Romance Reader Insights: Book Length
Results of my latest Instagram poll about the reading habits and preferences of romance readers.
Here is the recap of the latest Romance Reader Pulse Check, a regular poll I run on Instagram about the reading habits and preferences of romance readers.
UPDATE: Now that I’ve introduced some new benefits for paid subscribers, like my NYT and Amazon best seller analyses, I’ve decided to share these pulse check summaries with all subscribers.
The question I’m reporting on today is: What length do you prefer for romance books?
Results
The poll received 155 responses from October 20-31, 2025. Here are the final results:
Do you read more traditionally-published or self/indie-published romance books?
I prefer them shorter (less than 400 pages) - 55%
I prefer them longer (more than 400 pages) - 4%
It depends on the romance subgenre - 30%
I don’t have a preference - 10%
Comments
The post received 15 comments on Instagram.
Most readers in the comments said their preferred length depends on the author, the subgenre, and the story itself.
For contemporary romance, many prefer shorter books, usually under 400 pages. Long contemporaries are seen as unnecessary without world-building, and often described as needing tighter editing.
For romantasy/paranormal, readers are more accepting of longer books, saying the extra pages help with world-building and complex plots.
If readers already love the author, they’re willing to read much longer books (even 800–1000 pages). For new-to-them authors, long books feel like “a big ask.”
Some readers specifically seek out shorter books or novellas for quick, satisfying reads.
Bottomline: People are happy with any length as long as it keeps them engaged, feels necessary for the story, and avoids repetition.
Commentary
Most romance readers said they prefer shorter books (55%), with about a third saying it depends on the subgenre (30%).
I recently shared my own research on the length of romance best sellers, which found that Romantasy and Paranormal romance best sellers are significantly longer than Contemporary and Historical romance best sellers.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any research on reader preferences when it comes to book length—most articles talk about industry standards and are targeted towards authors.
I did come across the article, “What’s the perfect length for a book?”, which I found quite interesting. This paragraph in the introduction was VERY relatable:
“But it does mean that I, like many other readers, am obsessed with commenting on a book’s size. You know how it goes: “I’ve got this book on my to be read pile but it’s 800 pages so I don’t know when I’ll find the time.” Or perhaps: “You need to read this book, the characters are great and guess what? It’s only 220 pages.”
Sarah Shaffi, “What’s the perfect length for a book?”
The article highlights the concept of leisure reading that emerged in the 18th century as the novel became popular among the middle class, who actually had time to read compared to their working class counterparts. It’s a concept that’s still applicable today as it continues to be difficult to carve out time to sit down and read a long, potentially challenging, book in our busy and distracted world.
The article also supports the idea that book length preferences generally vary based on genre and subgenre:
“You can go longer in fantasy, I think because there’s more world building expected there’s a bit more leeway given. In contemporary fiction you don’t have to have the same word count dedicated to world building and it’s not so epic in breadth.”
- Literary agent Juliet Mushens, “What’s the perfect length for a book?”
So it seems there is no perfect length for a romance book, or any book for that matter—it depends on a plethora of different factors. However, as readers, we reserve the right to continue having strong opinions on the subject!
What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments!
Current Poll
Click on the Instagram post below to vote in this week’s poll: How do you primarily get the books you read?
Apologies if the Instagram post isn’t showing up properly, something is up with how Substack is displaying them.
Demographics
Instagram doesn’t provide demographic information on the people who voted in the poll, but you can see the current age, gender, and country breakdown of my followers in my previous recap.
Suggestions
Do you have a suggestion for a poll question about the reading habits and preferences of romance readers? Submit it here!
Happy reading! 💜