Week 16 prompt

First, how have reading and books changed since you were a child, for you specifically? Second, talk a little about what you see in the future for reading, books, or publishing - say 20 years from now. Will we read more or less, will our reading become more interactive? What will happen to traditional publishing?


Growing up, when I wasn't reading physical books at home, I was reading a lot of fanfiction online. Once I got my first smartphone, I read it on there, up way too late each night. While I see fanfiction becoming more mainstream nowadays (and thus pushing people to read more), I don't think it will change how we read. I still can't get into ebooks unless I'm having to look busy while working a desk shift nor can I manage to read in bed. Of the two school districts I've worked near, they moved all their readings to be online which many of the children complained about. I've never read on a tablet, but on my laptop's browsers, I'm too tempted to constantly change tabs.

(On a semi-related fanfiction rant, physical publishing is almost easier to archive in a way. Authors will occasionally delete their work and even though 'nothing is erased from the internet,' sometimes that 400,000+ word story that you obsessed over in 8th grade really is just gone but you still have that printed copy.)

I do see self-publishing becoming a larger force to contend with--especially since a lot of my library's new romance novels are self-published (which are a pain to catalog) in a physical format. What happens with traditional publishing really depends on how self-published can be marketed and advertised--and if our patrons become aware of these books or not. My library buys a lot of their books based on Kirkus and LJ reviews (in fact, you sometimes have to justify what you select by using those reviewers) or if they are patron requests. Publishers have advertising power and $$$ which the average self publisher does not. I'm on the fence.