You can start reading actual books and manga in Japanese much sooner than you’d probably assume.

On this sub, I often see people spending years just going through textbooks and flashcards before even considering reading a manga or novel.

While I understand that reading just feels very intimidating to the average beginner to intermediate learner, after learning three languages to varying degrees other than Japanese, I've come to know that there's no shortcut to becoming better at reading more effective than just reading. A LOT.

I personally have studied Japanese for seven-ish months, which, admittedly, isn't very much.
However, I've more or less already read two novels – 魔女の宅急便 (which I honestly disliked to the point of nearly giving up on the Japanese language entirely) and orange (Definitely underrated in Japanese learning spaces. The premise is actually pretty good, though the characters are somewhat shallow character archetypes. However, that book is definitely easier than all standard recs for beginner readers except for the Kirby series, probably, and pretty enjoyable for what it is. I could honestly write a whole article on why orange is a great novel for beginners – I'd definitely recommend it as a first novel.)

I've noticed a huge improvement both in my reading speed and ability and my passive vocabulary.
In the beginning, I spend a lot of time trudging through the dictionary but towards the end of orange, I had some pages where I didn't have to look up any words at all, because I had already memorised a lot of the turns of phrases and vocabulary preferred by the author, since I'd see them over and over again throughout the book.

(Also, I spent a lot less time consuming brainrot on the Internet and have also noticed an increase in my attention span since I started reading in Japanese.)

I'd recommend starting off with Tadoku graded readers and NHK easy news articles, before moving on to manga and books.
I personally was ready to start reading books after finishing Genki, but, depending on your willingness to tolerate emotional pain, your mileage may vary.

Definitely acquaint yourself with Learn Natively and pick the easiest books / manga you find at least somewhat interesting and DEFINITELY consider reading a sample before committing to any book.