Are you wondering how to read a book a week? We’re often told that smart, successful people read a lot…even a book or two a week! It’s pretty clear that reading is a great way to learn and grow as a person—but whether you’re reading for fun or for learning, how can you find the time to read more?
Well, if you’re wondering whether reading a book a week is feasible, here are 17 tips that will help you read one book a week!
1. Prioritize Reading
We all only have 24 hours in a day, so if you want to read a book every week then you’re going to have to make time. Something has to go in order to fit in more reading time!
This may look different depending on your situation, but if you currently watch a lot of Netflix or YouTube videos then maybe you want to cut back on that time and read a book instead. Or, if you find yourself mindlessly scrolling on social media throughout the day (like while eating breakfast or lunch) then try to replace this social media time with reading instead.
Choosing what you can give up doing and replacing it with reading will help you prioritize reading and reach your goal of a book per week!
2. Always Have a Book With You
When you want to learn how to read a book in a week, one of the biggest changes you can make to your lifestyle is making sure you always have a book on hand…no matter where you are.
If you read physical books, carry your latest read with you in a tote bag, purse, or the like. (If you plan to carry a paperback or hardcover with you, I recommend getting a book sleeve so you don’t accidentally damage your book on the go. You can find some beautiful and well-designed book sleeves here!)
Alternatively, I’ve also found it very helpful to own an e-reader (my favorite is the Kindle Paperwhite) as it is so lightweight and easy to carry an e-reader with you anywhere. Plus, this way you can even start a new book on the go if you finish one book while you are out somewhere!
But at the very least, you could also just use reading apps on your phone like the free Amazon Kindle app or a library app like Libby. If you don’t mind the small screen, using reading apps on your phone is a great way to make sure you always have a book with you!
3. Squeeze Reading Into the “In Between” Times in Your Schedule
Going along with the idea that you should always have a book with you, squeezing reading into the in between or waiting times throughout your day can be an easy way to add more reading into your life.
How does this work? Well, pay attention to the times when you are waiting for things to happen. Maybe you are waiting in a line, waiting for an appointment, taking your dog out for a walk, etc.
If there’s a time where you would normally just sit around and do nothing or scroll through Facebook or Instagram, then that can be a good place to squeeze in some reading time! You’ll be surprised at how much reading you can get done in these in between times during your day.
4. Schedule Reading Time
Another way to make sure you reach your goal of reading one book a week is to actually schedule in dedicated reading time in your day.
Find a time that works well for you for reading. Maybe that is at night before going to bed. Maybe it’s waking up earlier to read before work. Or maybe it’s even reading on your commute to work.
Even if it’s just half an hour each day that you schedule in for reading, this can definitely help you reach your goal!
5. Divide Up Each Book to Make Sure You Finish On Time
Similar to setting a scheduled reading time, another way to make absolutely sure you finish reading a book a week is to divide up the book into manageable chunks.
There are lots of ways to divide up books, but one of the most popular ways is by page numbers. Say, for instance, that your book is 350 pages long. If you want to divide this up into your week and read some each day, then you would need to read 50 pages each day to finish the book by the end of the week (350/7=50). Then, just make sure you sit down each day to get through 50 pages and you’ll be on track!
Another way to divide up the book is by chapters. I like this method because you know you’ll always stop reading at a “good” stopping point…not in the middle of a paragraph! This works the same way, though, in that you would simply count up how many chapters there are and divide them by the number of days you plan to read each week. So if there are 21 chapters and you read 7 days a week, you’d need to read 3 chapters a day!
Planning out how much to read each day will help make sure you stay on track to reach your goal. You’ll also feel super accomplished when you reach your goal each day!
6. Choose Books You Actually Like
Reading a book each week can quickly become a chore, especially if you’re reading a lot of books you don’t like or aren’t interested in. Of course, sometimes we do things we don’t like because it helps us grow and learn! But there should also be an element of fun to this goal to help keep you motivated.
