What 100,000 books reveal about the mysterious relationship between length, buzz, and reader satisfaction
In the age of infinite scrolling and shrinking attention spans, does book length still matter? Our analysis of 100,000 Goodreads reviews reveals surprising truths about what readers actually want.
For decades, conventional publishing wisdom has held that readers prefer shorter books—quick reads that fit into busy lives. But data from the world's largest community of book lovers tells a different story, one that challenges everything we thought we knew about literary preferences in the digital age.
The data tells three interconnected stories about what drives reader satisfaction in the digital age.
This analysis examines 100,000 books from Goodreads, the world's largest community of readers. We filtered outliers and focused on books with substantial reader engagement to understand the relationship between book characteristics and reader satisfaction. The smooth trend lines show local regression patterns that reveal underlying relationships in the data.
Data source: Goodreads community ratings and reviews, accessed 2025