# What is Time to Read?

> A reading app in which real readers recommend your next book, made by two readers in Haarlem. What it does, who is behind it, and what it is not.

Updated 23 October 2026. Source: https://timetoread.now/about/

**The short answer.** **Time to Read is a reading app for iPhone and Android in which real readers recommend your next book.** You write one sentence about what you are in the mood for, and readers whose shelves overlap with yours each answer with one book and a reason, usually within the hour. Beside that it brings ten books a day, one book a month chosen for you, reading sessions that block the apps you set aside, and reading clubs in your own town. Anastasia and Marvin Visser make it in Haarlem. The Netherlands and Belgium come first, and you read in Dutch, English or both.

## Three ways a book reaches you

Everything in Time to Read starts from the books you have already read and loved. From there, a new one reaches you in one of three ways.

- **Ask.** Write one sentence: what you are in the mood for, what you just finished, what you cannot face right now. The question goes to readers whose finished books overlap with yours, and each answers in their own words with one book and why. Answers usually come within the hour. You choose the one that sounds right, and it goes on your shelf.
- **Today’s books.** Ten books a day, one to a page, each with a line saying why it is in front of you. Shelve the ones you want to read and skip the rest. A new ten is ready every morning.
- **The monthly pick.** One book a month, chosen for you and signed by the Time to Read team, with the reason it was chosen. It arrives sealed, on the same day every month.

When too few readers are around to answer a question, the app’s own editors answer it as the Reading Desk. Their answers always carry that name, so you can see which came from a reader and which from the house.

## The rest of the app

- **Reading sessions.** Choose 15, 45 or 60 minutes, and the apps you have set aside are blocked on your phone until the time is up.
- **Clubs.** Reading clubs in your own town, one book at a time. Everyone’s progress shows as a bar, and in the group chat a message from further into the book stays hidden until you tap it. Starting one takes a name and a city.
- **Shelves.** Reading, Want and Read. Bring your books over from a public Goodreads shelf or a StoryGraph export, scan a barcode, or photograph your bookcase.
- **Your reading year.** A yearly reading goal, the days you read in a row, and seals you earn by reading. None of them can be bought.

## Who makes it

Time to Read is made by Anastasia and Marvin Visser. It started with two people in love who kept surprising each other with books. In January 2025 they offered that to everyone, as a surprise book subscription by post. What people liked most was that a book had been chosen for them. So they kept only that part, and built it into an app.

The company behind it is It’s Time To Read, a Dutch sole trader registered with the Chamber of Commerce (KvK) under number 94739374. The full details are in the [terms](https://timetoread.now/legal/terms).

## What it costs

Seven days free, then a subscription you can cancel at any time. The price is shown in the app before anything is charged.

## Where, and in which languages

The Netherlands and Belgium come first. You read in Dutch, English or both: set your languages, and today’s books, the picks and the answers follow them. A book shows whether a Dutch translation exists.

The app is not in the App Store or Google Play yet. A first group of readers gets in before it is, from the [early-access list](https://timetoread.now/signup).

## What Time to Read is not

- **Not a book box.** No book is posted to anybody. You get the book wherever you like: a bookshop, the library, your e-reader.
- **Not one of the other apps called Time to Read.** Several unrelated apps share the name, among them reading timers and habit trackers. This one is the app at timetoread.now, made in Haarlem, and it is about your next book.
- **We do not sell your reading history.** Ask for everything we hold and we send it. Delete your account from one screen: thirty days to change your mind, then it is gone for good.

## Contact

- Questions about the app: [hello@timetoread.now](mailto:hello@timetoread.now), or see [Support](https://timetoread.now/support).
- Press, logos and founder photos: [press@timetoread.now](mailto:press@timetoread.now).
- Instagram: [@timetoread.app](https://www.instagram.com/timetoread.app/). TikTok: [@timetoread.now](https://www.tiktok.com/@timetoread.now). Facebook: [Time To Read](https://www.facebook.com/61571956336528).

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Time to Read a book subscription?

Not one that posts books. It started in January 2025 as a surprise book subscription by post, and the app keeps the part people liked most about it: a book chosen for you. Its makers call it a surprise book subscription on your phone. You get the book itself wherever you like.

### Who recommends the books?

Real readers and the Time to Read team. Your questions go to readers whose finished books overlap with yours, and they answer in their own words. When too few readers are around, the Reading Desk, the app's own editors, answers under that name. The monthly pick is signed by the Time to Read team.

### Is Time to Read free?

The first seven days are. After that it is a subscription you can cancel at any time, and the price is shown in the app before anything is charged.

### Is this the same app as the other apps called Time to Read?

No. Several unrelated apps share the name, among them reading timers and habit trackers. This Time to Read is the one at timetoread.now, made by Anastasia and Marvin Visser in Haarlem, in which real readers recommend your next book.

### Where can I download it?

Not yet: the app is not in the App Store or Google Play. The Netherlands and Belgium come first, and a first group of readers gets in from the early-access list at timetoread.now/signup.

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**Your next favourite book is already waiting.** A first group of readers gets in before the app reaches the App Store and Google Play. They come off the early-access list, so signing up is how you get in early. Get early access: https://timetoread.now/signup