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It’s quite helpful for authors of children’s books to know roughly how many words to include in their book. Too many words can overwhelm the kid and get them frustrated, while too few words may not provide the maximum amount of benefit (assuming the child doesn’t get bored).
Based on picture books on Amazon, the typical number of words per page is about 3-13 words for board books and 6-20 words for picture books. Using that information along with with the page count, we can easily estimate the optimum number of words as a range (which is what the calculator here does).
Here is a little overview of the book’s type (which is required in the calculator):
- board books (intended mostly for 3 years and younger)
- picture books (geared mostly towards 3-8 years old)
And here are the most popular page counts:
| Book Type | Length (most popular) | Other Popular Lengths |
| Board books | 12 & 24 pages | (10, 26, 32) pages |
| Picture books | 32 pages | (24, 40) pages |
When inputting the number of pages in the above calculator; for better accuracy, exclude non-content pages such as the cover, title and copyright page.
You will be given the recommended number of words as a range. Feel free to choose how many words exactly to use depending on the child’s age and the book’s layout, among other things. With that said, it might be a good idea to pick a number from the middle.
As an example, a 12-page board book should contain somewhere between 40-160 words. Here, a good number to go with might be around 100 words.
Note that the number of words calculated reflects the total, you may distribute them across the pages however you see fit.
Don’t forget to share out this book’s word count calculator for the benefit of others.
