{"id":1089,"date":"2022-02-01T13:48:20","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T13:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/?p=1089"},"modified":"2026-05-12T20:52:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:52:51","slug":"how-long-should-an-ebook-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/how-long-should-an-ebook-be\/","title":{"rendered":"How Long Should An Ebook Be &#8211; Tips to Determine The Right Length!"},"content":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re thinking about publishing your first ebook you\u2019re almost certainly asking yourself how long it should be.\n\nIt\u2019s actually a really good question. Without a history of publishing ebooks you don\u2019t really know what your particular audience prefers. The right length for an ebook can feel like a bit of a guess if you don\u2019t yet have ebook sales and audience feedback to guide you.\n\nYou can research how long other ebooks tend to be. But even within the same genre you\u2019ll find they vary enormously. What makes one length more suitable than another?\n\nAnd if you read articles on this topic the consensus seems to be \u2018it depends.\u2019 As unhelpful answers go, this is right up there with the average length of a piece of string.\n\nWe\u2019ll try to be a bit more helpful.\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_Long_Should_an_Ebook_Be\"><\/span><b>How Long Should an Ebook Be<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\nThere are no official guidelines for the number of pages when it comes to publishing ebooks. However, consider the average ebook length of 50-100 pages and <a href=\"https:\/\/kdp.amazon.com\/en_US\/help\/topic\/G200634560\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon&#8217;s eBook list price<\/a> if you&#8217;re planning to sell on Amazon Kindle. Ultimately, your ebook length will depend on the niche that you&#8217;re writing about.\n\nBeyond that, the first thing to consider is your objective. Are you aiming to build an audience? If so, it might be that a short ebook of 5000 words or less with a modest price could fit the bill.\n\nMaybe go shorter still and offer it for free as a lead magnet to encourage people to sample your work and sign up to your email list?\n\nIf you want the ebook to \u2018pay its way\u2019 by giving you a financial return there are three main factors to consider:\n<ul>\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How many words do you need to say what you want to say?<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How many words will your audience be happy to read?<\/span><\/li>\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What do they expect to pay based on the length of your ebook?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nHopefully there\u2019s a sweet spot where all of these converge.\n\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_The_Average_Ebook_Length\"><\/span><b>What is The Average Ebook Length<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\nEbooks generally have a much wider range of book length, with tendencies to be on a shorter end in comparison to printed books. The average length of an eBook can be anywhere between 50-100 pages.\n\nThere are a few rules of thumb that might be helpful.\n\nBooks for young children might only be a few hundred words long. The chances are that you\u2019ll be relying on pictures to tell the story.\n\nThe right (or typical) length for an ebook in the self-help or \u2018how to\u2019 guide category is about 40,000 to 50,000 words. That\u2019s the equivalent of 150-200 pages of a standard printed book.\n\nA novel aimed at adults is typically about 100,000 words. But there are some great novels that are much shorter or longer than average (The Great Gatsby is around 47,000 words long).\n\nThe upper end of the ebook length table tends to be filled by academic textbooks, particularly in areas like law.\n\nIn general, longer ebooks have a higher asking price. But quality and value to the reader also matter. If you have a lot to say, breaking it down into a series of shorter ebooks might be better for your audience. You might even earn more revenue overall and get to market sooner.\n\nYou might not immediately think of serialization if you\u2019re a fiction writer, but remember that nearly all of Dickens\u2019s novels were originally published in serial form through magazines and periodicals.\n<p>\n\n<div class=\"payhip-cta-alt\">\n  <div class=\"payhip-cta-left\">\n    <div class=\"badge\">Join over 130,000 thriving sellers<\/div>\n    <p class=\"heading\">Sell Ebooks Online with Payhip<\/p>\n    <p>No monthly fees. No tech headaches.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"payhip-cta-right\">\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/auth\/register\" class=\"cta-btn\">\n      Get started \u2192\n    <\/a>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Determine_Your_Ebook_Length\"><\/span><b>How to Determine Your Ebook Length<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\nThe length of your ebook will start to make more sense when you have a plan. Devise a structure with logical chapter headings that put the story or information into a sensible sequence.\u00a0\n\nNext, summarize the content of each chapter. You\u2019ll start to get a picture of the \u2018weight\u2019 of your finished book and perhaps your target price.\n\nFinally ask yourself this: how often have you read an ebook and felt it was a little padded out? That\u2019s the biggest danger with looking at average or expected word counts &#8211; writing more words to create something substantial rather than adding value to your readers.\n\nMaybe that\u2019s the best advice of all. The ideal ebook length is however many words it needs to tell your story, keep your readers gripped, and earn you a fair return for your efforts.\n\nIf you&#8217;re keen on publishing your own ebook, you might also like these guides:\n<ul>\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/how-to-write-an-ebook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to Write an Ebook<\/a>: Ultimate Guide<\/li>\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-ebooks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to Sell Ebooks<\/a> in 3 Simple Steps<\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re thinking about publishing your first ebook you\u2019re almost certainly asking yourself how long it should be. It\u2019s actually a really good question. Without a history of publishing ebooks you don\u2019t really know what your particular audience prefers. The right length for an ebook can feel like a bit of a guess if you &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[92,62],"class_list":["post-1089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","tag-ebook-length","tag-how-to-write-an-ebook"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1089"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5455,"href":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089\/revisions\/5455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}