Why You Should Track Your DNF (Did Not Finish) Books

There is an unwritten rule that many of us learned in school: “If you start a book, you have to finish it.”

We force ourselves to slog through boring chapters, confusing plots, and characters we hate, just so we can reach the last page and say, “I did it.” But life is too short for bad books. If you aren’t enjoying a book by page 50, you have every right to put it down. This is called DNF-ing (Did Not Finish).

But here is the mistake most readers make when they DNF a book: they delete it from their library entirely. They pretend it never happened.

Here is why you should stop deleting those books and start tracking them in Book Tracker instead.

1. Prevent the “Accidental Re-Buy”

The human memory is flawed. You might abandon a book today because the writing style is dry. Three years from now, you will see that same book with a beautiful new cover in a bookstore. You’ll think, “Oh, I’ve heard of this, it’s supposed to be a classic!” and buy it again.

Only when you get to page 50 will you realize: “Oh no. I hated this.”

The Fix: Keep the book in your Book Tracker library. By marking it as Abandoned, it stays in your history. Next time you are in a bookstore, scan or search the title in your app. If you see the status is “Abandoned,” you save yourself $20 and a few hours of frustration.

2. Understand Your “Deal Breakers”

Your DNF list is actually more valuable than your “Read” list when it comes to understanding your taste. It tells you exactly what you don’t like.

If you look at your Abandoned books in Book Tracker and notice that 5 out of 6 are “Slow Burn Romances,” you have discovered a pattern. You now know to stop buying that sub-genre. Use the Notes feature in the app to write one sentence about why you stopped (e.g., “Hated the main character,” “Too much description”). These notes are data points that help you pick better books in the future.

3. Validate Your Time (Pages Still Count)

Just because you didn’t finish the whole book doesn’t mean the time you spent reading it was wasted. If you read 150 pages of a 500-page novel before quitting, you still read 150 pages. That effort counts.

The Fix: When you mark a book as Abandoned in Book Tracker, you can save the specific page number where you stopped. It acknowledges the effort you put in, removing the feeling that you “wasted” your time.

4. How to DNF a Book in Seconds (The Native Way)

Most apps make DNFing a book difficult. You usually have to create a custom shelf, move the book, and mess with tags.

Book Tracker acknowledges that abandoning a book is a normal part of a reader’s life, so it has a built-in feature for it.

1. Open the book you are reading.
2. Go to the Reading Progress screen.
3. Simply tap the button to mark as Abandoned.

That’s it. No creating shelves, no complex workarounds. The book is instantly categorized correctly, keeping your “Currently Reading” list clean for books you actually enjoy.

Conclusion

DNFing a book isn’t a failure; it’s an act of curation. It means you value your time enough to say “no” to content that doesn’t serve you.

By tracking these books in Book Tracker, you build a complete history of your reading life: the good, the bad, and the unfinished.