Reading Time Estimates
The median reading time for books in the archive is about 38 minutes. Most are quick reads, with 95 books under 10,000 words. A few longer works require a few hours.
Reading Tracker
Choose a book, record where you are, and set a daily goal. Your progress is stored in localStorage in this browser; it is not uploaded to a user account.
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Estimated time remaining
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If the EPUB has no fixed print pagination, the tool starts with an estimated page count and lets you replace it with the page total shown by your own reader.
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Reading history
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How the progress estimate works
The Reading Guide provides honest estimates of how long each story will take to read, based on word count and an average reading speed. These are approximate times, not exact promises.
It also notes the number of text sections in each book, which can indicate how the story is structured. Most books have one section, but a few have more.
Length Categories
Books are grouped as short (under 17,000 words), medium (17,000-40,000), long (40,000-90,000), or epic (over 90,000). In this archive, 95 are short, 3 are medium, and 2 are long.
Text Sections
The number of text sections can indicate pacing. A single-section story is continuous, while multiple sections may suggest chapters or breaks. This is a structural detail, not a quality measure.
Planning a Page-Based Path Through the Archive
The Reading Tracker records progress in pages, not minutes or sections. You set a current page, a total page count, and a daily page goal. The tracker then estimates how many days remain and how much time each session will take. It is a simple system, but it works well for the short stories that dominate this catalog.
Setting a Realistic Page Total
For most titles, the archive does not provide a fixed page count, so the tracker estimates one based on a standard of 250 words per page. For example, "The Other Now — Reading Notes" has 7,865 words, which gives an estimated total of about 32 pages. You can replace that estimate with the page count from your own reading app or edition if it differs.
The default daily goal is 20 pages. At that pace, "The Other Now" would take two days to finish, with each session roughly 35 minutes based on its estimated reading time of 35 minutes. If you prefer shorter sessions, you can lower the goal to 10 pages and spread the story over three or four days.
How the Estimates Work
The tracker calculates remaining time by taking the estimated reading minutes and scaling them by the fraction of pages remaining. If you are halfway through a 40-minute story, the tracker will show about 20 minutes left. This works because the page estimate is proportional to word count, so the ratio holds.
Finish days are simply the remaining pages divided by your daily goal, rounded up. If you have 15 pages left and a goal of 20, the tracker will show one day. If you have 25 pages left, it will show two. This keeps the planning straightforward, without overcomplicating the math.
Tracking Without an Account
Progress is stored in your browser's localStorage, so you do not need an account. That means your place is saved only on the device and browser you are using. If you switch computers, you will need to set the current page manually.
The tracker is designed for the way these stories are actually read: in short, focused sessions. A story like "The Other Now" can be finished in a couple of evenings, and the tracker helps you see that commitment upfront. It does not record sections or minutes, so you will not see a breakdown by chapter—just a steady page count moving toward the end.
Adjusting the Goal to Your Schedule
The daily goal is yours to change at any time. If a story is longer than expected, you can lower the goal to keep the reading enjoyable. If you have a free afternoon, you can raise it to finish in one sitting.
The tracker's estimates are only as good as the page total you enter. If you use the default estimate, remember it is based on 250 words per page, which may not match your edition. Checking the actual page count in your reading app will make the remaining time and finish date more accurate.