How people read books

Jellybooks is an analytics company that evaluates how people read book, in a similar fashion in how a company like Netflix evaluates how customers watch shows.

Here is how it works: the company gives free e-books to a group of readers, often before publication. Rather than asking readers to write a review, it tells them to click on a link embedded in the e-book that will upload all the information that the device has recorded. The information shows Jellybooks when people read and for how long, how far they get in a book and how quickly they read, among other details

The charts above show what percentage of readers finish chapters of books, with chapters on the x-axis. There’s a quick drop-off for the beginning parts of the book, but it’s like once people reach a certain point, they’re like, well, might as well finish it.

Although I suspect there’s some averaging or smoothing. After the drop, it looks really flat. Or is reading behavior really that predictable?