to follow. So, 12-27 chapters for a YA novel would be a good range to start with. From there, you can narrow it down a little more by checking out similar books within the specific genre you're writing.
Most publishers consider novel length to be anywhere between 50,000 and 110,000 words. The average length of an adult novel is about 90,000 words. Novels for younger readers run shorter than novels for adults.
A 100 page book is about 30,000 words. If you write more than 1500 words per week, you can expect for it to take 2 – 4 months to write a 100 page book.
Specifically, how long a chapter should be. Average novel chapter lengths fall in the 3,000- to 4,000-word range. But there are plenty of wildly successful books that have longer and shorter chapters. Nonfiction chapters often fall around the 4,000-word mark, but this is highly dependent on subject matter.
Non-fiction books are best between 100 to 250 pages (20,000-60,000 words). They should rarely be more than 250 or 300 pages (of course there are always exceptions depending on your target audience) Memoirs can be longer, between 240-520 pages (60,000-130,000 words)
The standard book size is six inches wide and nine inches tall (6"x 9"). Your book will probably be cheapest to print, easiest to read, and easiest to sell (e.g., it'll fit on bookstore shelves) in this size.
The 5.5” x 8.5” digest format is the smallest of the “trade” sizes in the United States. The more common 6” x 9” is the “U.S. Trade” size mentioned earlier. This is a great pick for any type of fiction, whether it be fantasy, science fiction, romance, science fiction, horror, adventure, or crime and mystery.
The average reader will read 300 pages in 8.3 hours when reading at a speed of 300 words per minute (wpm). Typical documents that are 300 pages or more include full-length novels. A typical single-spaced page is 500 words long. You may read faster or slower than this depending on your average reading speed.
Most people can finish reading 20 pages within 30 minutes.
Chapters can be long or short
Each of your chapters can have only one scene or multiple scenes. There are no rules you have to follow except for what makes logical sense for your story. You'll probably want to stay away from having lots of very short chapters unless your story takes many dramatic twists and turns.
As a general guideline, chapters should be between 3,000 to 5,000 words. All of them agree that the chapter length should be defined by the story and that any chapter length targets you decide on are merely guidelines.