By now it is well-known that reading in the US has declined across all demographic indicators. Whether it’s caused by television, the internet, video games, or boring literature classes, the drop-off in reading time is plain and obvious to see. Some even claim that we are entering a “post-literate” period where the written word is actively rejected in favor of images and sounds conveyed by electronic media.
However, I think there’s a substantial silver lining to this cloud, because no one buys books like they buy toothpaste.
There are many different kinds of toothpaste, but to the average person one brand is the same as another. Toothpaste is fungible, interchangeable, and easily switched out.
Not so with books.
You don’t buy books because “you need books from the grocery store,” you buy them because you think the story will give you a good feeling. You buy books because you like the author. You buy books because specific ones can connect with you like no other thing can.
Books, in other words, are unique products that customers look at individually.
A decline in reading means a decline in stories that can connect with audiences in any way. You don’t market a book by saying “its space-ace technology cleans out stains,” and such. You market a book by saying that “this story will tug at your heartstrings/make you laugh/give you hope, etc.” in the most appealing way you can. Even so, you must make sure you’re selling to people who want your type of book. You can’t just market it to random people and expect good results.
Thus part of the fall can be attributed to poor marketing and even worse stories (though television is the main culprit.) In many ways, customers aren’t buying “a book,” they’re buying you, the author.
However, there’s another thing that will help authors out: audiobooks.
As reading falls away, audiobooks are on the rise. Since many audiobooks are just narrated print books, they provide a way for the writings of authors to reach the post-literate audience that shuns the written word. Their increasing sales indicate that unlike print and e-books, it is a growing market. While e-books followed a similar rapid-growth trend, audiobooks can be passively consumed much like podcasts and films. But unlike films, one doesn’t have to focus their undivided attention on a screen — one can do other things while listening to the book.
Thus, the alleged post-literate society will not leave us behind. Where print and e-books fail, audio will succeed. There’s our future right there — now we just have to scrape together the cash.
Someone once suggested that technically, we read more than we ever have in history. Even when you navigate YouTube, for example, you still have to read video titles, descriptions, and comments. People in STEM fields like me also have to follow SOPs if we don’t want to lose a lawsuit.
Hence why I said “allegedly post-literate.” People aren’t forgetting how to read, nor are they trying to ban literacy — they just don’t read books for pleasure like they used to.
“Post-literature”, then, if we are rapidly being reduced to reading little more than Youtube comments and EULAs.
There’s always been a sizable minority, perhaps even a majority, of people who don’t like reading (there’s a great overlap with those who have serious orthographic deficiencies), so it’s possible little has changed. There is wonderful irony, however, in people who openly declare their hatred for reading on social media, which hasn’t yet degraded into “nothing but videos”.
You may be correct. Only time will tell.
Pingback: Sensor Sweep: Bruce Pennington, Science Wonder Stories, H. Bedford Jones, Post Oaks and Sand Roughs – castaliahouse.com
Pingback: Sensor Sweep: Bruce Pennington, Science Wonder Stories, H. Bedford Jones, Post Oaks and Sand Roughs – Herman Watts