How many pages a day do you need to finish a book on time?

What is the formula?

Pages per day equals pages left divided by days left, rounded up. If you start a 400-page book on a Monday and want to finish in 20 days, you need 20 pages a day. After six days you should be on page 120. If you are on page 90 instead, 310 pages remain across 14 days, which is 23 a day.

The key habit is to use pages left, not pages planned. Recalculating from where you are removes guilt, because the number is just arithmetic and always starts fresh.

How many pages is that in minutes?

Convert pages to minutes using your own pace. A typical paperback has around 250 to 300 words per page, and the average adult reads silent prose at about 240 to 260 words per minute, according to a 2019 meta-analysis by Marc Brysbaert. That is roughly 1 to 1.3 minutes per page. So 20 pages is about 25 minutes, and 40 pages is about 50 minutes. The general idea of measuring reading rate is covered in Wikipedia's article on words per minute.

The estimate is rough. Dense nonfiction runs slower, and a thriller with short paragraphs runs faster. Time yourself for a week and replace the average with your number. The simplest way to do it is to run a timer for a session and divide pages by minutes.

What if you read in bursts?

Many readers do not read daily. They read for two hours on Saturday. The formula still holds if you switch from days to sessions. Count the sessions you actually have before the deadline, and divide pages left by that number. Five sessions for 300 pages is 60 pages a session, or about 75 minutes.

Be honest about the sessions you list. A session that exists only on paper makes the plan look easier than it is.

How do you catch up without cramming?

When you fall behind, you have three honest options.

Avoid doubling up the next day to make up the gap. Cramming turns reading into a chore, and the book you finished in one sitting is rarely the one you remember.

• Move the date. Most deadlines are self-imposed. A new date costs nothing.
• Add one session a week. A single 30-minute session usually covers the shortfall for a short book.
• Cut the book. If you are behind and not enjoying it, leaving is a perfectly good outcome.

How does Bookstub help with this?

Bookstub is an iPhone reading tracker in development. You log the page you reached with a wheel and one button, and it works out the percentage from the page, so changing a book's page count recalculates everything. The timer can attach minutes to a log, so you can measure your own pace instead of guessing. If you stop mid-book, you can pause it, and a paused book keeps its logs. See how logging works.

The app does not set a deadline per book. Use the formula above to pick a date, then check the page each time you log.

When is a deadline a bad idea?

A deadline helps when a book has a reason to be read by a date: a book club meeting, a library due date or a trip. For books you read for pleasure, a deadline can turn a pleasure into a chore. Try an open-ended target such as a page a day instead, and let the finish date be whatever it turns out to be.

Should you plan by pages or by chapters?

Chapters give natural stopping points, and stopping mid-scene is harder than stopping at a break. If a book has 24 chapters and you want to finish in 12 days, two chapters a day is the plan, and it handles uneven chapter lengths better than a page count. The cost is that long chapters sneak up on you, so glance ahead before you start to see how many pages the next one runs.

For books without clear chapters, round to the nearest section break. Seven pages over or under on a given day costs you nothing.

What about e-books and audiobooks?

E-readers usually show a percentage, and you can use it the same way. To finish in 20 days, aim for 5 percent a day. Percent is slightly less exact than a page count because the screen size changes the page numbers, but it avoids the mismatch between editions.

Audiobooks use time. Divide the total hours by days: a 12-hour audiobook in 12 days is an hour a day, and a playback speed above 1.0 changes the numbers in your favor. If you mix formats, convert to percent of the book and keep one running total.

What about library due dates?

A library loan is a deadline you did not choose. Check the loan period when you borrow, then divide the pages by the days. If the number is higher than you can manage, borrow it when you have a lighter stretch, or place a hold so that it arrives at a better moment. Returning a book unfinished is a fine outcome, and you can usually borrow it again.

How do you keep the target realistic?

Be generous about the finish date and strict about the daily page. A realistic plan leaves a spare day or two at the end for the evening you cannot read. If you finish early, the book gives you a small gift of free time. If you used the spare days, you still hit the date.