Once again, how many words?
Wow, I just realized it’s been over two years since I last did an overview of the word counts of my published fiction. So it’s high time for an update. This list includes all my paid, published work through September 2016 (including the upcoming “Murder on the Cislunar Railroad” and DTI: Time Lock, both of which have been copyedited, so their word counts are unlikely to change). I’ve left out the unpaid essays I’ve contributed to various sites, since it’s hard to keep track of them all, and I do so much unsolicited blathering online as it is.
ORIGINAL FICTION
Default universe:
Novels:
Only Superhuman: 118,000 words
Stories:
“Aggravated Vehicular Genocide”: 12,000
Among the Wild Cybers of Cybele”: 9400
“The Weight of Silence”: 7600
“The Caress of a Butterfly’s Wing”: 8900
“Murder on the Cislunar Railroad”: 8200
Total story count: 46,100 words
Total default universe: 164,100 words
Hub universe:
“The Hub of the Matter”: 9300
“Home is Where the Hub Is”: 9800
“Make Hub, Not War”: 9800
Hub Space: Tales from the Greater Galaxy: 33,300 (preceding stories + 4400 words new material)
Total: 33,300 words
Other:
“No Dominion”: 7900
Total original fiction count: 205,300 words
MARVEL FICTION
X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: 83,500
Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder: 71,000
Total Marvel novel count: 154,500 words
STAR TREK FICTION
Novels:
Ex Machina: 110,000
Orion’s Hounds: 105,000
The Buried Age: 132,000
Places of Exile: 55,000
Greater Than the Sum: 78,500
Over a Torrent Sea: 89,000
Watching the Clock: 125,000
Forgotten History: 85,500
A Choice of Futures: 81,000
Tower of Babel: 84,000
Uncertain Logic: 109,000
Live by the Code: 106,000
Total ST novel count: 1,160,000 words
Novellas:
Aftermath: 26,000
Mere Anarchy: The Darkness Drops Again: 28,900
Typhon Pact: The Struggle Within: 25,400
DTI: The Collectors: 35,400
DTI: Time Lock: 26,500
Total: 142,200
Novelettes:
“…Lov’d I Not Honor More “: 12,000
“Brief Candle”: 9800
“As Others See Us”: 9100
“Friends With the Sparrows”: 10,300
“Empathy”: 11,000
Total: 52,200
Total ST short fiction count: 194,400 words
Total ST fiction count: 1,354,400 words
STAR TREK MAGAZINE ARTICLES
“Points of Contention”: 1040
“Catsuits are Irrelevant”: 1250
“Top 10 Villains #8: Shinzon”: 820
“Almost a Completely New Enterprise”: 800
“The Remaking of Star Trek“: 1350
“Vulcan Special: T’Pau”: 910
“The Ultimate Guide: Voyager Season 3″: 1170 (not counting episode guide)
“Star Trek 45s #11: Concerning Flight”: 1000
Total article count: 8340 words
All told:
Novels: 1,432,500 words
Short fiction: 281,700 words
Nonfiction: 8,340 words
Total fiction: 1,714,200 words
Total overall (rounded): 1,722,500 words
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So I’m well on my way to my second million, and I’ve surpassed a million words’ worth of Star Trek novels alone. My default-universe content is close to catching up with my Trek short-fiction content and now surpasses my Marvel output. But my original fiction output constitutes less than 1/8 of my total published work, which is a ratio I still hope to improve on.
Other details: I have 15 published novels to date, with an average word count of 95,500 words. As of September 2016, I shall have 5 published novellas averaging 28,440 words, and 14 published novelettes averaging 9650 words (not counting the expanded Hub Space material).
And I’ve still never sold an actual short story (i.e. 7500 words or less)!
