Thursday, August 3, 2017

#Publishing Short Books and Articles Are Popular

Image courtesy of St. Louise Public Library


Short Books and Articles Are Popular
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard


            For several years now I’ve noticed that writers have been having a more difficult time getting their works published.  Published friends and I have shopped our work around and discovered that publishing houses, even small presses, strongly favor commercial works.  (It’s always been this way, but it’s worse now.)


I figured E-books and self-published writers have cut into the print market and publishers are making less money.
I didn’t realize until recently that there’s another side to the situation, which is that the taste of readers have changed significantly. Readers are buying fewer hardcopy books. They are not only reading fewer books, but they prefer shorter books and articles to read (physical books and E-books). If you click around online, you will discover sites like: “50 short books for busy people” or “46 brilliant short novels you can read in a day” or “the best short books you’ll ever read.”
The pace of things seem quicker now. People want instant gratification. They want to order things online; they don’t like waiting. If they can download information, so much the better; if they can view things online, fine. People’s attention span seems shorter as they’ve become used to short tweets and brief interactions via social media. Further, there is stiff competition online for people’s attention. I have spoken to millennials who confess to not reading books. They are too busy, they say. I see them glued to their cell phones, and yes, they are reading something at all times, but it’s probably their email or social media.
I was also surprised to discover that graphic novels and comics are quite popular, even for adults. We are talking about pictures and illustrations and not words that tell the story primarily.
Trends are constantly changing but these are my recent observations about reading and publishing trends.

  Popular Now!!!

Not Popular Now!!!
           
Tags: Publishing, books, trends, literature, graphic novels, readers, popular

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