Facts and Stats

Founded by: Freelance writer Chris Baty and 20 other overcaffeinated yahoos in 1999.

Now run by: The Office of Letters and Light, an august 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Oakland.

How NaNoWriMo got from there to here: It’s a funny story, actually.

Annual participant/winner totals 1999: 21 participants and six winners

2000: 140 participants and 29 winners

2001: 5000 participants and more than 700 winners

2002: 13,500 participants and around 2,100 winners

2003: 25,500 participants and about 3,500 winners

2004: 42,000 participants and just shy of 6,000 winners

2005: 59,000 participants and 9,769 winners

2006: 79,813 participants and 12,948 winners

2007: 101,510 participants and 15,333 winners

2008: 119,301participants and 21,683 winners

2009: 167,150 participants and 32,178 winners

2010: 200,500 participants and 37,500 winners

2011: 256,618 participants and 36,843 winners

Number of official NaNoWriMo chapters around the world: Over 500

Number of K-12 schools who participated in 2005: Over 100

Number of K-12 schools who participated in 2006: Over 300

Number of K-12 schools who participated in 2007: 366

Number of K-12 schools who participated in 2008: 600

Number of K-12 schools who participated in 2009: 1,295

Number of K-12 schools who participated in 2010: 1,800

Number of K-12 schools who participated in 2011: 2,000

Number of NaNoWriMo manuscripts that have been sold to publishing houses: Many (details below)

Number of words officially logged during the 2004 event: 428,164,975

Number of words officially logged during the 2005 event: 714,227,354

Number of words officially logged during the 2006 event: 982,564,701

Number of words officially logged during the 2007 event: 1,187,931,929

Number of words officially logged during the 2008 event: 1,643,343,993

Number of words officially logged during the 2009 event: 2,427,190,537

Number of words officially logged during the 2010 event: 2,872,682,109

Number of words officially logged during the 2011 event: 3,074,068,446