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There’s a new measure of whether or not a book is a book, and that’s: “If it’s on Amazon.com, then it’s a legitimate book.” Notice that it’s not Barnes and Nobles, not Bowkers, not available via Ingrams or any other measure, but AMAZON.COM. Okay. Well, in that case, all books on The Deepening will henceforth [...]
Well, it’s a series of three book drafts–a marvelous supramundane space odyssey. And, long ago, I bought this domain to host the release of those books. But, publishing being what it has been for decades, the first book, a prequel of a series that precedes The Deepening books, never saw print. So the domain languished.
I’ve had offers to sell thedeepening.com–some nice and some ludicrous, ludicrous like the one this year by the folks who made that horrible D movie–but never felt like parting with it. So a couple of years ago I thought, okay, I’ll start an online glossy fiction magazine…which I did, with an ISSN and everything. What a GREAT BUNCH of stories by a GREAT BUNCH of authors we had…and no readers…except a few dedicated supporters and fiction writers wanting to scope out the ‘zine in order to get published in its pages.
When my eyesight as well as my bank account gave out, I tossed in the towel on the fiction magazine.
But it really bothered me that my very favorite entertainment, fiction reading, was losing ground, losing market share, in the entertainment world. It also bothered me that good books kept going unpublished. What to do? Well, it isn’t for lack of publishers or the ability to get books into hands of readers. It’s about getting readers’ (and non-readers’ attention.) So The Deepening, stage two, was conceived.
What was conceived? Something that was fun for me, not a lot of work (except for set-up, of course), and provided readers, authors, publisher–anyone, really–the means to promote a good fiction read–novel, short story, fiction magazine, hyperfiction… .
So, here we go. And if no authors come to promote their books, so be it. I read enough to fill its pages regularly, so you, our visitors, won’t have any reason not to check out the new articles here every week! Book mark it. It’s going to be exciting!
Reading takes you away into a secret world. It’s the only way you can get there.
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Continue reading about Reading Takes You Away into a Secret World
How do you go about finding good novels to read? Read reviews? Try one? Stick to authors you know?
I know what I do mostly: Pick up the book, read the back cover, read the front and back flaps, Start reading chapter one, go to some arbitrary spot in the middle, scan down the page with my eye, go to the back of the book — not the end, but somewhere in the last half inch of pages, and scan down that, too, to see if the writing holds or if it has reduced its quality to “trite.” If I like it, if the story intrigues me, I’ll buy it.
I like handling books before I buy them. I don’t particularly like buying online…though I do. I enjoy idling away hours at a good book store. Unfortunately, the only new bookstore we have locally is an indie whose children’s section is larger than all the rest of the store. (Owner is a grandma, probably a great grandma.)
So, the question stands, folks: How do you go about finding good novels to read?
I spent the last several mornings reading about…reading. I started with rereading the New Yorker article, Twilight of the Books by Caleb Crain, then finally ended this morning, after lots and lots of other articles in between, on the National Endowment for the Arts website rereading To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence (Nov. 2007) and Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America (July 2004).
Rereading? Yes. I tend to read, then dismiss most of what I’ve read if it isn’t relevant to what I’m doing in the here and now, so, yes, I reread when some other project comes along where I need to reinvest in the perspective and the data presented in articles.
Boiled down, here’s what I find: Most pleasure readers — people who read literature, meaning fiction, memoirs, biographies and autobiographies…as opposed to non-fiction self-help, information, and how-to books, number among the minority in the U.S. But that minority is also the majority of another demographic. They are the people with the highest I.Q. and K.Q. (intelligence and knowledge quotients). They are the doers and thinkers, the independent-minded, the more intellectual elite.
In the United States, adults who read for pleasure — literary readers — number about 96 million…a number that hasn’t changed substantially since the eighties, a number which has only remained constant because…and here’s the kicker…because our adult population has increased 40%. Now those are some stats!
The good news is that reading for pleasure is up in young children, probably thanks to J. K. Rowling. Unforntunately, every time those youngsters get to age 17 and up to about age 36, their reading takes a dive. Too busy with hormone-driven interests would be my bet.
BUT. Here’s more bad news: Even before our economy started diving, people were spending less and less of their disposable income buying books.
And even worse? With Wal-Mart, Cosco, Amazon, and other major retail outlets demanding and getting huge discounts on books at the wholesale level, then selling that book, maybe one with a cover price of $26.00, for $5.99, can an author and publisher afford to continue to produce books? Ah…nope.
So how do we turn that around? And why is it important to turn it around? The answer to the second question is why I restarted The Deepening as a site to promote good reading — specifically good fiction reading. I love books that carry me away to other worlds, books rich in imaginary drama. It’s a personal need of mine to always have and BE ABLE TO HAVE a good novel to read. Answering the first question is, therefore, very important to me: how do we get more people to buy and read novels, therefore supporting the creators and industry that produces them?
Well, one way is by making more A movies. Movies sell books as much or more now than books sell movies. If the audience likes the movie, the readers in that audience…and even previous non-readers will go out and buy the book because they want to know the whole story — the things the movie changed or left out.
Another way is to get the reader hooked on a book for free, then offer them a way to purchase that book so they can finish the story, something I’m ready to institute here on The Deepening…if I can get guaranteed, quality books…which means I have to read that book…or get someone I trust to read and review that book.
…Just thoughts.
D. L. Keur, The Deepening
Continue reading about Literary Readers-the Few, Elite & Gifted
