Too Many Books, Too Few Readers?

I love books and have since I was a child. I read books on a wide range of subjects, fiction and non-fiction, and I have favorite authors whose books I have read and re-read over the years. I have worked for 20 years in book publishing, in sales and as an editor. Over the past ten or so years, I have noticed that there has been an explosion of the number of new books published, books on every imaginable topic. Many of these books are really not worth reading, in my opinion. At the same time, I have seen statistics that fewer and fewer people are reading books. This is not surprising, given research on how most American adults spend their time working 10-12 hour days, watching television 4-5 hours a day, spending at least an hour every day on the computer surfing the Web, checking their FaceBook accounts, sending e-mail messages, Twittering, and, of course, talking and texting on their cell phones. It's no wonder they have no time to sit back, relax, put their feet up and read a good book. See my post yesterday about "busyness."

I am currently teaching Spanish at a community college. I sometimes ask my students about reading books. Many can't remember a single book they have read, except those they were assigned to read in high school. Of course there are always exceptions, those students who are always reading a book, sometimes so engrossed in their books that they sneak reading them in class. Fine with me! I would estimate that maybe 10-20% of my students read books.

All of this leaves me with the question: Who is reading all those new books being published?

I'll take on movies tomorrow. Have you gone to the video rental store recently and looked for a DVD to watch? There are plenty of new releases, but not too many that look interesting enough to spend a couple of hours watching.