By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief for Southern Writers Magazine
Great news for authors. Printed books are up!
This is according to Nielsen Company. You may not be familiar with them but
they know what consumers watch and buy by studying consumers in more than 100
countries. “Viewing trends and habits worldwide.” They reported, “Sales of traditional books
increased almost 3% while sales of e-books dipped. This means e-books’ share of
the total market slipped from 27% in 2014 to 24% in 2015.
Here is what they reported on genres. They
said, “Certain genres maintained a larger share in the digital realm than
others, including Romance and Thrillers. Trending was non-fiction. It was the
highlight of 2015 with 12% growth in children’s and 7% in adult.”
Some writers I know are glad to hear the news
that print books are up. While it is nice to download a book immediately and
read, there is just something special about holding the printed book in your
hands. Does that sound old fashion? Maybe…but holding a book has a special
feeling. Perhaps it transports our memories back in time.
As a
child, we only had printed books. Living in a small town, I could walk to the
Library. For kids who loved to read the library was a big deal. During the
summer, I would walk the two and half blocks to the library, check out five
books on Monday morning. By Friday, I had finished the five books. Each Monday
I would return to the library and repeat checking out five. Many summers I read
more than most of the kids in my class. But I do remember a couple of kids who
would read more sometimes. The beginning of each school year the teacher would
compare how many each kid read and the winners always got a treat.
However, it truly wasn’t a race for me. I
loved reading; being taken to other worlds and meeting new characters. I knew
even as a kid by reading the books I was visiting places I had never been and
might never go. I still love reading. I
love being transported into other worlds by authors and meeting their
characters and learning their stories.
Writers give readers a special gift if only
for a while, they transport the reader out of their world into another time and
place meeting different people.
Remember, when you are writing you are
opening doors for your readers.
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