How many words in an ePub Book

[saoir]

Is there a simple way to see how many words there are in an ePub book we have added to our Calibre library ? I thought I had a solution to this in the Calibre reader but I seem to have completely forgotten it

[BookJunkieLI]

The Count Pages plugin can put the estimated pages/words of an ebook into a custom column.

[AnemicOak]

The page count plugin in conjunction with a custom column will do this.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=134000

[saoir]

I tried this now but I can't get it to work. Is there no other straightforward way of doing this ?

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by saoir

I tried this now but I can't get it to work. Is there no other straightforward way of doing this ?

Interestingly, I just tried and it works (that is, it places a number in a "Words" column). Whether it is correct or not is up to you.

Preferences->Add your own columns->Plus button(add column)->Lookup name:words->Column name:Words->Column type:Integer->Format for numbers: (0:.)->Apply->Restart->Highlight ebook->Count pages->Estimate page/word counts->Yes to update column.

Edit: Darn... And customize the page count/word count plugin by adding custom column name under "Word count options".

[theducks]

Originally Posted by saoir

I tried this now but I can't get it to work. Is there no other straightforward way of doing this ?

Seemed pretty strait forward (as most PI go) to me.

1)Download/view the install notes.
2) setup the custom column(s) for Words )Pages, Fog...) as desired
3) Install the PI via the Preferences: Get PI tool
4) Configure using the column names chosen in step 2

Run against the selected books. Accept the DB (update) results when ready.

[saoir]

I abandoned this plugin for a far simpler method.

Choose the eBook title, choose Convert Books. Choose txt as target format. Then when it is finished and showing in the right hand Info pane, just click on TXT format, which opens it in Calibre. When it opens in the mini window, the number of words is shown at the bottom of the window.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by saoir

I abandoned this plugin for a far simpler method.

Choose the eBook title, choose Convert Books. Choose txt as target format. Then when it is finished and showing in the right hand Info pane, just click on TXT format, which opens it in Calibre. When it opens in the mini window, the number of words is shown at the bottom of the window.

And once you delete that text file, you no longer have the count. So you then have to go and do it all over again where using the plugin with a custom column shows you the data whenever you want to see it. Plus, you can sort on it to see the books with the lowest or highest word count.

[cybmole]

it comes down to whether you trust the accuracy of the plug-in, or are obsessive enough to test it with a large sample of books & compare the word counts that you get from converting to txt, doc etc & counting with other tools

but once you get that obsessive, how do you define "words in a book" anyway.

Do you count the TOC words, the copyright page, the if you like this please read on for an extract of something else crap ( which I always delete), the "about the author" page ( ditto, the other books by... (ditto) if i need to know that I can just google, I don't need it inside of every book....

I am happy with just a count of pages per book; that gives me a reading estimate & if I take it after deleting the aforementioned "extras", its then based on only the story length

I would suggest that only writers /proof-readers who are paid per word ( & OCD sufferers) need an actual word count

[theducks]

Originally Posted by cybmole

I would suggest that only writers /proof-readers who are paid per word ( & OCD sufferers) need an actual word count

+10

I use 'Pages'
What I am looking for is an 'about' value, similar to looking at the thicknesses of the old dead tree books.

In the end, QUALITY... not Quantity of the content, is still what counts.

[saoir]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And once you delete that text file

Not trying to be obtuse but why would I delete that text file ?

[saoir]

Originally Posted by cybmole

I would suggest that only writers /proof-readers who are paid per word ( & OCD sufferers) need an actual word count

Give that man a biscuit !

[BookJunkieLI]

Not to be contrary but I prefer Word count to Page count for the simple fact page count will vary depending on where I'm reading the file - be it my Nook, tablet, or on my computer. My Nook for instance may say that the book I'm reading is 250 pages but I'll have to change the page on the screen 500 to 750 times because one "page" of text equals three screens of text.
Word count, on the other hand, doesn't change from one device to another by more than 25 to 50 words - a variance I can live with.
I can look at the word count and know that a 2500 word file is a quick read while a 40k word file is going to take me a day or two.
It's all a matter of perspective.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by BookJunkieLI

Not to be contrary but I prefer Word count to Page count for the simple fact page count will vary depending on where I'm reading the file - be it my Nook, tablet, or on my computer. My Nook for instance may say that the book I'm reading is 250 pages but I'll have to change the page on the screen 500 to 750 times because one "page" of text equals three screens of text.
Word count, on the other hand, doesn't change from one device to another by more than 25 to 50 words - a variance I can live with.
I can look at the word count and know that a 2500 word file is a quick read while a 40k word file is going to take me a day or two.
It's all a matter of perspective.

I thought it was just me

BR

[theducks]

I should clarify my 'Pages'.

I use the ADE algorithm, which is the same across devices because it is a block of text and does not care how many screens it takes to show it.

In the end, I read that book until I get tired of it and switch titles. Another great feature of my reader, it remembers where (the block start) I was in all the books I have opened on it.