So, do you want to know how many books I read in a year?
It's at least 52. I try to read a book every single week of the year.
And the reason I do that is because it's a really easy number to keep track of
one book per week. That's a cinch, right?
At the moment with COVID going on,
I'm actually ahead of track to reach about 60 to 70 books a year.
But some people just look at me like, how do you manage to read so many books?
I mean, that's crazy, right? I read a book a month.
I read a book every two months.
I just love reading so much.
And some people want to know how I manage to do it.
Like how do I read 52 books a year?
So I'm going to take you through my process and all the little nifty tricks I do
to get through that many books. I'm Kat Clay.
I'm a Melbourne horror and crime writer.
I would love it if you hit subscribe and let's get into how to read
52 books a year.
So the first thing I do is that I make the choice to read.
If I'm driving a car, I'll get an audio book on.
If I'm on public transport or going to work, I'm going to read a book.
I'm not going to sit there, scrolling through my smart phone. Okay.
You have the choice to read. It's a choice between watching TV. And yes,
I love watching TV, playing Assassin's Creed games,
but in the end, I'm going to choose to read because that's where my priority is.
And that's what I love.
The second thing I want to tell you is that read books you actually like.
I mean, don't let anybody tell you what you should be reading.
If you like reading romance novels.
If you like reading crime novels about serial killers,
by all means, read what you love. Okay?
Don't let anybody else dictate your reading preferences,
read books that are fun and read things that just give you pleasure in life
because there's no point reading 52 books a year if you didn't enjoy it and if
you didn't get something out of it.
I
mean, if I don't like the book, I'll put it down. You know,
you should read things that are fun.
The third thing I want to say is to read short books.
I love hard-boiled novels because they are short. I mean,
I miss the days of pulp fiction where people used to write short paperbacks.
You know, by all means, go read Game of Thrones,
go read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, those real like, you know,
giant doorstop of books, read War and Peace.
But if you're getting tired of reading long books, read a short book, it's fun.
It's great.
It's great to finish something really quickly or read a book in a day.
So a sneaky trick I do to get through so many books in a year is that I actually
speed up my audio books.
So when I'm listening to a book in the car or when I'm cleaning or when I'm
going for a walk, I actually put it on 1.25 speed.
And it's not so fast that you really notice the pacing of the story,
but it actually speeds up how quickly you can get through a book.
And I find that really helpful. If you start to notice it, slow it down.
And I mean,
if you want to enjoy the book and you want to enjoy the story slowed down,
it's totally fine,
but that's a little trick for you to get through more books in a year.
My other habit is to stagger my reading. So I stagger my books through the year.
I don't just read one book at a time and finish that and move on to the next
book. I will have an audio book on the go.
I will have a nonfiction book on the go.
I will probably have multiple fiction books on the go.
I'll have a comic book on the go.
And so while I'm reading those all at the same times,
it means I have a book for every occasion.
So if I don't feel like reading one book, I can go to the other one.
And through that process,
I get through quite a few books in a year and I'll often finish a lot at once.
Although it might be a few weeks between finishing books because I'm reading
them at different times, but it's a nice trick.
If you want some variety in your reading through the year to finally set
aside dedicated time for reading, that's really important. So for me,
I set aside Saturday mornings, Sunday mornings.
They're my little sacred time when I hang out with my cat and I read books when
it's really quiet, nobody's around, it's just wonderful. Make a cup of tea.
It's a little refreshing ritual for me. And I find it really calming.
The other thing I do is that I turn off devices at nine o'clock.
So I turn the TV off. There's no PlayStation games,
there's no video gaming after nine o'clock, it's very naughty.
Um, and I make sure I'm reading at that time and relaxing before I go to
bed, because it's really important to calm your mind down before you go to bed.
And so having a set times means I'm at least reading at least one hour a day.
And that's really important to me because I love books so much.
So there you have it.
There's my best tips for how to read 52 books in a year.
Let me know in the comments, if you have any good tips for reading,
how many books you get through a year,
because I know there are people out there who read hundreds of books a year and
I am not in your league,
but I think 52 is a nice achievable goal because it just is
so easy to track.
I track it all in Goodreads and set that goal at the start of the year.
And it's lovely to find at the end, when I'm on summer holidays,
that I can read to my heart's content and hit that goal.
So please subscribe. It means a lot to me.
If you hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more writing tips,
writing advice and nerding, I'll see you later.