{marlowe_title} contains roughly {marlowe_word_count} words and {marlowe_sentence_count} sentences. The average length of a sentence in {marlowe_title} is {marlowe_average_sentence_length} words. (For a graph comparing your word count to that of bestsellers in your genre, see the Get started section.)

The histogram above shows how sentence lengths are distributed in your novel. The highlighted “sweet spot” represents the range where most of your sentences should ideally fall. This gives you a quick snapshot of whether your writing leans toward being overly wordy. While there’s no single perfect sentence length, popular fiction typically relies on sentences between two and 10 words long, and Marlowe has highlighted this range on the graph. Of course, many sentences will naturally fall outside this range, and that’s to be expected.

Sentences in your manuscript have an average complexity score of {marlowe_complexity_score}. For reference, most popular novels have an average complexity score between 2.0 and 3.0 with an average of 2.5. The most complex sentence in your book is the following:

{marlowe_most_complex_sentence}

📌 Reading grade level

Marlowe calculated that {marlowe_title} has a reading grade level of {marlowe_reading_grade_level}, which means that at minimum a reader needs to have the reading skills of a typical student in that grade to comprehend the average passage in your book.*

That does not mean your book is meant for students in that grade level. Rather, it means that the reading skills needed to comprehend your book align with the skills commonly expected of students in that grade. For example, Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James has a fourth grade reading level but the content is not at all appropriate for fourth-grade students. 

Reading grade levels of bestsellers

By way of comparison, here are the reading grade levels for some classic bestsellers and their reading grade levels:

• One Hundred Years of Solitude: 12
• Snow Crash: 12
• 1984: 8.1
• The Great Gatsby: 7
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: 7
• The DaVinci Code: 7
• Pet Sematary: 5.7
• Gone Girl: 5.6
• The Hunger Games: 5.3
• Lord of the Flies: 5
• Beloved: 5
• For Whom the Bell Tolls: 4.8
• Fifty Shades of Grey: 4.7
• The Girl on the Train: 4.7
• The Catcher in the Rye: 4.5

As with many aspects of the writing process, the goal is to find a balance between making sure your writing is accessible to a broad audience without sacrificing the elements of word choice, syntax, and style that make your writing unique.

* Marlowe’s analysis is based on the American school system. To give you an idea of how these grade levels correspond to the education systems in other countries, first grade students typically start the school year at age 6, sixth grade students at age 11, and 12th grade students at age 17. The calculations are based on quantitative measures of text complexity such as the average sentence length, the average length of each word, and the percentage of words considered complex (usually those with three or more syllables), though these aren’t the only factors that determine text complexity. 

Writing for a lower reading level can make your work more accessible and appealing to a wider audience. Most popular adult books are written at a fourth to seventh grade reading level. While there’s nothing wrong with writing a complex novel, doing so may limit your target audience. The average adult reads at around a ninth grade level but often prefers recreational reading at a level a few grades lower.

However, be careful not to oversimplify your book’s language and content. Writing at a second grade reading level may make your book easy to read, but it could also restrict your vocabulary and make the story far less appealing to adult readers. 

Structural choices and stylistic choices can also impact the readability of your novel. Here are some additional factors that can make your book more or less complex: 

• Abstract, ironic, and/or figurative uses of language
• References to experiences or themes that are not familiar to the average person in your target audience
• Unique formatting or mechanical choices (e.g., dialogue without quotation marks)
• Structure (chronological stories are less complex than those with shifts in time/chronology)
• Subplots (adding additional storylines increases complexity)
• Point of view (stories with a single point-of-view character are less complex than those that rotate between multiple point-of-view characters)
• References to historical information or current events that require readers to supply background knowledge

Here are the 10 longest sentences Marlowe found in your manuscript. Consider whether they work as intended or if they should be rewritten: 

{lengthy_sentences}