Is Reading Books Becoming A Passing Fad?

Books have only been around for a few thousand years, so most of humanity’s history exists before the days of books. It was just over the last few centuries that books were made available beyond wealthy elites. And it was only more recently that books were available worldwide, regardless of one’s location, spoken language, race, religion, gender, or economic status. But this mass opportunity to consume any of tens of millions of available books is being met with resistance, ignorance, and indifference. 

Are we in the middle of a counter-revolution, where the next generation no longer embraces books the way it should, the way older generations have? 

The New York Times Book Review just had a huge front-cover story: The Reading Crisis:

BOOK BANS. CHATBOTS. PEDAGOGICAL WARFARE. DOES LITERACY HAVE A FUTURE? 

One does have to wonder about the future of books given the fate of the world. Robots could be writing books and computers could be reading them. Books face stiff competition from streaming services, social media, free websites, and news media — while people with limited time and money, seek to make informed choices of which content to consume. Reading scores of students nationwide are in decline. And, As the Times said in its story: “Our attention spans have been chopped up and commodified, sold off piecemeal to platforms and algorithms. We're too busy, too lazy, too preoccupied to lose ourselves in books.” 

I love books — and millions of Americans do as well. But that guarantees nothing for the book industry. Will Generation Z embrace book reading is the question that needs to be answered. Time will tell.

 

Need Book Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information, please consult: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.