Free tool
Word count to page count
How long is your book going to be, as a physical object? The answer decides your printing cost, your spine width and your gutter margin, and authors usually need it before the interior has been typeset.
This gives a range rather than a number, because a range is what honestly exists at this stage. Type size and trim move the result by a third either way.
Estimate your page count
264–344 pages
Most likely around 300 pages at 5.5" × 8.5"
- Manuscript text
- 80000 words
- Front and back matter
- about 10 pages
- Chapter openings
- about 48 pages
An estimate, and deliberately a wide one. The real page count is decided by the typeface, point size, leading and margins you eventually choose, none of which exist yet. Treat the range as the span your decisions will land in, not as a prediction.
Words per page, by format
There is no universal words-per-page figure, which is why estimates vary so wildly online. It depends on the trim size, the type size and how generous the leading is. These are the ordinary spans for a novel set readably:
| Format | Trim | Words per page | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mass-market paperback | 4.25" × 7" | 240–320 | Small page, small type. The most pages for a given manuscript. |
| Trade paperback, small | 5" × 8" | 250–350 | A common size for literary fiction and shorter novels. |
| Trade paperback, standard | 5.5" × 8.5" | 280–390 | The default for most self-published fiction. |
| Trade paperback, large | 6" × 9" | 300–440 | Standard for non-fiction, memoir and longer novels. |
| Large print | 6" × 9", 16pt | 150–230 | Set for readability. Roughly half as many words to a page. |
| Full size | 8.5" × 11" | 450–650 | Manuals, workbooks and academic texts. |
What adds pages that are not your words
Authors are consistently surprised by how much of a book is not manuscript. On a typical novel it is 40 to 80 pages:
- Front matter — half title, title page, copyright, dedication, epigraph, contents. Around ten pages, and each conventionally begins on a right-hand page, so several are followed by a blank.
- Chapter openings — a chapter that starts on a fresh recto wastes the verso before it half the time, and the drop of white space above the chapter title costs a third of the opening page. Call it a page and a half per chapter.
- Part titles — a divider page plus its blank verso.
- Back matter — acknowledgements, about the author, also by, a sample chapter of the next book.
None of this is padding. It is what a book has, and its absence is one of the things that makes a self-published book read as one.
Why the page count matters
- Printing cost. Print-on-demand charges a fixed fee plus a per-page rate, so page count sets the floor under your cover price.
- Spine width. Pages × paper thickness. You cannot design the cover until you know it — the spine calculator does that step.
- Gutter margin. KDP requires a wider inside margin as the book gets thicker, in bands at 150, 300, 500 and 700 pages. Crossing a band means re-setting the interior — which changes the page count again.
- Reader expectation. A 90-page paperback priced at £12.99 gets returned. Genre readers have a strong sense of what a book of a given price should feel like in the hand.
Questions, answered
How many pages is 80,000 words?
Somewhere around 240 to 320 printed pages for a novel at 5.5" × 8.5", depending on type size, leading and how many chapters there are. At 6" × 9" the same manuscript makes fewer, larger pages — roughly 200 to 280. The range is the honest answer; anyone quoting you a single number has picked a type size on your behalf.
Why is this a range and not an exact number?
Because the page count is decided by choices you have not made yet: trim size, typeface, point size, leading, and margins. Those move the result by 30% or more. This tool shows the span those choices produce, so you can see whether your book is a 200-page book or a 400-page one before committing to any of them.
Is a manuscript page the same as a book page?
No, and this is where most confusion starts. A standard manuscript page is about 250 words double-spaced in Word. A printed book page is usually 250–400 words depending on trim and type. A 300-page manuscript is not a 300-page book.
Do chapters change the page count?
Yes, more than people expect. Chapters conventionally start on a fresh page — often specifically a right-hand page — and the chapter opening itself takes a third of a page in white space. Across 40 chapters that is 40 to 80 pages. Enter your chapter count and the estimate accounts for it.
Why does page count matter?
Three reasons, all practical: it sets your printing cost and therefore your minimum viable price; it decides your spine width and so your cover; and it determines your gutter margin, because thicker books need more room at the spine.
How do I make my book longer or shorter without changing the words?
Type size and leading are the honest levers, within reason — a slightly larger size and looser leading add pages and are often genuinely easier to read. A smaller trim size adds pages too. What readers notice and dislike is a book padded with oversized type or cramped by tiny margins; both read as what they are.
Stop estimating and see the real pages
Import your manuscript into Alhora and it lays the book out properly — exact page count, exact spine, every page as it will print. Formatting and previewing are free.
Download Alhora free See pricing
macOS, Windows, Linux and ChromeOS. No card needed to format and preview.