How this calculator works
A reading challenge is a rate problem. The words you read in a day are the minutes you read multiplied by your words a minute. Divide that into the words in an average book and you have the books a day, which multiplies by the days in the challenge. The same arithmetic runs backwards: to finish a target in the period, multiply the target by the words in a book and divide by the days and your speed. The result is the daily reading time the goal really asks of you.
Formula
books = daily minutes x days x words a minute / (pages per book x words per page). minutes a day needed = target books x pages per book x words per page / (days x words a minute). books a month = target / (days / 30.4375).
Worked example
At 250 words a minute and 300 words a page, a 300-page book has 90,000 words and takes 360 minutes. Reading 30 minutes a day for 365 days gives 10,950 minutes, or about 30 books. A target of 50 books needs 50 x 90,000 / (365 x 250) = 49.3 minutes a day.
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Frequently asked questions
Are reading challenges meant to be exact?
No. They are a planning device. Your book lengths and available time vary, so treat the result as the middle of a range and adjust the target if the required minutes a day looks unrealistic.
Should I count audiobooks?
You can, if that is how you read. Convert the listening time to words at the narrator pace, or simply count the books and ignore the words. The challenge is yours to define, as long as you keep the rule the same all year.
What if I read several books at once?
The arithmetic does not change: the time you spend reading is what produces finished books. Starting many books does spread progress, so finishing one may take longer than this linear estimate.
Why 30.4375 days in a month?
It is 365.25 divided by 12, the average month over a year including leap years. It keeps the monthly pace consistent with an annual total.