Dear Editor…
How do you find out how many words are in a published novel? You mentioned that Bud, Not Buddy was 52,000 words. Did you estimate from the number of pages in the book or is there somewhere we can find out that information?
Thanks,
Becky
Dear Becky…
Aw, that’s easy-peasy. You just count the number of words on an average text-only page from the book in question, multiply that by the number of pages in the book, then subtract from that the number of non-text pages in the book and multiply the result by pi and then divide that by your age on your last acknowledged birthday and…. Oh, heck, you’re a writer and I’m an editor, let’s skip the math and just use this shortcut: go to renlearn.com and click on their “Quiz Store” tab. Type in the book title, press GO, then click on the title in the search results and viola! Word count.
FYI, I’m not affiliated with Renaissance Learning. This lovely feature has been known and referenced by curious writers for years.
Happy writing!
The Editor