For many books, on Amazon you can:
- See the first sentence
- Read the first page
- See a concordance
- Look at text stats, such as reading level and number of words
Just look on the main page for the words “inside the book” which occur fairly far down the page.
Some people believe if they are writing for teens, then their Flesch-Kincaid Index should be 10, ie, 10th grade. No! The average adult reads between 8th and 9th grade level. And a lower number means the book is more likely to be read by reluctant readers.
For example, for Shock Point, Amazon reveals:
Fog Index: 6.8. Of other books, 10% are easier, 90% are harder [Indicates the number of years of education required to read and understand.]
Flesch Index: 77.6; 6% are easier; 94% are harder [Based on a 100 point scale, with 100 being easiest to read. Scores between 90 and 100 are appropriate for 5th and 6th graders, while a college degree is considered necessary to understand text with a score between 0 and 30.]
Flesch-Kincaid Index: 5.2; 11% are easier; 89% are harder [Relates the score to a U.S. grade level.]
Complex Words: 6%; 10% have fewer; 90% have more
Syllables per Word: 1.4; 11% have fewer; 89% have more
Words per Sentence: 11.2l; 20% have fewer; 80% have more
Words: 47,665l 38% have fewer; 62% have more
Sentences: 4,265; 59% have fewer; 41% have more
See for yourself here.
