Word Count

Amanda writes…

Hi Michelle!

My Year 6 son is an avid reader and is currently enjoying your Chronicles of Ancient Darkness books. We have recently started keeping track of his word count (he's at 800k so far this school year!). Would it be possible to have the word count of all the books in the Wolf Brother series? I've looked everywhere but can't find them. Thank you so much for creating such engaging books.

All the best,
Amanda

Michelle Replies…

Dear Amanda, I’m delighted that your son is enjoying the books – and thanks for asking a question I’ve never been asked before! As far as I know, publishers don’t do a final word-count before publication, but I can give you mine, as measured after the final edit but before the proof-reading stage; so it’s accurate to about the nearest 500 words or so.

The six books in the CHRONICLES OF ANCIENT DARKNESS add up to 359,000, and the three subsequent books which I wrote more recently (VIPER’S DAUGHTER, SKIN TAKER & WOLF BANE) weigh in at 160,000.  Thus the grand total for all nine books is 519,000 words.  Which almost makes me feel faint; that’s an awful lot of writing!

Anyway, I really hope that your son isn’t put off by that, and  that he enjoys the rest of the series.

With best wishes, Michelle