Article: Figuring Word Count

Figuring Word Count

by Elizabeth Sinclair

Okay, you're ready to start writing the Great American Romance. The guidelines say you need 70,000 to 75,000 words. How do you figure that out? First of all, keep in mind that they are asking for an approximate word count not an exact word count. That means you should not use the word count tool in your word processing program to count the words. That's an exact count and will have you either going way over or way under.

Know also that the word count is flexible - You can go slightly over the maximum or slightly under the minimum--up to l,000. Manuscripts that are over are printed in smaller type faces to compensate for the extra words. Manuscripts that are under are printed in larger type to compensate for the shortage. This is true for category books especially and some historicals. Mainstream and single titles are more flexible and should be discussed with the editor.

The specifications listed below are for 12 pt. Courier type, 24-26 line (not counting the header), double-spaced text, 1 1/4" margins(all around). With these specifications, you will end up with about 250 words per page. NOTE: a line contains approximately 11 to 13 words. Lines that have say one word in them will be counted with this formula as a full line, which is the purpose of the word count since it is more for the printer than the editor.

Approximate word count formula:

250 x pages in book = approximate word count

Example: 200 pages x 250 words per page = approximately 50,000 words

# Words Pages Words Page
50,000 200 75,000 300
55,000 220 80,000 320
60,000 240 85,000 340
65,000 260 90,000 360
70,000 280 120,000 480

The above formula works well if the book is already written, but suppose it isn't. Then what? Try this formula:
Check the line you're targeting to find the approximate number of chapters in the book (this is an average as books vary)

Divide that number into the guideline's word count.

Example: 50,000 words divided by 12 chapters = 4,200 words per chapter. Divide that by the number of words per page
Example: 4,200 words per chapter divided by 250 words per page = approximately 16 pages per chapter.

This gives you an approximate number of pages to shoot for when writing a chapter and keeps you within the boundaries of the word count you want to end up with. If one chapter either goes over or under the approximate pages per chapter, compensate with the pages in another chapter for either the shortage or the overage.

Example: If you want 16 pages per chapter, but end up with Chapter 1 needing 20 pages, then another chapter might end up containing 12 pages to compensate for the overage in Chapter 1.