From Pages Per Day to Books Per Year

From Pages Per Day to Books Per Year | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article From Pages Per Day to Books Per Year Meliksah Yorulmazlar This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8684930/v2 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract Reading goals are commonly framed in terms of books completed per year, yet reading itself is a cumulative daily activity. In this paper, we empirically study the relationship between the average number of pages read per day and the number of books read per year. Using 14,998 user-year observations collected from the StoryGraph platform, we find a strong linear relationship with a regression slope of approximately 1.1 and an R^2 of 0.92. We show that this relationship arises naturally from the proximity between the average book length and the number of days in a year, yielding a simple aggregation identity. This framing highlights reading as a compounding process driven by consistent daily behavior rather than discrete annual targets. Cultural Studies reading behavior reading habits habit formation daily behavior cumulative processes pages per day books per year behavioral data quantitative social science reading analytics Figures Figure 1 Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8684930","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":580842221,"identity":"4cfb6fb6-5a86-4d7f-8725-995243fc753a","order_by":0,"name":"Meliksah Yorulmazlar","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAq0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYLCCBwdsGBiYgQweorUkHEgjXcthCIMoLQbHe59JJJw5n2/OzsD44G0bMVrOHDeTSLhx23JnMwOz4VyitNxIY5NI+HDbwOAwA5s0LwlazoG0sP8mQcuNA2BbmInSInnmGLNFwplkA8tmxmbJOeeI0MJ3vI3xxodjdgbm/IcPfnhTRoQWhQMwFzIwNhChHgjkYeoMiFM/CkbBKBgFIxEAAJAONk3bCioXAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4498-3358","institution":"Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Meliksah","middleName":"","lastName":"Yorulmazlar","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-24 08:22:47","currentVersionCode":2,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8684930/v2","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8684930/v2","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":101260284,"identity":"1777b742-fffb-4f6e-b6d9-62a9f31dcad4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-27 20:17:53","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":38869,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eRelationship Between Pages Read per day and Books Read per day\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"figure.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8684930/v2/59bdddd88ea715c64a1d1d88.png"},{"id":102403995,"identity":"bcb23809-2cff-4b90-b9d6-53cf2b8bf720","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-11 10:52:25","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":212602,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"FromPagesPerDaytoBooksPerYearversion2researchsquare.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8684930/v2_covered_4e764fdd-4077-4cfa-b630-83f575a5a9a6.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"From Pages Per Day to Books Per Year","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":true,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"reading behavior, reading habits, habit formation, daily behavior, cumulative processes, pages per day, books per year, behavioral data, quantitative social science, reading analytics","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8684930/v2","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8684930/v2","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eReading goals are commonly framed in terms of books completed per year, yet reading itself is a cumulative daily activity. 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