🖋️ Behind the Scenes: Indie Author Life Page Count Panic

Why eBook “Pages” Aren’t Real Pages (and Everyone Gets Confused)

If I had a nickel for every time someone said, “This book was too short!” I’d have… well, enough to buy a new coffee to write the next one. ☕😂

Here’s the thing: when you’re reading an eBook, that “page count” number you see on the store listing isn’t what you think it is. Not even a little bit.

Not on Amazon. Not on Kobo. Not on Apple Books. Not even on Google Play.

They all do their own mysterious digital math, and none of it equals actual printed pages.

Let’s break it down:

📖 Amazon (KDP / Kindle Unlimited): uses something called KENP (Kindle Edition Normalized Pages) — basically an algorithmic guess at how long your book might be based on screen size, font, and layout. It’s not consistent and can change if Amazon updates its software or your reader adjusts their font size.

📱 Kobo & Apple Books: go by estimated reading time and device-adjusted “screens,” which means if you increase the font or zoom, you’re suddenly reading a 600-page book instead of a 300-page one.

💻 Google Play: calculates “pages” by word count and formatting data but displays it differently depending on the device or app version.

So when you see a digital listing that says “230 pages,” what that really means is… “somewhere between 230 and 400 print pages, depending on your device and settings.”

In print, the same exact manuscript could be twice as long. Trim size, font, and spacing all change how many real pages a book has.

So readers, if you’ve ever thought, “That story ended too soon,” it might just be that the online page count is misleading.

You probably got a lot more story than that little digital number suggests.

And indie authors, don’t panic when your 350-page paperback shows up as 212 on Amazon or 190 on Kobo. You didn’t lose a chunk of your book—the system just can’t count straight.

👉 And while we’re at it—writers, stop stressing about word count. Seriously.

Just write the story. Some tales want to be 25,000 words. Others want to sprawl into 100K epics. Both are valid.

There are authors who have built entire successful careers writing short, punchy novellas between 20K and 35K, and readers love them!

It’s not about the number. It’s about the punch, the pacing, and the promise you deliver.

✨ Moral of the story: eBook page counts are estimates, not gospel.

Each platform plays by its own rules, and none of them match the paperback sitting on your shelf.

At the end of the day, it’s not about how long the story is—it’s about how deeply it makes you feel. 💖

del mare alla stella,

C.D. Gorri