Have you ever wondered if there’s a rule for word count? If you’re curious about how many words in a novel is too many (or not enough), then this is the guide you’ve been searching for.

Because yes, there are “rules.”

For example, at a breakout session I led at a writers’ conference a writer said to me, “My memoir is 270,000 words long.”

An editor friend of mine, Shayla Eaton with Curiouser Editing, was sitting in on the breakout. We gave each other knowing glances and, because I didn’t want to break this poor memoirist’s literary heart, I nodded at Shayla to take the lead. Soon after I heard someone mention the words in a novel they had, I held my breath and let the moment pass.

As nicely but as directly as she could, she explained to the memoirist that a 270,000-word memoir was excessive. Even if she self-publishes, the cost per copy would be high, and few readers would slog through such a tome—particularly for someone who’s not famous.

And no agents, editors, or publishers would even look past that word count.

The prose could be as fleet-footed as Fitzgerald’s. The life story could be as compelling as Lincoln’s. The platform could be as broad as Oprah’s. But no agent would get to know that because they’d see “Memoir: 270,000 words” and hit delete before reading further.

So, what word count should a memoir be?

For that matter, how long should any book be? How many words are in a typical novel? What’s the ideal book word count?

If you’re writing your first novel or any book, you’re probably asking these questions.

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