Do we need any more books? There are so many books that we could never read even a fraction of them, even if we spent all our waking hours reading. We read so much more than books; we are inundated by texts: websites, newspapers, text messages, emails, social media, and so much more. In this context, what’s the point of books anymore? To entertain, to explain? To opine, perhaps? To convince, to convert, to console? We can have AI compose text for us, so why bother to write?
Who will even read the book you write? Americans read, on average, a dozen books a year. But that average hides the fact that 28% of people didn’t read any books in 2016, the year a Pew Research survey was carried out. In some countries people read a lot more – in Iceland, the average as 28 books per year, and if you’re reading this article, your reading stats are probably well above the average as well. (And so is your TBR pile.)
With all the books that are published in all the languages of the world – it’s estimated that 4 million books are published each year – is there really a need for one more? It’s a bit hubristic to think that one’s ideas deserve to be printed, published, and sold. That your words and your thoughts have merit and value. That the story you have to tell will resonate with others, and that anyone will even remember it after they’ve finished it and moved in to the next book.
Read the rest of the article on The L&L Blog.
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