How many words do you have per page?

[Demesnedenoir]

When in Scrivener and I pull the stats on The Contessa, it suggests 708 pages in paperback at 250 words per page, but in reality, the PB is 678 which includes parts that aren't the story, so almost like 660ish I'd guess, without looking at the actual InDesign files. The average words per FULL page is likely somewhere more around 275, but even then, averages aren't reality with partial pages.

The stat geek in me might have to take a closer look, LMAO.

 

[Mad Swede]

OK, my publishers usually assume 300 words per page when planning the print run for a the book. The actual numbers vary depending on format and on the text itself - conversations in a story often work out at 200 words per page or sometimes less, long descriptive passages can work out at 400-450 words per page.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Okay, so 191,892 in the body and 665 actual story pages for an average of 289 w/p in 11 Baskerville, and 16 point leading in a 6x9 book. First and last pages of every chapter would average lower and dialogue-heavy sections as well, so I'd guess description-heavy pages would be around 300-310?

I blame D&D in my youth for my stat curiosity.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

That sounds right on, with wiggle room, LOL.

OK, my publishers usually assume 300 words per page when planning the print run for a the book. The actual numbers vary depending on format and on the text itself - conversations in a story often work out at 200 words per page or sometimes less, long descriptive passages can work out at 400-450 words per page.

 

[Ban]

Good to hear. Around 300 words seems like a more reasonable number to aim for if I opt to self-publish.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Yeah, I mean... The count doesn't really matter except as an estimate, what you're really looking at is font, font size, and leading to make the book look good. When looking at a big book, a small leading change can change things up quite a bit, because you can easily add 1 line per page... 750 lines x 15 words? So, 11250 extra words in the same space, give or take.

Good to hear. Around 300 words seems like a more reasonable number to aim for if I opt to self-publish.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

And of course, when laying it out, the gutter eats up a different amount of space on different page counts. That's always fun.

 

[ThinkerX]

'Empire: Country' has a little over 53,000 words. The print version - (5.5x85?) has about 210 pages, which works out to an average of around 252 words per page.