Small Print

I don’t care much for alarmist claims, especially when they concern the right and wrong ways to enjoy culture, but it’s hard to deny a shift hasn’t occurred. The “Post-Literate” world seems to be one where text, as a source of information and entertainment, has been overtaken by audiovisual media; podcasts, videos, streams, VoD, and TikToks.

While books, newspapers, and magazines still exist, adapting relatively well to the Internet age, the general trend has been text taking a back seat to passive media consumption, media that doesn’t require mental labour to engage with, even by those avid fans of written works; the majority of my income from my self-published works comes from audiobook listens, not eBook and PoD sales. Many articles now have “podcast” options, where the text is read aloud either by the writer themselves or, depressingly, AI. Reading is increasingly seen not as an active form of participation with a creator and their art form, but as instructions, especially with regards to content. People don’t read books; they read tweets. They don’t read articles; they read titles.

It’s not hard to see why fewer people are reading. While it has always been the most laborious medium, in recent years reading has felt strained with an elitism bordering on self-destructive. Schools, infamously, are the last time many ever read, often against their will and interests, all in the name of a shallow goal; do well enough to never have to do this again. What we forget about these children is that they become parents themselves, unlikely to read at home to and with their own children. Literacy rates have been seen to be directly related to the reading environment at home. Within a single generation screaming teachers, repetitive texts, and dry uncontroversial novels normalise voluntary illiteracy.

It doesn’t help that there are already such narrow offerings in the contemporary market. Yes, there will always be obscure indie authors to discover, but with only five major publishing houses controlling the market, who are also aware of their dwindling customer base, it’s getting harder to find books that excite burgeoning readers and aren’t middle-of-the-road airport reads destined to be sold off for movie adaptations, which in turn only accelerate the problem; why read the book when you can see the film?

One of the few genres that has increased readership, but still contributes to this shallow view of reading, has been self-help or “Thought Leader” books, which further the notion that reading is a utility, purely for gaining information, and afford authors an excuse to pivot into a career as commentators, podcast guests/hosts, and TEDx Talk speaker. And how do many “read” self-help books? In audiobooks and AI summaries.

Listen to those who admit (sometimes proudly) that they don’t read, and you will hear them lament the effort needed in reading; the patience, the time, and the cost. As much as we can agree reading is good, few will admit we haven’t educated people enough to read well, nor created a society that values leisure time, nor have we promoted an economy where the average person can afford food, shelter, clothing, AND books. For all our lamenting of how bad the situation is, we are unwilling to admit it’s so bad we must revert backwards to basics. If our interest in reading has dwindled, then perhaps what we are reading should dwindle as well.

We should favour shorter books.

Short stories and novellas have always existed as part of literature, but relatively recently (the later half of the twentieth century onward) have been relegated as something of a stepping stone to the more serious novel. This maximalism is largely economic; because mainstream prints are done in bulk, it’s cheaper and easier to sell larger, longer novels. This flies against the history of literature, where stories were written and published episodically, usually in newspapers and magazines, only published as full volumes by the end of the run and once there is interest in a collection. Charles Dickens, James Joyce, and H. G. Wells are classic examples of writers who not only wrote short, episodic entries of their novels, but also were writing to and for the average reader in shorter stories without pretension. Many classics (The Stranger, The Old Man and the Sea, Animal Farm, Of Mice and Men) would be too short to publish today. The easier it is to read, the more it will be read.

This isn’t just a historical anomaly. Modern readers have enjoyed shorter entries in the form of fan fiction, blogs, posts, and graphic novels and manga. And before you question whether graphic novels and manga count as reading, considering the Pulitzer Prize winner Maus, the cultural impact of Marvel and DC comics, and the fact One Piece author Eiichiro Oda has spent the last thirty-four years writing one-hundred-and-thirteen volumes (and counting!)

There’s science behind this short-but-sweet preference. Whenever we finish a task, we get a dopamine hit; it’s our body’s way of saying “good job!” Writers like Dan Brown and Kurt Vonnegut knew this, hence why their larger books are broken up into short chapters; frequent short reads are more rewarding than boasting of having finished massive tomes. Couple that with the fact reading have been shown to relax readers, engage different parts of the brain simultaneously, and strengthen critical thinking and empathy, and it’s counterintuitive to expect people to favour delayed gratification and external motivation over self-interest, especially when they can turn to other media for that hit.

I don’t think we can say we’re concerned about a problem but refuse to acknowledge our hand in it. It’s not regressive to encourage shorter works. If anything, it’s pretentious to act as though reading should be masochistic, and to ignore the history and science behind reading. In order to solve the problem, we must be willing to put aside our ego and admit, yes, maybe we should normalise someone just reading something only a few pages long, especially if it encourages them to keep reading. It’s not glamourous or impressive, but I feel modern publishing and literature has fallen into the same trap that is infecting much of our lives; unless I can post about it online, it doesn’t count.

#HI