How to Set a Reading Goal
Winter of 2017, I set a goal that seemed kind of nuts at the time. After years of being too exhausted by my college coursework to read for fun, I decided to read 100 books in 2018. It sounded like an absurdly high number.
I read 126 books that year.
Knowing I had that kind of reading power within me (as long as I had some good external motivation) unlocked a new phase in my reading life. In 2020, I vowed to read 150 books, and by the grace of God and Janet Evanovich, I made it on December 30th.
If you want to read more, you don’t HAVE to do what I did and start with an absurdly high goal. After all, I already read a lot as a kid, so it was easy for me to dive back into it. But if you’re a newbie, or building your reading prowess, there are lots of ways to do it!
The one thing you must do to set your reading goal is use a tracker.
As I’ve written about before, I have ADHD. I absolutely must use an external tracking system to help me out. I am POSITIVE if I were stranded on a desert island I would use all sense of time in approximately 3 days, and keeping up with my book goal is no different.
My favorite way to track right now is to use an account on goodreads.com. They have an app for your phone that’s equally as robust as their website. It’s also a great app for if you hear about a book you’d like to read in the wild and you want to remember it. It’s owned by Amazon which is not my favorite thing ever, but it’s by far the best book tracker out there (until StoryGraph is out of beta and has an app - fingers crossed!)
If you’re more a pen and paper person, you can easily use a bullet journal, a simple lined notebook, or you can use a pre-made checklist provided by a guided reading goal (more on that later).
Once you’ve picked your tracking system, use this questions to help you set your reading goal.
How Much Do You Read Right Now?
As I said before, I was able to go from zero to one hundred because I read a lot in the past. In college I often read the equivalent of a thick fantasy novel per week - but for my studies, not for fun. Yay history coursework!
If you’ve never read much, then a book per week may be daunting - and that’s okay. The goal is to pick something that you will enjoy and help you connect to reading more, not impress your friends (or judgmental Aunt Sandra).
How Much Do You Want to Read?
This is critically different from how much you already read. As someone who used to read a lot, I wanted to get back onto that train. But let’s say you have never been much of a reader, and the thought of reading for an hour every day makes you want to pass out.
If everyone tried to be the best at everything, no one would actually be very good at anything. Imagine if Simone Biles decided she wanted to win a world championship in making gnocchi. Her gymnastics career would really suffer. If you want to make reading one of your primary activities, that’s fine, but if you don’t, be realistic about how much you’ll actually want to read.
How Much Time Will You Have to Read?
It’s not possible for everyone to fit hours of extra reading into their life. Things like newborn infants, graduate school, and global pandemics can make it harder to read, and if that’s where you are, that’s okay.
If you have a very busy schedule, or haven’t read much in the past, starting around 10-12 books per year is a good amount of reading without being overwhelming. And if that seems low to you, there are literally 88 possible goals between 12 and 100!
How Do You Like to Read?
I know this sounds like a weird question, but many people don’t even consider ebooks or audiobooks when they think about reading more. There are all kinds of creative ways to fit reading into your schedule that don’t involved physical paper.
Audiobooks are a great way to occupy your mind while cleaning, baking, or driving to work (and they totally count towards your reading goal - end of discussion). If you ride the train frequently, having a book queued up is a great way to pass the time. Ebooks are also a really convenient way to always have a book with you, and to fit in a few extra minutes of reading when you’re stuck in line at the DMV.
Physical books are fun to collect and read, but they aren’t the end-all-be-all of your reading choices. I typically use a mixture of all three to read. It also opens up your options when it comes to what books are available to you.
What Kinds (Genres) of Books Do You Like to Read?
I will tell you the secret of the people who read literally hundreds of books per year: they are either paid to (because they work in publishing), or they read easily digestible books. Almost every shockingly voracious reader reads within the same genre or writing style, and many read YA (because it’s a little easier to read faster).
If that’s not your jam, that’s really okay. I actually don’t recommend Pride and Prejudice to first-time classics readers because the language is so intricate. I don’t find it relaxing, and I use reading to relax. But maybe you’re the sort of person who wants to slowly wrap yourself in antique language an hour at a time before bed each night. If so, basing your goal off the classics could be a good option for you!
Maybe you like sweeping fantasy novels with 800 or so pages. Maybe you like cute, quirky romances under 300 pages. Maybe you like all of the above! Whatever your style, use it to help you determine your goal. You can even try it out by reading a book in your chosen genre, and seeing how long it takes you.
Examples of Reading Goals
For the concrete among us (hi, it me) very specific directions help a lot. That’s why I feel the Popsugar reading challenge is so popular; it’s a middle amount of books (50), and there are very specific, though not impossible, directions for your choice. Here are some examples of reading goals from around the internet to help you set your goal. Use these as jumping off points for your own challenge!
Common numerical goals:
10 books per year
12 books per year (one per month)
30 books per year
50 books per year
52 books per year (one per week)
75 books per year
100 books per year
150 books per year
Excellent guided reading lists:
Modern Mrs. Darcy (a.k.a. Anne Bogel - her podcast is a great spot to get recommendations, too!)
Newberry/Caldecott Reading Challenge (great for parents to read with their kids!)
Pick Your Poison (a really great customizable option)
For even more inspiration, check out this master list compiled by girlxoxo.
If one of your new year’s resolutions is to read more, there are tons of creative, structured ways to make that goal a reality. There is also a huge world of books out there that you’ll love! Now go forth, and read.
