I still buy a lot of books, but it gets very expensive when everyone in the family is a reader–but read different genres. We’re all getting pickier about who we purchase. The author will almost have to be a guaranteed keeper.

If I were strapped and wanted a book of my own, I’d probably skip the light fair and go for a large epic (usually the same price).

I’ve also noticed that when people are going through a rough patch, they are sometimes cheered by reading a story with people going through an even rougher patch. Maybe it helps people count their blessings.

I think readers will want entertaining, “lighter” reading with a message of hope rather than a message of agony or darkness–something enjoyable to read without being vacuous.

What do I know…but this might be a really good time to be writing CBA books.

Love me those rose-colored glasses. 🙂

I’d say generally the income effect would be stronger. But possibly between the holidays (and people having more leisure time) PLUS Christmas (people need to buy gifts), the substitution effect may be stronger at the moment. Certainly whenever I go down to the local bookstores to curl up with coffee and a book, there always seem to be far too many people in the bookstore! 😉

I don’t think books are going anywhere anytime soon- I for one would rather curl up on the couch snuggled in a blanket with a good book than read from a screen, but to each his own.

Either way, there will always be a market for books. And as long as words are being put out there- whether in print or on a screen- we can continue to write.

But God knows.

And I love, love, LOVE what Greg Daniel said.

Times change. Books remain.

Books aren’t going anywhere. Along with music they’re one of the oldest and most enduring foods for the soul this world has known.

Are you going to write the things people want to read? ~Rachelle, Dec 18

…even if you’re writing toward the market, you also have to write your truth. ~Rachelle, Dec 1

How ’bout one more thought, a favorite quote of Thomas Nelson editor Allen Arnold:

“Don’t worry about what the world wants from you, worry about what makes you come more alive. What the world really needs are people who are more alive.” ~ Lawrence LeShan

But in the short-term, I think the challenge is the same as it has ever been. Relentlessly write well.

But I also think that going to the internet/e-books/readers is going to change things as well, though. But, they still need publishers for that, right? It’s just a different kind of publishing….

Everything is cyclical…things’ll come around. Have faith.