Why Do Books Go Unread?

 

 

You ever find that you have a stack of books that you can’t seem to get to, but you simply can’t get yourself to sell, donate, or lend?

 

Sure, you do. Any good reader piles up books that they intend to get to, but never do. Perhaps you got them for free – a gift, a give-away, or someone lent it out and you never remembered to return it. Maybe you bought them from a discounted bookstore or they were on sale. Maybe you acquired them form a used bookstore. Likely, you had good intentions. Something interested you in them. Maybe you got a recomme3ndation, saw3 a good book review, or fell for an advertisement. Perhaps it was an interview you spotted with the author or something controversial drew you to it. Maybe you just liked the cover and title or it’s by an author that you have read.

 

I can go on. There’s lots of reasons why you have the books that you have. The question is: Why do they go unread – and what will you do with them?

 

Some of these books will:

 

·         Never get read by you and will just rot on a bookshelf or nightstand, taunting you with feelings of obligation to read them and guilt for letting them go unread by anyone.

 

·         Get picked up from time-to-time, and you will scrutinize them again to reaffirm that you want them and instead to read them. Perhaps you will rearrange their order by size, intent to read, or some other metric. Maybe you will even wipe the dust off of them.

 

·         Simply become decorations, littering coffee tables for guests to flip through or they will get displayed prominently as if you have read them already.

 

·         Get traded for other books with friends and family that also will go unread.

 

Some people buy books out of obligation, beliefs, or desires. They want to support a cause, believe in the book’s idea, or want to keep an indie bookstore open. Reading the book is secondary.

 

Authors try so hard to get their books sold. Even then, upon a sale, there is no guarantee someone will actually read it cover-to-cover or if they will share it with others. Readers take on more than they can d\chew. They mean well. They just have so many interests, never enough time. But readers always read – they just switch their priorities of order of books to be read.

 

Don’t let this make you gun-shy about acquiring more books. The more the merrier. But do try to find time to read them or make a serious effort to share them with others (who probably, too, won’t get to them).

 

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Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with over 3.9 million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors like you to promote your story, sell your book, and grow your 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!

 

About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.9 million pageviews. With 5,000+ 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 director of publicity positions 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 hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, 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. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.