A year-long goal, in pages you can read today.

An annual book goal

1. books remaining = goal − books already finished
2. estimated pages remaining = books remaining × your average pages a book
3. pages per reading day = estimated pages remaining ÷ reading days left this year

Reading days left counts the weekdays you picked, from today to 31 December, today included. The page figure is rounded up so the last day isn't short.

One book, one date

1. pages remaining = pages in the book − the page you're on
2. reading days available = the weekdays you picked, from today up to and including the finish date
3. pages per reading day = pages remaining ÷ reading days available

Here the page target isn't an estimate: you know the page count and you know the date.

If you add a pace

minutes per reading day = pages per reading day ÷ your pages per hour × 60

Leave the pace blank and no time estimate appears. There is no average reader here, no assumed words per page, and no invented reading speed — a minute figure only exists once you supply the pace it came from.

32 books, four reading days

Eight books in, 24 to go, 320 pages each: about 7,680 pages. If you had 64 reading days left this year, that would be 120 pages on each reading day.

120 pages a reading day

A big number, honestly arrived at. Fewer books, more reading days, or a longer horizon all move it — which is the useful thing to know in September rather than in December.

A book club in three weeks

A 384-page novel, you're on page 96, the meeting is in 20 days. You read Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays: nine reading days.

32 pages a reading day

At 32 pages an hour that's an hour each of those evenings — a time figure only because a pace was supplied.

Reading less on purpose

The same novel at 20 pages a reading day instead of 32 doesn't fail — it lands a fortnight later.

A later date, not a worse reader

Choosing the pace and reading the date off it is often the better way round — the slider above does exactly that.

How many pages should I read a day?

However many your own goal divides into. A 30-book year at 320 pages a book is 9,600 pages; spread over five reading days a week that's roughly 37 pages on each of those days. There's no universal right number — only the one your goal, your book lengths and your week produce.

How many pages a day do I need to read to finish a book?

Take the pages left — the total minus the page you're on — and divide by the reading days between now and your deadline, counting the deadline itself. Switch to Finish this book above and it does that as you type.

Should I count every day or only the days I actually read?

Only the days you actually read. Dividing by all 365 produces a gentle-looking number that quietly assumes a perfect year. Picking your real reading days gives a slightly larger target that survives a normal week.

How is reading time estimated?

From your pages per hour, and only from that. Leave the pace blank and you'll see pages with no minutes attached. If you don't know your pace, one timed session tells you more than any average would: RUNU's reading timer works it out from sessions that recorded both a duration and the pages you advanced.

Why does an annual goal need an average book length?

Because the books aren't chosen yet. A book count can only become a page count through an assumption about length, so the calculator asks you for that number instead of inventing one. Change it and watch the plan move — that's the size of the uncertainty.

What if I miss a reading day?

You reopen this page and the sum comes out slightly different. That's all a missed day is here. A target is a direction, not a contract — and a quiet week is a week, not a verdict.