According to a study by Alan Sorensen at Stanford University, "In 1994, over 70 percent of total fiction sales were accounted for by a mere five authors." There's not much reason to think that things have changed. As Albert Greco of the Institute for Publishing Research puts it: "People who read fiction want to read hits written by known authors who are there year after year."It doesn't necessarily have to be that way. Read the whole article and make up your own mind.
So we're experiencing the literary equivalent of a loss of biodiversity.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Reading Diversity
Ron Charles wrote a don't miss article about the loss of biodiversity in reading habits, Harry Potter and the Death of Reading.
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Interesting article and it does make one think about books and reading and who reads what and why. I was never a big Harry Potter fan, I have read them all because family members inundate me with copies until I have, but they strike me more as marketing phenomenon than as literature.
ReplyDeleteThere are many better children's books and many better fantasies.
Once a snob always a snob I suppose, and always a girl with her nose in a book, good or bad.
A bit OT, perhaps, but for mothers of young (early grade-school) daughters, I'd like to recommend an old favorite of mine from my childhood, "Island of the Blue Dolphins." Haven't read it in years, so I hope it holds up. It was a Newbery Award winner. I credit it with setting me on the path to independent womanhood. (Such as mine has turned out to be.)
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