How To Calculate Reading Time

Have you noticed the growing number of articles that offer a reading time?

Recently, I’ve even seen some people put a reading time on Facebook posts. You may have wondered about the easiest way to add a reading time to your blog posts and articles. Or, maybe not. Ha. If you did, here are the easiest methods to calculate reading time.

First, how fast does the average person read?

The average person reads 200 wpm (words per minute). So, base your calculations on this.

There are two methods.

  1. Do the Math

Take the number of words in your article and divide by 200.

For example, if I have an article that is 888 words long, I would divide 888 by 200. This would give me 4.44.

Since this is closer to 5, than 4, I would round up.
My reading time would be 5 minutes.

2. Use the App

Use the Read-o-Meter to figure it out. Simply paste your text into the box and Read-o-Meter will figure it out for you. Done and done.

What is the average length for a short story or a novel?

Check out my article Word Count 101 for a fabulous overview.

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Another use for reading length

If you are a teacher, you can use this to figure out how much reading homework to give.

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One response to “How To Calculate Reading Time”

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