Book'em, Danno
Do you know what the Tragedy of the Commons is? It basically means a situation where individual users with open access to a given resource, unhampered by formal rules, charges, fees, taxes or shared social structures regulating access and use, acting independently according to their own self-interest, and contrary to the common good of all other users, cause depletion of the resource through their uncoordinated action because there are too many users related to the available resources.
Of course, you know I'm going to compare that to writers, readers, and publishing, yes? I believe we're experiencing a Tragedy of the Commons-type scenario in publishing, where the resource being depleted is the time and attention of readers, because of an oversaturated literary marketplace.
There are simply far, far more books than willing readers these days. Here are some tough (and recent) numbers to highlight the plight:
10 Awful Truths About Publishing
There's been an explosion of book publishing while sales have flattened or declined. The average book sells less than 300 copies in its retail lifetime (and less than 1000 copies in its lifetime in all possible formats and markets).
The cold reality is that reading is competing with countless other easier, more available distractions. For the majority of people, if the choice is reading a book or watching a streaming show, what will they do?
That's what creates the problem -- even a hypothetical avid reader (let's say they read a book a week) can only read 52 books a year. How many people honestly read 52 books a year? The median American reader (Pew Research found) reads around 4 books a year (versus the 12 to 15 books a year average, which is likely skewed because of the fraction of heavy readers).
So, Reader X (the median) readers four books a year, and has millions of books to choose from each year. See the problem?
Meanwhile, books are piling up. What's that number I quoted before? Only 35% of trad books turn a profit? And probably less than 10% of indie/self-published books do that.
That's part of this Tragedy of the Commons -- the market's absolutely flooded with books that almost nobody's reading or wanting to read.
What that means is that most aren't going to make it, even as they scramble to release book after book for fewer and smaller returns (if any). It's simply not sustainable, at least as any sort of business. As a hobby, sure. But not as a business.
And that's the problem -- trad's being choked out by the flood of indie dead letter books, and readers are being burned out by an overabundance of a product they barely want (and have plentiful other options to entertain themselves), while writers continue to flood the already-crowded marketplace with still-more books.
Everyone hopes they've written some lightning in a bottle book, but all I see is a field piled high with empty bottles, and nothing but clouds in the sky, without a trace of lightning.
Of course, you know I'm going to compare that to writers, readers, and publishing, yes? I believe we're experiencing a Tragedy of the Commons-type scenario in publishing, where the resource being depleted is the time and attention of readers, because of an oversaturated literary marketplace.
There are simply far, far more books than willing readers these days. Here are some tough (and recent) numbers to highlight the plight:
10 Awful Truths About Publishing
There's been an explosion of book publishing while sales have flattened or declined. The average book sells less than 300 copies in its retail lifetime (and less than 1000 copies in its lifetime in all possible formats and markets).
The cold reality is that reading is competing with countless other easier, more available distractions. For the majority of people, if the choice is reading a book or watching a streaming show, what will they do?
That's what creates the problem -- even a hypothetical avid reader (let's say they read a book a week) can only read 52 books a year. How many people honestly read 52 books a year? The median American reader (Pew Research found) reads around 4 books a year (versus the 12 to 15 books a year average, which is likely skewed because of the fraction of heavy readers).
So, Reader X (the median) readers four books a year, and has millions of books to choose from each year. See the problem?
Meanwhile, books are piling up. What's that number I quoted before? Only 35% of trad books turn a profit? And probably less than 10% of indie/self-published books do that.
That's part of this Tragedy of the Commons -- the market's absolutely flooded with books that almost nobody's reading or wanting to read.
What that means is that most aren't going to make it, even as they scramble to release book after book for fewer and smaller returns (if any). It's simply not sustainable, at least as any sort of business. As a hobby, sure. But not as a business.
And that's the problem -- trad's being choked out by the flood of indie dead letter books, and readers are being burned out by an overabundance of a product they barely want (and have plentiful other options to entertain themselves), while writers continue to flood the already-crowded marketplace with still-more books.
Everyone hopes they've written some lightning in a bottle book, but all I see is a field piled high with empty bottles, and nothing but clouds in the sky, without a trace of lightning.
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