posted
Because I'd like to know. I've got a few things I've written that I'd like to know, if they were published, how many pages long they would be. Is there a certain formula for this or does it vary?
Posts: 6026 | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
It totally depends. Typeface, font size, tracking, leading, margins... there are like 15 different factors that will change your 7-page paper into a 4-page or a 20-page paper.
Most college professors, when asking for a paper of a certain length, will ask you to use either Times New Roman or Arial, double spaced, with the Word default margins. Arial will make the paper longer, if all the other constraints are the same.
If you have access to pre-press layout software, however, you can make all kinds of devious little changes that your professor will never suspect! Mwa ha ha!
(not that I have any personal experience there)
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
I always write my papers in single space. Because whenever I want to give myself a morale boost I just double my page count in my head. Works every time.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
Yeah. 250 words is one typed, double-spaced page in 12 point, about the size that my browser (and yours, too, probably) is showing when I type to this BBS.
You can do a quick word count by counting the number of words in 3 representative lines of type and multiplying the average by the number of lines on the page and then by the number of pages.
(We have a word requirement in Florida, thanks to our legislature, so this is a well tested method.)
Have fun. (Ah, end of the term!)
Posts: 745 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Der Grammatikfuehrer
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posted
I think you mean number of words and number of pages.
Probably the best way is to count the number of words on several lines and then average them to get an average line length. Then count the number of lines per page and do the math.
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It depends on the publication medium, and often varies from publication to publication. I know newspapers run about 2.5 inches wide per column, with the allignment set for justified (basically makes sure the text runs to both side of the column). They measure article length in inches, rather than in words (There's a formula for this, but I don't remember it, but it's somewhere between 20-30 words per inch). 15 inches is usually the maximum for a newspaper, depending on circulation and importance of the article. Magazines are more forgiving on length, though. It really is impossible to tell you how many words per page they run, however, since magazines don't use a standard size (Time vs. National Geographic vs. Analog for example). Same thing goes with books. If you know what publication you're looking to publish in, you'll have to look at their standards.
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Not really, Boris. You make a few good points, but forget one big one...when a magazine asks for submissions they aren't asking/accepting those in pages they will use, they usually want the same thing a teacher wants....a specific length in actual regular sized pages. (forgot he was asking about actual length though, for a second...sorry)
If accepted, the article/story will they be edited to fit the specific layout they will use in that particular week's publication.
They don't use standard formats because of pictures and ads, not to mention other size considerations, but they are responsible for breaking a standard length story down into a specific layout.
So when they ask for things between X and Y in length, most of the time they use word counts not pages, because it is more accurate overall.
As far as how long it would be in the mag, that is more a layout issue than a writing one, and could be completely different for each publication, over would vary even within the same publication from week to week.
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