Even a counts as a word. If someone objects to paying for the a's in your article, you can always just remove them. And charge more for big words. That would be kind of fun. We could charge by character. That way I could get a lot more money for 'antidisestablishmentarianism'. (Is that still the longest word in the dictionary?) Wow, if I wrote in government-speak I'd be rich. 'sanitary engineer' has a lot more letters than 'janitor'. I could use phrases like 'prioritized re-establishment of previously discontinued inter-organization commuication mechanisms and methodologies'. I'd die of shame, but I'd have money.
You'd make a lot more anyway, because government writing is full of fluff to the Nth degree. I think you should charge by nanosecond.
no pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is...it's a lung disease from inhaling silica dust...