How Long Should A Book Be? Why It DOESN'T Really MATTER!

About this video

Dale argues that how long a book should be does not really matter in itself, and that the answer depends on the niche. He gives three ways to determine length. First, audience expectations: know who the reader is and what they are used to — he gives the examples of romance novels at, in his telling, roughly 50,000 to 80,000 words and romance short stories at roughly 3,000 to 10,000 words, and says writers should meet those expectations. Second, the bestsellers list: as a crude ballpark method, search Amazon by niche keyword, take the page counts of the top 20 books from their product details, add them and divide by 20 to get an average page count to aim for. Third, and he calls this the most important, value: use the first two methods as a barometer, but ultimately make the book as long as it needs to be to deliver the value readers expect from the marketplace and from the author.

Key takeaways

• Dale says book length depends on the niche rather than on a universal rule
• First determinant: audience expectations — match the length readers in that niche are used to
• Second determinant: average the page counts of the top 20 bestselling books in the niche on Amazon for a ballpark target
• Third and most important determinant: value — the book should be as long as it needs to be to deliver the expected value
• He presents the first two methods as a barometer, not a substitute for delivering value

Episode details: published May 27, 2020 · 3:02 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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