Editing Word count

{{Short description|Number of words in a document or passage of text}}
The '''word count''' is the number of [[word]]s in a document or passage of text. 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 count is commonly used by [[translator]]s to determine the price of a translation job. Word counts may also be used to calculate measures of [[readability]] and to measure typing and reading speeds (usually in [[words per minute]]). When converting [[character (computing)|character]] counts to words, a measure of 5 or 6 characters to a word is generally used for English.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.sfwa.org/2005/01/what-is-a-word/|title=Word Counts: What Is a Word?|last=Rothman|first=Chuck|year=2005|publisher=[[Science Fiction Writers of America]]}}.</ref>

== Software ==
Modern [[web browser]]s support word counting via [[Browser extension|extensions]], via a [[JavaScript]] [[bookmarklet]], or a [[script (computing)|script]] that is hosted in a website. Most [[word processor]]s can also count words. [[Unix]]-like systems include a  program, ''[[wc (Unix)|wc]]'', specifically for word counting. There are a wide variety of word counting tools available online.
Different word counting programs may give varying results, depending on the [[text segmentation]] rule details. The exact number of words often is not a strict requirement, thus the variation is acceptable.

== In fiction ==
Novelist [[Jane Smiley]] suggests that length is an important quality of the [[novel]].<ref>Smiley, Jane. 2005. Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, p.&nbsp;14.</ref> However, novels can vary tremendously in length; Smiley lists novels as typically being between 100,000 and 175,000 words,<ref>Smiley, 2005, p. 15.</ref> while [[National Novel Writing Month]] requires its novels to be at least 50,000 words. There are no firm rules: for example, the boundary between a [[novella]] and a [[novel]] is arbitrary and a literary work may be difficult to categorise.<ref>Edge, Tom, "Does Size Matter?" The Guardian (UK), Booksblog, Nov. 2, 2006. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2006/nov/02/doessizematter</ref> But while the length of a novel is mainly dependent on its writer,<ref>{{citation|journal=[[New York Times]]|last=Quindlen|first=Anna|author-link=Anna Quindlen|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/23/books/writers-on-writing-the-eye-of-the-reporter-the-heart-of-the-novelist.html|title=Writers on Writing: The Eye of the Reporter, the Heart of the Novelist|date=September 23, 2002|quote=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.}}.</ref> lengths may also vary by subgenre; many [[chapter book]]s for children start at a length of about 16,000 words,<ref>Lamb, Nancy, Crafting Stories for Children. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, p. 24</ref> and a typical mystery novel might be in the 60,000 to 80,000 word range while a thriller could be well over 100,000 words.<ref>{{citation|title=Agents give writers the book on what's hot and what's not|journal=[[Austin American-Statesman]]|first=Carol|last=Thurston|date=August 3, 1997|quote=no one wants more than 60-80,000 words in a mystery, 110,000 for a thriller}}.</ref>

The [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America]] specifies word lengths for each category of its [[Nebula Award]] categories:<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20211105052902/https://nebulas.sfwa.org/about-the-nebulas/nebula-rules/ SFWA Awards FAQ], [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America]] as follows:</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Classification !! Word count
|-
|| [[Novel]] || 40,000 words or over
|-
|| [[Novella]] || 17,500 to 39,999 words
|-
|| [[Novella#Versus novelette|Novelette]] || 7,500 to 17,499 words
|-
|| [[Short story]] || up to 7,500 words
|}

== In non-fiction ==
The acceptable length of an academic [[dissertation]] varies greatly, dependent predominantly on the subject. Numerous American universities limit Ph.D. dissertations to 100,000 words, barring special permission for exceeding this limit.<ref>{{citation|title=Authoring a PhD|first=Patrick|last=Dunleavy|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2003|isbn=978-1-4039-1191-9|page=46}}.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Flash fiction]]
*[[Twitterature]]
*[[Word lists by frequency]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{citation
 | last1 = DeRocher | first1 = James E.
 | last2 = Miron | first2 = Murray S.
 | last3 = Patten | first3 = Sam M.
 | last4 =  Pratt | first4 = Charles C.
 | title = The Counting of Words: A Review of the History, Techniques and Theory of Word Counts with Annotated Bibliography
 | publisher = Syracuse University Research Corporation
 | year = 1973
 |pages = 302
 |id= ED098814
 |url=http://eric.ed.gov:80/PDFS/ED098814.pdf}}.
*{{citation|url=https://charactercounter.cc/ |title=Focusing on the Wrong Things |last=Michaels |first=Melisa |year=2005 |publisher=[[Science Fiction Writers of America]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417072033/http://www.sfwa.org/writing/wordcountredux.htm |archive-date=April 17, 2009 }} An article on the relative importance of various word count methods in fiction publishing.

[[Category:Word processors]]
[[Category:Book terminology]]
[[Category:Writing]]