When I was young, the bookstore was more important to me than the toy store. I remember walking to The Bookworm and drooling over the spines of books filling the science fiction and fantasy sections. They were separate sections, and even back then, I preferred SF. When one of my parents was there with me, I’d usually get to leave a new book, probably by Heinlein though I did read other authors, too.

I spent afternoons and weekends reading. I played music and video games, too, but I could often be found sitting in a chair or lying on a bed with a book in my face, especially at night. I even had a special book lamp, which was wonderful because it illuminated the pages when the batteries were fresh. It was also terrible, because most books didn’t fit in it, and I accidentally ruined the covers of many paperbacks trying fit them in.

Reading was a huge part of my life when I was younger. These days, I don’t read nearly as much.

I want to, but it’s not as easy as it used to be. I have to wear reading glasses these days, and I usually just don’t have that much time. I do manage to read actual books from time to time. Most of the time, however, I listen to audiobooks, especially when I’m in the car. Since I haven’t been driving much the last few years, my book consumption has dropped. The last couple of weeks, I’ve been listening to audio books while walking through the neighborhood.

Just today, I finally finished listening to Neuromancer. I’ll have a lot to say about that book, some other time.

What about other people? Are people still reading? How much time am I wasting trying to create books to entertain people, if people have moved on from books?

You can do your own research, and probably should. I did some Google searches and read a few articles from sources that seem reputable.

From what I can tell, we experienced a 9% decline in reading over the last decade. However, from 2022 to the present, readership increased enough to flatten out the curve. More and more people are doing like I am and listening to audio books more than reading physical or digital text, and the inclusion or exclusion of audio books may bias the numbers.

Some of the decline in readership has to do with the economy. People have less disposable income, and less time. Many younger people are having to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet.

Bookstores have been drying up, thanks to Amazon and online sales. We still have Barnes & Noble. There were a couple of years where it looked like we were going to lose them, too.

I have been told that there are more eager readers now than ever before. At the same time, we have economic difficulties, fewer local options for shopping for books, more diverse ways of consuming stories, and large publishers producing fewer books in some popular genres. Consolidation and questionable business decisions made in Big Publishing lead to fewer books by new authors, or at least the appearance of fewer books as the marketing money is reserved for the authors with established audiences.

To put it all together… there is still an audience of readers to please. The paths to reaching these readers is fraught at both ends. It has always taken a great deal of luck to make it. Now it seems like it takes a miracle.

So, I will keep writing.