Why are pages used as a measure of length and not word count?

>>8027970
Because then publishers couldn't use huge letters and massive letters to inflate the size of the book and make little Timmy/disappointingly not little Stacy think that they're reading *really intelligent doorstoppers*.

"Alright class. Tonight's homework is to read to word 2,643. Oh and don't forget, be ready to review words 1,158-2,227 next Tuesday."

easier to reference
>but you could just use lines!
how would you know where the line is located?

>>8027982
How the fuck do you know where pages are located?

Lines have the exact same problem pages do, anyway. That is, they represent nothing.

>>8027970
it's casual impression. It sounds more impressive to say "I have read this 300-pages books" instead of "I have read this 200k words".

300 pages are simply easier to imagine and more practical to the mind.

But publishers don't make that mistake, they ask for word count, not page count from writers. So do worry.

>>8027978
>>8027982
Obviously books would have page count for orientation, but when "Length" is given for a work, it should be in word count.

>>8027989
pages are a definite unit of measurement and it's extremely easy to estimate them
a given page could have any amount of lines on it but a page will always be a page
similarly if the book has images or anything outside of just the body of text (e.g. footnotes) you would naturally need pages to reference them
>>8027991
pages are easier to visualise

>>8027970
Why shouldn't it be glyph count?

>>8027997
Because glyphs aren't read individually, words are.

>>8027997
Because words already don't vary with font size and typeface, so it's an unneeded amount of precision

Also >>8028002

>>8027996
Address
>>8027976

>>8027989
>How the fuck do you know where pages are located?
This is this. This is /lit/. This right here.

>>8028010
I don't know about you, faggot, but I don't have trouble finding lines in stage plays.

Is there any reference site that lists word counts

>>8028014
Pages literally have numbers written on them, as do lines in stage plays.

File: Absolutely disgusting.jpg (29KB, 360x480px) Image search: [Google]

29KB, 360x480px

>>8028020
That's my fucking point.

File: what has this place made of us.gif (4MB, 344x203px) Image search: [Google]

4MB, 344x203px

>>8028025
It's my point too but we were both blind to each other. We must work hand in hand from now on.

>>8028010
this was far funnier than it should have been to me

>>8027991
Page number isn't given to procure some stupid self-satisfaction but to give the buyer an idea of the book size. Word count doesn't evoke anything in mind.

>122p.
>small book
>478p.
>big book

>>8028270
>Word count doesn't evoke anything in mind.
Because you're not used to it, obviously.
"fl.oz" means nothing to me but if I was American I could have visualized an amount of liquid by the number

>>8028272
You don't do anything to a word yet you turn the pages, they act as some kind of graduation. How many people force themselves to finish the current page before they close the book?

As another guy said, it's meaningless to say “Oh, I'm at word #2,409” or “let's read together words #400 to #800”. The page a more reasonable, relevant unit, and so it is associated in mind. Word count will never have the same effect. The only thing a word count evokes to me is an essay length.

>>8028270
>Word count doesn't evoke anything in mind.

Actually, word count gives you a better representation of how long a book is than pages. My copy of Jack Vance's Dying Earth has more pages than my copy of A Fire Upon The Deep, despite being a shorter book. I can tell at a glance that it's a shorter book because it has a lower word count.

The only reason you aren't able to make comparisons like this in your head is because you aren't used to doing it.

They should avoid the words and pages and just count morphemes instead.

who the fuck uses pages? everyone who's not a fucking mong assigns word counts, but like somebody says morphemes would be even better but they are harder to count so word count it is.

>>8028003
>words don't vary

>>8029450
They don't vary with font size, no.
The count is the same.

I go by word count, OP.

>>8028927
They should count phonemes actually IMO

Actually it makes the most sense to count characters

>>8027989
Because most books are physical and are printed the same way every time?

>>8027970
I mean, it seems like the publishing industry has formulas for words-per-page based on fiction or non-fiction books, so you can get a general idea of the word count based on page length if you know the formula.

granted the formulas might not be common knowledge, but unless your font is a really unusual font size, it shouldn't change that much from the original? and aside from the publishers and authors themselves, who questions the word count of books on a daily basis?

>>8028270
To be fair a few of my philosophy books go up to page 150-200 but the word count is upwards of 100,000 words. They fit hundreds of words on one page somehow perfectly fitting the words while not hindering legibility. So when I see a book has 150 pages I think "Oh it'll be a short read I'll start that first" then when I'm 80 pages in I've already read a long book. I think a nice compromise would be to list both word count and page number.
>Word count and page number instead of either/or.