Word Count

Post date: Feb 06, 2015 9:10:47 PM

A lot of emphasis is placed on word count. After all, it is the deciding marker of the territory. How else do you determine what is or isn't a novel, novella, or short story. And, of course, magazines, newspapers, and other publications need to limit word count to what they can fit in the space allotted.

Page count only helps slightly. I mean, margins, font, and typeface all determine how many pages a book has.

So, let's take a look at the word count of a few popular novels.

  • HARRY POTTER Series

  • Philosopher’s Stone…77,325

  • Chamber of Secrets…84,799

  • Prisoner of Azkaban…106,821

  • Goblet of Fire...190,858

  • Order of the Phoenix...257,154

  • Half Blood Prince…169,441

  • Deathly Hallows…198,227

  • Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe…36,363

  • Anna Karenina…349,736

  • War and Peace…587,287

  • Gone with the Wind…418,053

  • The English Patient…82,370

  • Crime and Punishment…211,591

  • Sense and Sensibility…119,394

  • Great Expectations…183,349

  • Ender’s Game…100,609

  • Moby Dick…206,052

  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory…30,644

  • The Golden Compass…112,815

  • The Fellowship of the Ring…177,227

  • The Two Towers…143,436

  • The Return of the King…134,462

  • The Lord of the Rings…455,125

  • A Tale of Two Cities…135,420

  • Atonement…123,378

  • The Mouse and the Motorcycle…22,416

  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn…109,571

  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer…69,066

  • Memoirs of a Geisha…186,418

  • Snow Falling on Cedars…138,098

  • Cold Mountain…161,511

[A partial list taken from: worddreams.wordpress.com]

  • The Eye of the World...305,000

  • A Game of Thrones...298,000

  • The Gunslinger...55,000

  • Kushiel's Dart...276,706

  • Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief...87,223

  • The Hunger Games...99,750

  • Artemis Fowl...56,684

  • Eragon...157,220

  • Graceling...115,109

  • Heart of Darkness...38,206

  • Frankenstein...75,142

  • The Way of Kings...387,000

[You can also check out: http://griffinpauljackson.com/2013/07/25/book-word-counts/ for a more organized (by word count) and rounded off (as in 75,000 not 75,201) list]

While researching, I noticed a trend toward longer works. I guess readers like to immerse themselves deeper into the stories, characters, and settings. Perhaps gone is the time when people only took a few minutes a day to read. And here, I thought our society marched toward shorter attention spans.