novel length

I know novels vary a lot in length, but what is the standard minimum word count for a mainstream novel?

There is no standard anymore. Could be anywhere around 100k.

Length depends on the subgenre and the publisher. Are all spy novels about the same length? Are you writing a Tom Clancy-style thriller? Check out the number of pages in some mainstreams of the type you are writing. Readers of those books will expect the same story length from you.

To do a rough manual word count, first average the number of words in three consecutive lines on a page. Multiply that average by the number of lines per page. Multiply that by the number of pages of text, and you'll have the word count.

A book I had next to me: averaged 11 words per line X 40 lines per page X 249 pages of story = 110,000 words approx.

I took a bunch of novels that I liked then googled "word count of X". I got anywhere from 34,000 (Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz) to well over 100K (LOTR). I think the average I saw was 60-85K (Journey to the Center of the Earth).

Thanks for the helpful ideas everyone.

it might be worth mentioning (or not) because its so heavy in pop culture atm, but harry potter and the philosipher's stone is 78k. And it's the shortest of the harry potter books. So, compare the sort of novel you want with the first harry potter novel, and you should have some idea of where you're aiming.

Other thing to look at is there are sometimes industry standards, with exceptions for successful franchises and exceptional authors, but for instance, the mystery genre has a fairly locked in starndard of between 75 and 80k. If an unsolicited manuscript is in this genre and outside that range, it tends not to get picked up.

There is no Standard. Period.
hat being said,
A double spaced page of writing with 1 inch margins is usually 25 lines a page.
That averages to approx 250 words a page. So a manuscript, with 50K words count, might total out to abut 200 pages +/-.

But, if you open any novel- the lines per page range from 25 to 35 per page depending on the formating of the particular book.
So consider that your finished novel (in manuscript form) may be 50,000 words,
but if it gets published at 29 lines per page, it will print up at about 174 pages,
not the manuscript length of 200.
30 lines per printed page might equal 166 pages, etc.

So aside from writing till the story is done satisfactorily, (you feel it's done)
the next thing to consider is the shift from manuscript word count to
published page count for the same number of words.

I've read a few publishers information for people who want to submit, and it seemed that 70-90,000 were the average accepted. Some went as low as 60,000 for a novel, and a few listed that they'd accept 100,000, but most said they would not accept that large from a first time author. Some suggested if your novel was that large to send a query before even bothering to send the manuscript.

I was wondering myself. I'm aiming to finish mine at 75,000 words and then edit/add to scenes as necessary.