Guide
Do the rude little maths before you request: deadline, book length, real pace, current pile, and days when reading is absolutely not happening.
Published 2026-08-13 · Reviewed 2026-08-13
The ARC Fit Calculator answers one very specific question: if you request this book and receive it, does it fit the reading life you already have?
You can use it on the computer or tablet Dashboard, in Focused Dashboard, and in the phone Dashboard. On a big Focused Dashboard, the rude little maths takes two columns with Gentle Goals and Aspirations beside it; on smaller screens it keeps the full row to itself. On a small phone, the read-by date gets a full row so it stays comfortable to edit, with the shorter page-count and no-reading-day fields beneath it. Visitors can also try it on the ARC Library landing page with a pretend shelf before signing up.
Fill in the possible ARC
- Choose Print / ebook or Audiobook.
- Enter the Read-by date. Use publication date unless the author gave you an earlier review deadline. The date control keeps the literal calendar day you choose.
- Enter the page count, or the audiobook hours and minutes.
- Add No-reading days for review writing, work, life, or the evenings when your brain says absolutely not.
On the public landing page, also enter your honest usual pages or listening minutes per day. Once you are signed in, ARC Library measures your current pace from books finished or actively read during the last six calendar months. If there is not enough reading history to measure it, the calculator asks you for a pace instead of quietly inventing one.
What ARC Library counts
The calculator looks at every unfinished book in your Library that is currently marked To Review and has pages or listening minutes left in the format you chose. It counts that whole current review pile, adds the possible new ARC, removes your buffer days, and asks whether everything can be finished by the date you entered.
That entered publication/read-by date is the one finish line for this calculation. The existing books' own deadlines do not make the answer earlier: a review book is counted whether its saved date is earlier, later, already past, or missing. Finished books, completed reviews, books you have only requested, and wishlist books are not part of the pile. Wishlist always wins if an older book still happens to carry a To Review status.
Print and ebook pages are compared with your page-reading pace. Audiobook minutes are compared with your listening pace. They are kept separate because pretending that 40 pages and 40 audio minutes are the same kind of workload would be ridiculous.
Read the answer
The answer puts the two numbers you need first: large Needed pace and Your pace figures sit side by side. Days available and Books waiting stay just below them, so you can understand the result without reading a paragraph. The needed pace changes immediately when you edit the proposed book length.
Open Show details when you want the reasoning behind the verdict. It replaces the number summary with the proposed-date explanation, the books counted from your unfinished To Review pile, and where your pace came from. Choose Back to numbers to return to the quick comparison.
- Yep. This one fits. There is useful room around the plan.
- Technically yes. Comfortably? Not really. The plan fits, but it uses nearly all the time available.
- Honestly? Don't request this one. The pile needs more per day than your pace can cover with the buffer you chose.
This is advice, not a command. You can still request the book, move another commitment, start earlier, or message the author. The point is that you see the trade before a lovely cover talks you into impossible maths.
Make the answer more honest
Keep page counts, audiobook lengths, progress, reading start dates, finish dates, and deadlines up to date in your Library. Your measured pace improves when books from the last six months have real reading progress and dates. Use a buffer that resembles your actual week, not the fantasy week where nobody needs dinner and nothing weird happens.