What the best word count for a chapter?

Is 1500 okay?

1500 is perfectly fine.

Anything from 1200-2200 seems to be a solid range. Below 1k is generally considered too short; above 3k it's better to split in two unless it's an important to stay together scene.

Aster Wrote: 1500 is perfectly fine.

Anything from 1200-2200 seems to be a solid range. Below 1k is generally considered too short; above 3k it's better to split in two unless it's an important to stay together scene.

Thank you for the opinion and advice.

My chapters vary a lot in terms of word count.  My shortest chapter is 1400 words and my longest is around 4100.  I would honestly say write as many words as necessary for your chapter, but if you want an average word count per chapter, I'd say around 1500 - 3000 is fine.  

I’ve seen and heard 2000 to 3000 being called the sweet spot, but I imagine 1500 is fine as well.

Because so many reviews complain about the hassle of reading on mobile, I've concluded that the sweet spot is 1500-3500 words.  If you can accept losing some readers, there's really no problem hitting 5000 or even 7500.  Anything over 10k is almost always excessive and better split up.  Given we're talking web serials here.  If you plan to publish to kindle or something, it doesn't matter as much.

This is helpful. I’m new, so I’m still figuring things out. Someone commented my chapters may be too short, but I’m coming from Tapas, where that’s kind of a thing. I’m trying to keep updates similar between the two, but I wonder if I’d be better off combining chapters here and just adjusting the posting dates... 

I have chapters that range from 2500 to just over 5000, with a little 1000-word interlude every now and again. And so far I have only had one complaint (about the 5000 word one).

I think a lot depends on the type of story you're telling, too. Like, mine is a slow-burn, so I think my readers come in with the expectation that it's gonna be a bit longer and gonna take its time a bit more than, say, an action-heavy run-and-gun story.

But yeah, the sweet spots I've heard are generally considered between 1500 and 3500 words, as a general metric.

Interesting to hear about the complaint over a 5k word chapter.

I personally beat myself up if I write under 2000 words. I handwrite first and use sides of A4 as a guide, but even those pages that look like it could be a 2k+ chapter fall short sometimes. I'm typing up my Volume 3 at the moment and they're a bit of a mixed bag in length so far. Eurgh. I just feel a bit of guilt over having a weekly release schedule and when Friday comes round... "oh, only 1600 odd words." 🤦🏻😑 For this reason I'm considering a bi-weekly schedule but that's a me worry for another time. 

1500 - 4000 words. Wide range since people always give answers on both sides of the scale. As long as it isn't under 1000 words, and sticks with the length of your other chapters unless there is a valid enough reason for the dip in the word count.

EnhancedBeing Wrote: Interesting to hear about the complaint over a 5k word chapter.

Yeah, and technically it was less of a complaint and more of a "I usually don't like chapters this long but it worked okay this time" comment. But I definitely feel like 5k+ chapters are daunting for some readers, so unless it's super important that a lot of stuff happen in one, I try to keep them under 5k. 


Heh, it was my first chapter, too. So if they make it through that one, it's smooth sailing.

EnhancedBeing Wrote: I personally beat myself up if I write under 2000 words. I handwrite first and use sides of A4 as a guide, but even those pages that look like it could be a 2k+ chapter fall short sometimes

Uuuh, me and my 1k chapters are gonna stay over here.


Overall, I'm gonna say don't stress about word count, unless your chapter is 500 words long, or over 10k as someone else pointed out.

I don't go by word count. I keep my chapters to 10 MS Word pages more or less.

I'm regularly writing between 3.5 and 10k. So I guess it just depends on the detail you're wanting to go into.

I'm keeping mine fairly heavy, but that's also taking a lot more time. As a general rule on the site though, I think most readers prefer a 2-3 day release schedule and 2-3k words per chapter.

Just an opinion though. I've read a few novels here with a shorter chapter length too, but couldn't get my teeth into them before I had to click the next chapter button.

As an Author: 2100-3100. The occasional few words above/below are fine.

As a reader: Anything between 1000-7000 words.

I aim for a minimum of 2k words and try to just keep it consistent between 2-3k.

I feel like producing episodes that are consistent in length sets an expectation for your reader, and then you can later subvert that expectation by sneaking in the rare 4-5k episode. Anything over 5k I'm probably splitting up, just to maintain that steady pacing and feel.

I would say it doesn't really matter as long as you get the chapter's story done but anything close to 1500 up to three thousand seems best when it comes to reader experience.

I tend to keep it 1500 +- 300 words, depending on the chapter of course. It is just a personal preference coming from my own reading habits and on open office it makes me feel bad if the page count goes above 6 or 7 pages.

Just write as much as you need to tell your story, I don't think there is a correct answer for the question. 

I've read that around 1.5k to 2k are great counts for updates, so yeah! This should be good :3

I made a commitment in my story description and splash page to have between 5 and 6k words per chapter.

That's just my style though and I have been told it's a bit excessive. But readers like it so far 😁