How do you define a short story/novella?

The standard in the book world is that anything less than 200 pages is considered a short story or novella, and anything above that is considered a novel. So we try to abide to that general rule.

However it can be a little bit tricky. As even if we exclude large print books, the page count for books can be different due to font used, spacing, version of book. Word count would make more sense (50k and above is a novel, 20k-50k is a novella, and below 20k is a short story) but a lot more difficult to calculate as that information isn’t easily accessible.

To add to this – the book publishing world changed in the 80s. Many books prior to that decade would run under 200 pages, but were considered a novel. For a variety of reasons, that changed.

So the entire short story/novella situation is a work in progress. If you spot any books that you feel should be tagged as a short story/novella, let us know. Similar if you see one tagged that you don’t believe should be.

Welcome to Book Notification!

Are we missing any books or looking for an author that isn't on the site? Have any feedback or ideas that will enhance your experience? Contact us below.


    To see what we are currently working on as well as some of our future plans, see our road map.
    Monthly Contest
    affiliate disclaimer

    We are giving away 10 $25 gift cards. Every time you comment on an author page in the Author Discussion section at the bottom, you are entered into the sweepstakes. So get commenting! Winners announced in the next newsletter.


    Book Notification is an Amazon Associate. Book links to Amazon and other book stores are affiliate links, and we earn money from any qualifying purchases.

    Upcoming Books
    Dec 06
    Dec 06
    Dec 06
    Open Water

    Written by Eva Hudson

    Dec 06
    Ignition

    Written by Seth Ring

    Popular Authors:
    Todays Most Followed Authors:
    Skip to content