Type your manuscript's word count, pick a trim size and type setting, and see how many pages your printed book will run to, then price exactly that book in one click. Estimates use the same typesetting assumptions we work to every day in Exeter.
A professionally typeset book carries far more words per page than a double-spaced manuscript, which is why a 300-page Word document does not make a 300-page book. At a standard 11pt setting with normal margins and leading, typical words-per-page by trim size:
| Trim size | Dimensions | Words per page (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| B-format | 198 × 129mm | 295 to 345 |
| A5 | 210 × 148mm | 320 to 380 |
| Royal | 234 × 156mm | 385 to 455 |
| B5 | 250 × 176mm | 440 to 520 |
| A4 | 297 × 210mm | 600 to 700 |
Type size moves these numbers a long way: a compact 10.5pt setting fits about 15% more words per page, a comfortable 12pt about 15% fewer, and large print (14pt+) roughly a third fewer. Not sure which trim suits your book? Our guide to UK book sizes walks through the conventions genre by genre.
As a standard A5 paperback at 11pt, 50,000 words typesets to roughly 142 to 164 pages including typical prelims, plan around 154 pages. That's novella-to-short-novel territory: a slim, elegant book with a spine around 8mm.
As a standard A5 paperback at 11pt, 80,000 words typesets to roughly 220 to 258 pages including prelims, plan around 240 pages. This is the classic full-length novel: comfortable in the hand, around a 13mm spine on 80gsm bookwove.
As a standard A5 paperback at 11pt, 100,000 words typesets to roughly 274 to 320 pages including prelims, plan around 298 pages. Books this length are routine work for us, we print and bind well beyond it, though a heavier manuscript is worth a thought about paper: a lighter stock keeps the spine and the postage sensible.
Commonly cited ranges, if you're still writing and wondering where to aim: most adult fiction lands between 70,000 and 100,000 words, crime and thrillers toward 70 to 90k, literary fiction 80 to 100k, fantasy and science fiction often 90 to 120k, romance and young adult 50 to 80k, memoir 60 to 90k. None of these are rules; they're what readers and retailers are used to holding. If you're self-publishing, our complete guide to UK self-publishing covers the whole journey from manuscript to printed book.
The calculator divides your word count by a typical typeset words-per-page for the chosen trim and type size, applies an honesty band of ±8% (prose density, chapter breaks and section spacing all move the figure), adds 8 pages for prelims if selected, and rounds to an even number, because books print in two-page leaves. Your real extent is set by your typesetting; once your files are final, the page count is whatever your PDF says it is. For cover artwork you'll also want the spine width calculator; the book weight calculator turns the same spec into grams, carton counts and postage bands; and our guide to formatting a book in Word helps if you're typesetting it yourself.
Our calculator prices your exact spec (size, pages, paper, binding, quantity) in seconds. From 10 copies, free digital proof on every order.