About the Book Deadline Calculator
A big word count feels unmanageable until you break it into days. This calculator turns your target length, what you have already written and your deadline into a daily target you can actually plan around, taking into account how many days a week you really write.
Choose Words per day if you have a fixed deadline, such as a pre-order date, an editor booking or a writing challenge. Choose Finish date if you already know your typical pace and want to see when the draft will be done. Both modes show words remaining, words per week, the writing days needed and a progress bar for how far through the draft you already are.
Not sure what length to aim for? The Word Count Calculator and the guide on how many pages a book should have help you choose a realistic target. Once you have a finish date, the Publishing Countdown Calculator plans the steps between draft and launch.
How It Works
Words remaining is your target minus the words you have written.
In Words per day mode, the calendar days to the deadline are scaled by your writing days per week to estimate how many sessions you have. The remaining words are divided across those sessions and rounded up.
In Finish date mode, the remaining words are divided by your daily pace to find the writing sessions needed, then converted back into calendar days and added to your start date.
The start date defaults to today in your own time zone, and you can change it to plan ahead.
Formula
- Writing days
- Writing days = floor(Calendar days × Days per week ÷ 7)
- Words per day
- Words per day = ceil(Remaining words ÷ Writing days)
- Finish date
- Calendar days = ceil(ceil(Remaining ÷ Words per day) × 7 ÷ Days per week)
Example
An 80,000-word novel with 12,000 words already written
- Target: 80,000 words. Written so far: 12,000 (15% complete).
- Start date: 5 January 2026. Deadline: 4 May 2026. Writing 5 days a week.
- Calendar days: 119. Writing days: floor(119 × 5 ÷ 7) = 85.
- Words per day: 68,000 ÷ 85 = 800, or 4,000 words a week.
- Alternatively, at 1,000 words a day, 68 writing days take 96 calendar days, finishing on 11 April 2026.
You need 800 words per writing day to finish by 4 May, or about three weeks earlier at 1,000 words a day.
Important Notes
- Rest days are spread evenly across the schedule. Holidays and busy weeks are not modelled, so build in a buffer.
- Daily targets are rounded up, so the plan finishes on or slightly before the deadline.
- The deadline must be after the start date. Targets over 5,000 words a day are flagged as very demanding.
- This plans the first draft. Leave separate time for revision, editing and formatting.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many words a day should I write?
Whatever you can sustain. Many authors find 500 to 1,500 words a day workable alongside a job. Use Finish date mode with your real average to see whether your deadline is realistic before you commit to it.
What if I only write at weekends?
Set writing days per week to 2. The calculator spreads your remaining words across roughly two sessions per week, so the daily target will be higher.
Can I use it for NaNoWriMo-style challenges?
Yes. Set the target to the challenge goal, the start date to day one, the deadline to the last day and writing days to 7.
Why does the start date say it is loading?
Today's date is read from your own device after the page loads, so it matches your time zone. It appears within a moment, and you can type any date you like.
Does it account for revision time?
No. It covers drafting only. Treat the finish date as the end of the draft, then plan edits with the [Publishing Countdown Calculator](/tools/publishing-countdown-calculator).
What if I have already passed my target?
The calculator congratulates you and shows zero words remaining. Raise the target if the book needs to grow.
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- Date Difference CalculatorCount days, weeks and weekdays between two dates.
- Word CounterA fast, private word counter with top-word frequency.
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