On a related note -- how does one find out an accurate word count for published books?
One takes a published book, counts the words on a couple of typical pages, and does the relevant page-multiplication. By doing so, one will arrive at a close enough figure.
Published books vary widely in average number of words per page, depending on typeface, margins, and other formatting. On average, though, a rough estimate of 300 words per page is middle of the spectrum, in my experience.
Remember also that passages of dialogue will have lots of short lines and white space. The word count will be smaller through these passages than through longer paragraphs of straight narration.
And 80,000 words is a common standard novel length.
caw