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General information from a recorded webinar, not legal advice for your situation.
How long should an obituary be?
Short answer
Aim for about 500 words. Most obituaries now run online without newspaper space limits, so 1,000 words is usually fine, but check the posting site's limits. Cutting much below 500 words can turn it into a fact sheet.
Key points
- About 500 words is the sweet spot.
- Online sites may set their own limits.
- Short versions lose flavor.
Kate LeibfriedWriter and ghostwriter, Click Clack Writing · Guest presenter
Read this part of the transcript
How long do you think obituaries should be? Yeah. I would say aim for about 500 words. Today, many of them are published online, so there aren’t the typical limitations that we used to have with newspapers. So if you want to compose a 1,000-word obituary, that’s usually fine. The website where it’s posted may have limitations, so it’s important to check to see if that’s the case. But a 500-word… So the one that I read of Jean Grigonis, Grammy, hers was a little bit over 500 words, about 530, and it could have been trimmed down a little bit. There, in fact, is a shortened version that exists as well.
Created automatically from the recording. Full transcript on the webinar page.
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Legacy Writing: Obituaries and Memoirs
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