Power management features of a reader device control an amount of electrical energy supplied to the reader device. The power management features include several power control categories that a user may select to affect an amount of power consumed by the reader device. One power control category controls power consumption based on a genre of an electronic book being processed by the reader device. Another power control category controls power consumption based on a time of day an electronic book is being processed by the reader device. Power control instructions that control how much power a reader device consumes may also be generated based on a characteristic of a user's interaction with the device.