How Long Does It Take to Read Your Book?

Wise King Solomon said, “ Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. “

We are all strapped for time. Numerous outlets clamor for our attention. As a result, some people find it hard to commit to reading articles and books. These individuals feel like reading the article or book will take too much of their time.

To combat this issue, some website have begun to post the “ read time” for articles on their site. Amazon’s Kindle provides readers a “ time left in book “ feature that tells each reader how long it will take him to finish reading the book.

Some publishers are also beginning to include the a “ read time “ on their print books. Morgan James Publishing is one publisher that is listing the read time on the back cover of their books.

I think this is a great strategy. Putting a read time on a book lets a reader know approximately how much time it will take them to read your book. This small piece of information might be the deciding factor in purchasing your book for some readers.

How to Determine Reading Time

Reading time is based on the average reading speed. This is measured in words-per-minute. The average reading speed is between 265 and 300 words-per-minute. It appears that 275 words-per-minute is a commonly used number.

To determine how long it will take the average reader to read your book, simply take the number of words in your book and divide this by 275 words-per-minute. This will give you the number of minutes it takes to read your book. You can leave the read time in minutes, or you can convert it to hours and minutes.

Adding your book’s read time to the back cover of your book is a brilliant idea. Consider using this little tip, especially if your book is a quick read.

Photo courtesy of suju.

Originally published at http://marketingchristianbooks.wordpress.com on August 22, 2019.