Multiple Chapters in a Section VS Corresponding

[iBeScotty]

I am considering reading solo a nonfiction book that has 94 chapters of widely variable length and am guessing, at my normal read speed, they will average around 11.5 minutes per chapter. Since many chapters will be much shorter I am thinking of combining chapters in sections and then aiming for my personally ideal length of 20-30 minutes per section.

I wonder what the prevailing opinion is ... should I just keep reading chapters until I hit this range and then call it a section, or should I subscribe to KISS and make it one chapter per section?

~scotty

[Boomcoach]

Unless the chapters, overall, are under 1000 words, I usually go ahead and do 1 chapter per section. If there are several very small chapters in a row, I sometimes group them, but I don't shoot for any specific length. If I think that the LV intro is going to get annoying to hear 3 or 4 times in succession, I group them, otherwise, I usually don't.

[Peter Why]

It's entirely your own choice. The book for a recent solo of mine consisted of twelve sections, one for each month, with each divided into three shorter parts. The months worked out at between about thirty and forty minutes, while the parts within each month varied between under ten minutes and about twenty minutes long. Sensibly, I'd have read it as twelve chapters, but knowing how much hard work I find longer recordings, I decided to break each month into two, breaking it between two of the three parts.

So it's sort of half way between thirty six small sections and twelve biggish ones. Whatever you're comfortable with; you're reading for your own pleasure!

Peter

[iBeScotty]

Thank you both! I am inclined to go with my first instinct and group chapters, after recording the first couple and they seemed to fit well as one section at 17 minutes total.

I am still curious though if there is something else I may not be considering. Also, others might have a similar question. So, anyone else have input? Bueller? ... Bueller?

[TriciaG]

I am still curious though if there is something else I may not be considering. Also, others might have a similar question. So, anyone else have input? Bueller? ... Bueller?

What the rest said.

For the intros/outros, you could either use "Chapters X to Y" or "Section X", whichever you prefer. We want the outro to flow into the intro, so someone who can't see the file names and is just using the audio cues will know that they're moving from one section to the correct next one.

[InTheDesert]

The chapter titles can serve to tell a listener about the contents (in addition to the summary). If you do one chapter per file, you can label the contents in more detail. You can see the difference by comparing this and this.

[iBeScotty]

Excellent things to keep in mind! In the project I am working on now, I do like saying "section" mainly because it matches the file name/number and the chapters themselves don't seem to have any particular significance per se in this book. Of course I still indicate the chapters as well withn the reading.