Book designers usually charge by the page, so you’ll need to estimate your book’s page count. But how can you come up with an accurate estimate by looking at your Word document?

There is no hard and fast formula because it depends on the trim size (page size) of the book, as well as font choice, font size, leading (space between lines of type), margins, and graphics. But here’s a very rough guideline for approximating page count based on various trim sizes. Please note that you can use this guideline to get a ballpark cost estimate from your designer, and then the designer’s final invoice will be based on actual page count.

First, find the character count in Word by going to “Word Count” under the “Tools” menu and looking for “Characters – with spaces.”

Then, figure the estimated page count. Divide your total character count by the characters-per-page number listed below for your chosen trim size:

5″ x 8″ trim = 1,400 characters per page
5.5″ x 8.5″ = 1,800 characters per page
6″ x 9″ = 2,100 characters per page