Hey all, I have an idea for a series of children's books. When I say series I mean multiple books featuring the same character (cat who solves mysteries), but not a continuation of a story. Each book would have its own plot. It would be a chapter book, but for kids -- kind of like the Junie B. Jones level. What's the desired length range for something like this? I know the normal novel size is 90,000 - 110,000 words (for unestablished writers, at least), but what about for a children's novel? Thanks in advance.
I would calculate what my rule of thumb would be: What time period you think is fitting for a piece of the story. Let say you think is nice with 20 minute per chapter. And multiply it with average reading speed at the age the book is aimed at. Or slightly less then that.
if you want to write for kids [or anyone, actually], you'll need to do your homework and research the field... you can find out what the optimum word count range is with a split-second google for same... and you can check out the age ranges for the various markets the same way... so why ask others to do what you can do for yourself so easily and much more quickly? Google children's chapter books word count that took me only 3 seconds to do and google only 0.26 second to come up with... mods... how about a sticky thread on 'google first!'?... is there one already?... if not, would you like me to make one up, with tips on how to do it effectively?
Thanks everyone. I did some homework, it said children's chapter books can range from 4,000 - 12,000 words. I guess that sounds about right.
you have to go further than that... there are 'first' chapter books and then there are chapter books for older kids... decide what age range you want to write for and then aim at the proper word count for that market specifically... banz/cog... saaaaaad!
