ADULT NOVELS: COMMERCIAL & LITERARY. Between 80,000 and 89,999 words is a good range you should be aiming for. This is a 100% safe range for literary, mainstream, women’s, romance, mystery, suspense, thriller and horror. Anything in this word count won’t scare off any agent anywhere. Now, speaking broadly, you can have as few as 71,000 words and as many as 109,000 words. That is the total range.