So to make sure there’s an element of fun, be sure to do a little research and try to find books about topics that interest you or with storylines you think you’ll enjoy. If you don’t already know what you like reading, then try a few different genres and see what interests you!
Your reading doesn’t have to be all fun and games, but interspersing some reads that are exciting to you with books you feel like you “should” read to learn or to be well read can help you reach your reading goals.
7. Don’t Be Afraid to DNF a Book
Some readers feel like it’s somehow sacrilegious to stop reading a book once you’ve started it, but I am definitely not in that camp! I think there can be value in reading things we don’t particularly enjoy, but I also think there’s a time and place to DNF (Did Not Finish) a book.
The problem with a challenge like reading a book a week is that you can easily feel like giving up on a book you don’t like is setting you behind in your goal. It’s the idea of entrapment—that you feel a compulsion to continue reading a specific book simply because you’ve already invested time into it and don’t want that time investment to be “wasted.”
In the case of the challenge to read a book a week, though, this can actually be faulty logic. It’s a common occurrence that readers are more likely to finish a book quicker if they are enjoying what they are reading…so if you’re struggling to get through a book, it may actually be quicker to cut your losses and start a new book (that you will actually enjoy) instead of trying to stick it out and finish the book you don’t like.
You should feel complete permission to DNF a book at any point. There’s no prize for pushing through a bad book! But if you want to know whether it’s a good idea to DNF a specific book you’re reading, check out this article about how to decide when you should stop reading a book.
8. Keep a List of Books You Want to Read
Another snag people often hit when trying to read a book a week is not knowing what to read once they finish a book. To combat this feeling of “What should I read next?”, it can be helpful to keep a list of books that have caught your eye in the past.
Always having a few books to choose from will help you be able to pick up your next read right away, and can also help you have a good selection of books you are interested in so you can choose a new book to read that fits your current mood.
9. Try Reading Multiple Books at the Same Time
If you find you’re enjoying a specific book but need some more variety, then you should maybe try reading a few different books at the same time. This is especially helpful for people who are “mood” readers—aka, you only like to read a specific book when you’re in the mood to read it.
Reading a few different books at a time means you’re more likely to have a book in progress that will match your current mood…which translates into you getting more reading done because you feel like reading various books more often!
10. Give Audiobooks a Try
For busy people, one of the best ways to fit in more reading time is to listen to audiobooks.
There’s a huge debate in the reading world about whether listening to audiobooks is the same as reading. I’m firmly on the side that they do count as reading and are not “cheating”…and I think this is especially true if the purpose of your “reading” is to enjoy or learn from the content of the books you pick up. Because whether you read it yourself or have someone else read it to you, you are still learning the same content!
Listening to audiobooks can be an excellent way to fit in more reading time, because you can have the audio playing even while doing other tasks such as driving, working, cleaning the house, etc. In fact, if you’re looking for ideas, I put together a whole list of fun or useful things you can do while listening to audiobooks!
Get a free 30-day trial of Audible Plus and up to two audiobooks completely free!
11. Participate in a Reading Challenge
If you want an easy way to help you choose what you read each week and some incentive to stay on track, then participating in a reading challenge can be a great idea!
There are lots of reading challenges out there that offer prompts for helping you choose your books to read, some of which even offer a full 52 prompts to help you choose which book you read each week! This can also be a great way to help yourself read diverse books, rather than getting stuck in a rut of just one genre or style.
12. Join a Book Club
If you know a few other people who would also like to read a book a week, then you can start a book club! Or you can search online to see if there are any book clubs currently meeting online or locally to you that you can join.
Having the accountability of other people counting on you to read the book so you can discuss it is a great way to help you stay on track with your reading.
13. Share With Others to Keep Yourself Accountable
There are several ways to do keep yourself accountable even if you don’t have a full-fledged book club. For instance, if you only know one other person who wants to read a book a week then you can be accountability partners for each other with making sure you actually do your reading.
