Word Count Information

June 20, 2005 12:32 PM

How can I find out the word count of a published book?

I'm interested in being able to look up the total word count of a published book (specifically JFK's "Profiles in Courage," but would like to have the ability for other titles as well). Is there anyway I can easily find this out?

posted by NotMyselfRightNow to writing & language (7 answers total)

Amazon has this information on their text stats page. This is available for any book that's in Amazon's "Search Inside the Book" program.
posted by mbrubeck at 12:38 PM on June 20, 2005

Awesome. I don't think I've ever noticed Text Stats, let alone clicked on it. Thanks!
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 12:53 PM on June 20, 2005

Do you need precise word counts?

In general, I've found that approximate word counts are easily obtained through random sampling. For example, you might manually count all the words on a single page and then multiply by the number of pages in the book. It's easy to take smaller samples, too, and still come up with a reasonable approximation. If you don't need exact word counts, and if you have access to the books, this might be a quick and easy way to get the information you need.
posted by jdroth at 12:56 PM on June 20, 2005

mbrubeck: That's a very cool feature, but I must be dense-- where is the link on the main "Profiles of Courage" page that leads to the one you link to?
posted by gwint at 1:13 PM on June 20, 2005

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/sitb-next/0060955449/ref=sbx_txt/103-8533419-8526244?%5Fencoding=UTF8#textstats

Text Stats
Readability: (learn more) Complexity: (learn more)
Fog Index:
18.5
Complex Words:
18%
Flesch Index:
35.7
Syllables/Word:
1.7
Flesch-Kincaid Index:
15.3
Words/Sentence:
28.1

Number of: Fun Stats:
Characters:
382,281

Words:
62,546
Words/Ounce:
7,518
Sentences:
2,224

posted by caddis at 1:18 PM on June 20, 2005

The link was in the "Inside the Book" section right after the Review and Product Details.
posted by caddis at 1:20 PM on June 20, 2005

jdroth, it's nothing scientific, usually just idle curiosity. For me, the hassle of doing a random sample isn't in going about it, but in getting my hands on a physical copy of the book (I'm frequently thinking back on books I read years ago, and the desire for the info outweighs the trouble of finding a copy in a store/library).
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 2:02 PM on June 20, 2005