Clarifying Lengths

Someone messaged me, asking what a "novelette" was. I answered them in messages, but felt there might be more of you out there that do not know what label certain word counts come with. 

 

Because of verbose authors like Stephen King, some people confuse novelettes and novellas with short stories. The designation doesn't mean much to the average reader, but some people can feel cheated upon reading a short story that is only a few thousand words in length, when, in fact, it's exactly what was promised.  

 

This was taken directly from Wikipedia, and is the industry standard. The only thing missing from this list is Flash Fiction, which is anything under a thousand words. 

 

 

ClassificationWord count
Novel over 40,000 words
Novella 17,500 to 40,000 words
Novelette 7,500 to 17,500 words
Short story under 7,500 words