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There are many book sizes available out there in the US. So, it can get confusing for novice authors to know what size they should go with when trying to publish a new book.
We tried to find out the most popular book sizes in the various genres. In order to accomplish that, we have researched the physical books listed online on Barnes & Nobles.
The research involved over 144,000 books from 47 different genres in both fiction and non-fiction, from Drama and Mystery to Business and Medicine (and everything in between).
Here are the research results;
Most Popular Sizes of Books by Genre
These are the most common book sizes in the United States for each genre including the one that’s most popular (third column):
| Book Genre | Most Popular Sizes (in) | Top Size (in) |
|---|---|---|
All Fiction* | 6×9, 5.5×8.5, 5×8 | 6×9 |
| Graphic Novels | 8.5×11, 6.5×10, 6×9, 5×7 | 8.5×11 |
All Non-Fiction** | 8.5×11, 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| Activity Books | 8.5×11, 6×9 | 8.5×11 |
| Antiques | 9×12, 8.5×11, 8×8, 6×9 | 8.5×11 |
| Art | 8.5×11, 6×9 | 8.5×11 |
| Biography | 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| Business | 8.5×11, 6×9, 5.5×8.5, 5×8 | 6×9 |
| Computers | 8.5×11, 7×10, 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| Cookbooks | 8×10, 6×9 | 6×9 |
| Crafts | 8.5×11, 8×10, 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 8.5×11 |
| Education | 8.5×11, 7×10, 6×9 | 6×9 |
| Health | 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| History | 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| Home | 8.5×11, 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 8.5×11 |
| Humor | 8.5×11, 6×9, 5.5×8.5, 5×8 | 6×9 |
| Law | 8.5×11, 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| Medicine | 8.5×11, 7×10, 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| Nature | 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| New Age | 6×9, 5.5×8.5, 5×8 | 6×9 |
| Parenting | 8.5×11, 6×9, 5.5×8.5, 5×8 | 6×9 |
| Performing Arts | 9×12, 8.5×11, 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| Pets | 8.5×11, 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| Philosophy | 6×9, 5.5×8.5, 5×8 | 6×9 |
| Politics | 6×9, 5.5×8.5, 5×8 | 6×9 |
| Psychology | 7×10, 6×9, 5.5×8.5, 5×8 | 6×9 |
| References | 8.5×11, 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| Religion | 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| Science | 8.5×11, 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| Self Help | 8.5×11, 6×9, 5.5×8.5, 5×8 | 6×9 |
| Social Sciences | 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| Sports | 8.5×11, 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| Study Aids | 8.5×11, 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 8.5×11 |
| Transportation | 8.5×11, 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
| Travel | 6×9, 5.5×8.5 | 6×9 |
* The fiction books include all the fiction genres (i.e. novels), which are as follows: Drama, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Historical Fiction, Horror, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Mythic Fiction, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Thriller, Westerns, Women’s Fiction.
** The non-fiction books include all the non-fiction genres, which are listed thereafter starting with Activity Books.
As illustrated in the table, Graphic Novels is the only fiction genre with different popular sizes and they’re on the larger side. All the other genres in the group are the same as the first one (All Fiction).
It’s also interesting to know that Antiques books are the biggest among all non-fiction category.
Please note that we didn’t include children’s books in our research. Because they’re completely different and highly variable in sizes.
For those who prefer the metric measurement (centimeters), here are the conversions for the sizes listed in the table:
- 5×7″ (12.7×17.78 cm)
- 5×8″ (12.7×20.32 cm)
- 5.5×8.5″ (13.97×21.59 cm)
- 6×9″ (15.24×22.86 cm)
- 6.5×10″ (16.51×25.4 cm)
- 7×10″ (17.78×25.4 cm)
- 8×8″ (20.32×20.32 cm)
- 8×10″ (20.32×25.4 cm)
- 8.5×11″ (21.59×27.94 cm)
- 9×12″ (22.86×30.48 cm)
Most Popular Book Size
The most popular book size in the US overall, for both fiction and non-fiction, is hands down 6×9″.
Then, the second most common size of books is 5.5×8.5″ for fiction and 8.5×11″ for non-fiction.
Other popular book sizes that are worth mentioning include 5×7″, 5×8″, 7×10″, and 8×10″.
Conclusion
There you have it, the most popular book sizes in the US for each genre. This is based on our comprehensive online research.
To accommodate people from outside the United States, we have included the length measurements in centimeters also.
We hope the sizes will be useful for publishing your next book.
Feel free to share this information with your fellow authors to spread the benefit.
