Word count to page count calculator
How many printed pages your manuscript becomes at your trim, type size and leading — as a range, with the working shown.
Your manuscript
Choosing a genre sets the type size and leading that genre usually uses. Change either afterwards and your choice sticks.
80,000 words · 6" × 9" (most popular) · 11pt
242pages
Likely between 196 and 294 pages, depending on how the book is set.
- Body text
- 234 pages
- Front & back matter
- 8 pages
- Words per page
- ≈ 345
Amazon does not publish a words-per-page figure. This is an estimate derived from your trim size, type size and leading, shown as a range because the final number depends on how your book is typeset.
Take this page count further
Both links use 242 pages, the middle of your range. If your book sets longer or shorter, change the page count on either page.
How this number is worked out
| Step | Working | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Inside (gutter) marginKDP-published | KDP minimum for 151–300 pages, plus 0.375" for a typically set book | 0.875" |
| Text blockOur assumption | 6.000" − 0.875" − 0.750" wide, 9.000" − 0.900" − 0.900" tall | 4.375" × 7.200" |
| Lines per pageYour input | 7.2″ × 72 ÷ (11pt × 1.3) = 36.25, rounded down | 36 |
| Characters per lineOur assumption | 4.375″ × 72 ÷ (11pt × 0.46 average Times New Roman character width) = 62.25, rounded down | 62 |
| Words per lineCorpus figure | 62 ÷ 6.09 characters a word (4.79 letters + 1 space + 0.3 punctuation) | 10.18 |
| Words per pageOur assumption | 36 × 10.18 × 0.94 — the share of a full page fiction (general) actually fills | 344.5 |
| Body pagesKDP-published | 80,000 ÷ 344.5 = 232.2, rounded up to a whole leaf | 234 |
| Front & back matterOur assumption | Title page, copyright, contents and closing pages for fiction (general) | 8 |
| Total | 234 + 8 | 242 pages |
The 196–294 range is this same calculation run twice more: once at compact margins with the least whitespace this genre loses, and once at airy margins with the most. It is not a percentage added to the figure above.
How the estimate is derived
Every step of this estimate is shown below, and every constant it uses is either published by KDP, taken from a cited corpus, or an assumption we state as ours — because a words-per-page number with no working shown is a guess in a calculator's clothing.
The chain starts with the page and works inward. KDP publishes a minimum inside margin that grows with page count — 0.375in up to 150 pages, 0.5in to 300, and on up to 0.875in past 700 — and a 0.25in minimum everywhere else (verified 29 August 2026). Subtract the margins from the trim and you have a text block. Divide its height by the line pitch, which is the type size times the leading, and you have the lines that fit on a page. Divide its width by the average character width of the typeface and you have the characters that fit on a line.
Turning characters into words needs one number nobody can measure for your book: how long an English word is. The Google Books corpus puts it at 4.79 letters; add the space after it and an allowance for punctuation and a word occupies about 6.09 characters of the line. Finally, a real page is never a solid rectangle of type — paragraphs end short, dialogue ends shorter, chapters open partway down — so the genre preset applies a stated fraction for that.
There is one circularity worth naming, because most calculators ignore it: the gutter depends on the page count and the page count depends on the gutter. This one iterates until the two agree, and when a manuscript lands exactly on a band boundary it takes the larger page count — a gutter that turns out too narrow is a file KDP rejects, and erring the other way costs nothing.
What this cannot know
An estimate is only useful if you know where it stops being one. These are the things the model does not attempt:
- Your layout program's line breaking — hyphenation, justification and tracking all move the line count, and we model only the ragged line ends they have in common.
- Anything on the page that is not running prose. Images, tables, recipes, exercises and verse do not obey a words-per-page figure, so this estimate is not for a book largely made of them.
- Your real chapter and paragraph structure. The genre presets are a starting guess at how much of each page ends up blank; a book of very short chapters runs longer than the estimate.
- A typeface we have not measured. Pick the closest one on the list rather than assuming another face behaves the same way.
The page count that matters in the end is the one your laid-out interior file actually has. Use this to plan — to pick a trim, to sanity-check a printing cost, to know whether a manuscript is a novella or a novel — and re-run the cover calculator with the real number before you upload.
Frequently asked questions
How many pages is 80,000 words?
At 6in x 9in in 11pt type on 1.3 leading, about 242 pages — but likely anywhere from 196 to 294 depending on how the book is set. Margins, type size and how much white space your genre leaves on the page each move the figure by more than most people expect, which is why this tool shows a range and its working rather than one number.
Where do the words-per-page numbers come from?
KDP publishes the page-count limits and the minimum margins, and both are used here. It does not publish a words-per-page figure, so we derive one: the trim size minus the margins gives a text block, the type size and leading give the lines that fit in it, and the average character width of the typeface gives the words that fit on a line. The range is the same calculation run at a compact setting and at an airy one — it is not a percentage added to a guess. Your typesetter's line breaking, and anything on the page that is not running prose, will move the real figure.
Why does the estimate change when the book gets longer?
KDP requires a wider inside margin on thicker books, because a thick book curls further into its own spine. The minimum steps up at 151, 301, 501 and 701 pages. A wider gutter is a narrower text block, which is fewer words per page, which is more pages — so a long manuscript is slightly longer again than a straight multiplication suggests. The calculator solves that circle rather than ignoring it.
Does KDP round my page count?
Yes. KDP calculates the page count from your uploaded file and rounds up to an even number, because every sheet of paper carries two pages. Every figure here is already rounded that way.
Does this work for a puzzle book, workbook or cookbook?
No, and it would be misleading to pretend otherwise. This model counts words set as running prose. A book whose pages are mostly grids, images, tables or exercises does not obey a words-per-page figure at all — its page count comes from how many items fit on a page, which is what the puzzle and low-content tools handle.
What page count should I use for my cover?
The final one, from your actual laid-out interior file. Spine width is page count times paper thickness, so a cover built against an estimate will be wrong by however much the estimate was. Use this figure to design and plan; re-run the cover calculator with the real number before you upload.
Common word counts
Worked pages for the lengths people ask about most, at 242 pages for a 80,000-word 6in x 9in novel and so on.
30,000 words
40,000 words
50,000 words
60,000 words
70,000 words
80,000 words
90,000 words
100,000 words
Get the KDP toolkit updates
New free tools and KDP rate-change alerts, occasionally, no spam.