How to Read More

Hello writers!

A lot of writing advice in the world is conflicting. Some authors say you need to write first thing in the morning when you wake up, while others say working late into the night is when they get their best ideas. Some authors say they write when inspiration strikes them, while many more say writing is a habit and you just need to write, whether you feel like it or not. But one thing that every author agrees upon, at least every author I’ve heard, is that to be a good author you must be a good reader.

This makes a lot of sense when you think about it. If you don’t read books, how will you know what makes a good book or not? If you write genre fiction, you won’t know what tropes are overdone in your genre if you don’t read other novels in that genre. Reading books by great authors can give us insights into why some things work so well, and reading books of a lesser quality can show us what doesn’t work so we know what to avoid.

I come from a family of voracious readers. When my sisters and I were kids, if one of us got in trouble, it wasn’t uncommon for our mom to ground us from reading because we all loved reading so much. My parents first met in a library. However, as I grew older, reading became less of a priority as I spent more of my time playing guitar, playing video games, doing homework, dating, working… I never made a conscious choice to stop reading, but I never made it a priority either and eventually I realized I hadn’t read a book in a year or two. So I decided to make some changes, and it’s helped a lot, so today I want to share the tips that have helped me most.

1. Read ebooks. For starters, ebooks can be way cheaper than physical books, meaning you can afford more of them. Ebooks are often cheaper since they don’t require any printing, shipping or other overhead costs. Admittedly, you can go to a used bookstore and maybe find books cheap (although my local used bookstore can actually be pretty pricey), and of course you can borrow books from a library. But did you know you can get a ton of ebooks for free? A lot of classic books are now in the public domain, meaning you can download them for free legally from sites like Project Gutenberg. You can also sometimes get modern books for free or on drastic sales. For example, a lot of smaller authors make the first book in a series free, in hopes of getting you hooked on the series so you’ll buy subsequent books. There are also services like Freebooksy, where you can get an email every day with free books tailored to you. For example, my daily Freebooksy newsletter always has fantasy and sci-fi deals, as well as thrillers and YA, since those are the genres I said I’m interested in. Finally, you can even borrow ebooks from many libraries so you don’t have to go out to the library! I was lazy before COVID and didn’t want to leave my house if I could help it, and now it’s even more appealing to stay home and just download books instead. Admittedly I haven’t set up an account with my library to get ebooks yet, but I plan on doing that soon. I just have to go to the library to get a new card since I lost mine… Woops.

2. Buy a Kindle Paperwhite. I used to think I was a paperback-only kind of reader. But when I bought my Kindle, it revolutionized my reading life. First, the Kindle Paperwhite has a backlight. This simple feature helps me read so much more in situations where I just couldn’t read a normal book. Can’t sleep, but don’t want to turn on the lights and wake up my wife? I can read on my Kindle! Riding in the back seat of the car on a road trip when it’s my sister-in-law’s turn to drive? I can’t sleep in cars, but I can read! That one is admittedly pretty niche, but it’s happened more times than you’d think. The Kindle is also convenient. Sitting in a doctor’s office waiting for my appointment? My Kindle fits in my pocket a lot better than a regular book would. Going over to my parents’ house and having to sit in the driveway until they get home because I forgot my key? I think you get the idea. Having my Kindle with me is a lot more convenient than even just carrying one book, plus it has an entire library worth of books all in one small device. Finally, you might be thinking “Ok but you could also just read on the Kindle app on your phone or tablet, so what’s the point?” I’m glad you asked! The Paperwhite uses an e-Ink screen, which is much easier on the eyes than an LED screen like the one on your phone or tablet. It feels much more like reading a book with a light shining on it, rather than having a bunch of little lights shining in your eyes. Because of this, it helps your eyes not hurt from staring at your phone screen as much, and you can read longer. Plus the e-Ink screen is much easier to see in bright sunlight when your phone screen might have bad glare.

3. Listen to audiobooks. Let me fill you in on a secret I learned recently: when you buy a Kindle book, you can usually get the audiobook at a drastic discount! When you buy an ebook on Amazon, there’s a little checkbox that says “Add Audible narration to your purchase for just…” and then the price. Years ago, this used to say “Add audiobook narration…” and I never understood what that meant, so I just ignored it. But what this really means is “Buy the Audible book as an add-on.” This is usually way cheaper than just buying the audiobook, and since I enjoy having the ebook anyway, it’s a nice way to get both at a pretty decent price. For example, when I bought The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, the Kindle book was $10.94 after tax, and I was able to add the Audible audiobook for an extra $9.30. So I paid roughly $20 for both the ebook and the audiobook. If I had purchased the paperback it would have cost $15, or the hardback is $23, so for roughly the same price I got the audiobook and the Kindle edition. That book has a 65 hour runtime, so I’d call that a pretty fair price for the amount of entertainment I got. If I had purchased the audiobook outright, it would cost around $45, and even if I subscribed to Audible it would have been $15 for the monthly credit and I wouldn’t have the Kindle ebook. Kindle’s Whispersync feature keeps track of where you are in the book, so if you’re listening on Audible then pause it and open your Kindle, it will automatically turn to the page where your audiobook left off. I listen to audiobooks a lot while I work, since my job is a very repetitive mindless task (I make yoyo strings, which really just involves a lot of walking back and forth with thread and a Dremel). It’s also great for listening in the car, and I’ve read so much more now that I’ve started listening to audiobooks.

4. Buy an alarm clock. Let me explain: instead of using my phone as an alarm, I bought an alarm clock. Now I keep my phone on my desk at night, so it’s across the house from where I sleep. So instead of scrolling Reddit and Twitter all night long when I can’t sleep, now I just have my Kindle on my nightstand and I can read until I fall asleep. This has been great for helping me read more, and it’s also helped me sleep better since I don’t have my phone shining bright light in my eyes before bed and I can’t hear it if I get notifications in the night. This is the alarm clock I got and I love it, but you could also just get a super cheap one if you want. I just like that one because the light helps me wake up in the morning.

By following these tips, I’ve increased my reading exponentially. Of course, simply reading isn’t enough to make you a good author. You need to read with intention, looking critically at what the author is doing and seeing what works and what doesn’t, and what techniques the author uses that you can apply to your own work. I like to write notes on my Kindle as I read, like pointing out “Oh this feels like foreshadowing” and that sort of thing. It’s a lot of fun reading back through those notes and seeing what I guessed right or wrong and ways the author fulfilled or subverted my expectations, and invariably I find some technique or interesting idea to try in my own writing. Leave me a comment if you try any of these tips to let me know how it works for you, or tell me your own tips if you’ve found other ways to read more.

Hope you’re having a great day!

- Michael Wolfe Price

P.S. - None of the above are affiliate or sponsored links, just links to things I like. I just wanted to mention that so you know I'm not getting any kind of payment for saying these things.