Alternatively, you can tell people in your everyday life or online through Instagram, Facebook, etc. that you will be reading a book a week. Then, since you’ve declared it publicly, you are much more likely to follow through…especially if the people in your life ask you about your reading!
You could also simply tell people you’ll post a short review of the book you read on Instagram or another social platform. Then, you’ll feel compelled to keep up with your reading so you can post your review on time!
Whatever method you choose, having some outside accountability is a great way to make sure you reach your reading goal each week.
14. Track Your Reading
Another way to help keep yourself on track with your goal is to track your reading.
Goodreads is one popular option in the case of a yearly reading goal, because you can set the number of books you want to read for the year (in this case 52) and then it will let you know if you’re on schedule, ahead of schedule, or falling behind.
But tracking your reading is also simply a good idea in general, and can help you feel good about what you’ve accomplished as you see all the books you’ve read over time start to add up! My favorite way to track my reading is by using my reading tracker spreadsheet which also offers some fun stats to help you see stats about what you read!
Get the reading tracker spreadsheet now!
15. Use the Library to Get Books
When you’re wondering how to read one book a week, using the library can definitely help you achieve this goal. Why? Well, books are expensive! And the library is free.
If you feel at all burdened about buying a book or ebook each week, then using the library can help alleviate that burden. It is also easier to justify DNFing a book you aren’t enjoying when you haven’t paid $15-20 for it!
So if you feel any sense of financial burden associated with reading a book a week, then give yourself permission to borrow books instead and this can free you up to enjoy reading more! Plus, taking out a library gives you a due date of when you have to return the book…so this can help push you to read the book quicker too!
16. Short Books Are Worth Reading Too
I’ve heard a few people say that they feel like reading short books is “cheating” somehow…as if the length of the book somehow makes it “better” or more worthy to read. But this is not at all the case!
Reading a book a week can be a pretty quick pace for the majority of people, and especially if you haven’t read much in the past it can get overwhelming quickly. There is absolutely nothing wrong with giving yourself a week of lighter reading by picking a shorter book!
In fact, there are even some hugely popular and influential classic books that are under 200 pages long! You can find a list of some of the most popular short classic books here. I don’t think anyone would argue that these classic books are in any way “less than” their counterparts that sit at 1000+ pages…and the same goes for more modern works. Just because a book is short doesn’t make it “less than” a longer book!
Short doesn’t equal bad. Plus, you’re already reading a book a week…it doesn’t need to be an 800 page book each week! So give yourself some grace, and maybe choose a few shorter books to intersperse with the longer books you read. You may be surprised to find some of the shorter books become lifelong favorites!
17. Rephrase Your Goal
If life is busy, or if you have certain weeks of the month that are busier than others, then maybe you want to consider rephrasing your goal. An average of one book a week is just as good as actually reading one book a week!
Essentially, what I mean is that you may wish to set a specific number of books to read per month or a specific number of books for the whole year. While setting a goal of 52 books for the year works out to equal reading a book a week, this goal allows you to read more on the weeks that are less busy and maybe skip a week or two if you need.
This means that if you have a week with some extra free time, you might be able to read 2-3 books that one week. Maybe there’s a week where you can’t read anything. But instead of feeling bummed out or like a failure because you haven’t stuck to an exact schedule of reading a book a week, instead you still accomplish the same goal but just in a way that works with your busy schedule!
This is a great way to eliminate overwhelm and help you find a reading rhythm that works for you while still pushing yourself to read 52 books in a year!
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My husband wants to start reading more this summer. I love how you said that choosing books you are actually interested in can make reading easier. He is very interested in true stories and autobiographies, so I will help him find a good one to read.
That’s so fun to hear your husband wants to read more this summer! I love hearing about people getting interested in reading more or starting reading again. 🙂 He’s lucky to have you to help him find some good books that he’ll actually be interested in!