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Word count would seem to be the best of all suggestions, since it's usually available. Many publishers, including Fictionwise, list it, since it's often tied to payment. As to sizes and nomenclatures:
SFWA Nebula Award Categories:
Novel — 40,000 words or more
Novella — 17,500–39,999 words
Novelette — 7,500–17,499 words
Short Story — 7,499 words or fewer
As an aside: Flash Fiction <750 words (or 1000 or 300 or ...)
Note that 40,000 words is short for a novel nowadays. Some wrist rupturing megavolumes turgid with the author's inviolable prose approach 300,000 words.
Regards,
Jack Tingle
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