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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/44400
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/44400
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

# The publisher decides everything.

- If there is payment.
- What money is available for payment.
- How that money is divided up.
- If the money is per unit, what the units are and how to count them.
- If there will be a non-monetary payment (such as copies) instead of or in addition to money.
- If the author will get royalties of any kind (instead of or in addition to other payment).

In some cases, the writer can negotiate with the publisher for a higher rate, which happens if the writer is someone they really want. Either way, the details will be in the contract.

In general, the [word count of a document](https://www.writersdigest.com/writers-digest-competitions/annual-writing-competition) is everything but the title.

The [line count of a poem](https://www.writersdigest.com/writers-digest-competitions/poetry-awards) does not include the title or lines used as paragraph breaks.

But these can vary too. The publisher will let you know.

One unit you didn't mention is the page. This is how publishers determine payment for comics or other material with art. It works well because it's a known entity and correlates with publisher space and costs. They don't use pages for prose because the font and formatting changes that dramatically. Pages is also the unit writers use to pay artists, colorists, and letterers for comics and other art.

Original score: 2