The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. Most word processors can do automatic word counts; Unix-like systems include a program wc specifically for word counting. Different word counting programs may give varying results, depending on the definition of "word", on the text segmentation algorithms, and on whether words outside the main text such as footnotes or hidden text are counted.
Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. Word counts may be also be used to calculate measures of readability and to measure typing and reading speeds (usually in words per minute).
Another application of word counting is to categorize documents by length. For instance, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America uses word counts to determine which pieces of fiction are eligible for which of their Nebula award categories:[1]
| Classification | Word count |
|---|---|
| Novel | over 40,000 words |
| Novella | 17,500 to 40,000 words |
| Novelette | 7,500 to 17,500 words |
| Short story | under 7,500 words |
National Novel Writing Month requires its novels to be at least 50,000 words. While the length of a novel is to a large extent up to its writer,[2] expectations of novel lengths may differ by genre: a typical mystery novel might be in the 60,000 to 80,000 word range while a thriller could be over 100,000 words.[3]
The acceptable length of an academic thesis varies greatly, dependent predominantly on the subject. Many universities limit Ph.D. theses to at most 100,000 words, barring special permission for exceeding this limit.[4]
Formal English speaking is usually paced between 100 to 120 words per minute. Thus an eight-minute speech has 800 to 960 words.
Notes
- ^ SFWA Awards FAQ, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
- ^ Quindlen, Anna (September 23, 2002), "Writers on Writing: The Eye of the Reporter, the Heart of the Novelist", New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/23/books/writers-on-writing-the-eye-of-the-reporter-the-heart-of-the-novelist.html, "A novelist doesn't write to space, of course; 80,000 words, 100,000, it is up to the writer to say when the story is done.".
- ^ Thurston, Carol (August 3, 1997), "Agents give writers the book on what's hot and what's not", Austin American-Statesman, "no one wants more than 60-80,000 words in a mystery, 110,000 for a thriller".
- ^ Dunleavy, Patrick (2003), Authoring a PhD, Palgrave Macmillan, p. 46, ISBN 9781403911919.
References
- DeRocher, James E.; Miron, Murray S.; Patten, Sam M.; Pratt, Charles C. (1973), The Counting of Words: A Review of the History, Techniques and Theory of Word Counts with Annotated Bibliography, Syracuse University Research Corporation.
- Rothman, Chuck (2005), Word Counts: What Is a Word?, Science Fiction Writers of America, http://www.sfwa.org/writing/wordcount.htm. An article on various word count methods in fiction publishing.
- Michaels, Melisa (2005), Focusing on the Wrong Things, Science Fiction Writers of America, http://www.sfwa.org/writing/wordcountredux.htm. An article on the relative importance of various word count methods in fiction publishing.
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