So I've been pushing the book pretty hard on social platforms (facebook, twitter, myspace, and a handful of other more niche sites) and I gotta tell ya, selling a book ain't easy! So I sat and thought about it... Why is it so hard for me to even GIVE AWAY a book (there's a coupon on this blog which allows you to get the book for free and efforts on said social networks also were dismal)? I mean who doesn't want free stuff? The answer? A lot of people if it means using their brains...
I've spoken to some of my friends and point blank asked them. "Why haven't you read my book?" I get a myriad of answers ranging from "Not enough time", "I don't read very often", "It's too much of a time investment", etc. Some of these same people I see post on Facebook postings like "It's Saturday and I don't have anything to do..." WTF?
While researching this post I discovered the following from a
Feb 2011 posting on cbsnews.com:
"On average, Americans ages 15 to 24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, and only seven minutes of their daily leisure time on reading."
" found an increasing number of adult Americans were not even reading one book a year."
When I saw those numbers I was like "Oh damn... That sucks."
But I think it goes much deeper then people not "liking" to read, or not having enough time when the average 15 - 24 potential reader is spending that much time watching TV.
It's my belief that the
American culture is to blame here on many levels. America is the land of instant gratification. We get our food fast, we got DVRs to watch our shows when we want and skip the commercials... There is almost a 'fast' solution for everything. I bet one day we'll have book imprints where someone actually takes the time and reads the book and enjoys it and then the "image" of their experience will be for sale. People will have the experience of reading but never even opened the book. I think that will be what eventually comes. As for now the mountain that is the American reader continues to get higher and harder to climb. Unless I luck out and get one of those magnificent talking heads to tell the American sheep that they need to read my book it'll have to be one person at a time... Unless I can figure out how to record someone reading a book and then sell that! (Anyone wanna play lab rat?)
