How to track audiobooks, and count them as reading

Audiobooks are reading. You follow the same story, meet the same ideas, finish the same last page, only through your ears. Yet most reading trackers treat them as an afterthought. Here is how to track them properly, and how to mix them with paper and ebooks without the numbers getting confusing.

Does listening count as reading?

For a reading habit, yes. The point of a habit is to spend time with books, and a listen on your commute does exactly that. Counting it keeps your streak honest about the reading you actually do, rather than only the reading you do sitting down.

Track time, not pages

An audiobook has no pages you can see, so tracking it in pages means guessing. Track it in hours and minutes instead: where you are, and how long the whole book is. “3 h 30 m of 11 h 35 m” tells you exactly how far you have come and how far there is to go.

Your audiobook app shows both numbers, so logging takes seconds. Many apps also let you change speed. Track the book's position, not the time you spent, and the numbers stay comparable whatever speed you listen at.

Mixing audiobooks with paper and ebooks

Most readers who listen also read. The question is how to count both toward one goal. There are two simple ways:

• A goal in minutes. Count minutes read and minutes listened. This is the fairest when your formats differ a lot.
• A goal in pages, with listening converted. BookWorm treats about 660 minutes of listening as equal to 350 pages, so a long listen moves your page goal by a sensible amount.

Either way, choose one and stick with it for a few weeks so the days are comparable.

Switching format part way through

Many people read a book on paper at home and listen to it on the move. Keep one book, and update its format when you switch. In BookWorm each day keeps the format it was read in, so your history stays accurate even when a book changes from pages to minutes.

Use a timer for longer listens

If you listen in long stretches, a timer saves you from doing sums. Start it when you press play, pause it when you stop, and log your new position at the end. BookWorm's reading timer runs on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, where you can pause and resume it without opening the app.

Don't let tracking get in the way of listening

Whatever you use should stay quiet. BookWorm's sounds never pause or quieten your audiobook, and the Silent switch turns them off entirely. Log when you stop, not while you listen.

In short

1. Track position in hours and minutes, not guessed pages.
2. Pick a goal in minutes, or one that converts listening fairly into pages.
3. Keep one entry per book, and switch its format when you do.
4. Use a timer for long listens, and log at the end.

Want to see how many minutes a day your goal needs? Try the reading goal calculator.