The Bookish Game

    Hey, y'all. (Thought I'd inject a little Southern flavor.) It is a cool day, here at the green retreat. We arose early and went to a local hamlet for breakfast. As I drove home, I thought about the book business. As most of you know, I have a number of ebooks for sale. I haven't counted them recently, but I think there are around 9 novels, 1 novelette and 20 or more short stories. Toss in about 865 blog posts published and another 115 that I have lounging around unpublished, and you have a load of work. I have been knee-deep in the ebook thing from its inception. It has been interesting, to say the least.
       Filled with promise in it's beginnings, slowed by opposition and mistakes, the ebook express train has slowed somewhat. Why? Well, I can give an opinion, I suppose.
1) I think people read less. Especially men. Gaming is more exciting and takes less involvement than reading. It can also be interactive to a degree that reading cannot. Men prefer to watch TV, by and large. This accounts for why 80% of Bestsellers are written by women, for women.
      Its funny about genders in reading. I read some books by women, but mostly I read books by men. It is not a conscious decision, but a man's viewpoint is more comfortable to me. I understand how they think and they understand how I perceive the world. My wife tends to read books by women. Then you have the crossover writers that are just so darn good that anyone loves them. Niche markets can be prosperous as well, since there is such a huge market worldwide.
2) I think the privacy revelations have hindered the ebook market somewhat. A lot of older readers and country people like myself are distrustful of technology to begin with. Then we find out that our reading habits are part of on-line history and it is uncomfortable. Paranoia is a pain, but some of it is warranted, I think. Laugh if you will, but Big Brother was an adolescent 5 years ago. Now he is a robust, steroid-fueled grownup; on his way to total control.
      I have been noticing workers at restaurants using their thumb to unlock cash registers lately. Cars are now getting download upgrades for on-board chips.Wearable tech is acclimating us to the inevitable chips inserted into the human body. I say inevitable, but we can, and should, refuse any such chip. People in America sometimes don't feel comfortable speaking their mind in their own living room.
     So, it effects the way people are reading. I know a few folks who are glad they did not dispose of their tangible books. I know others who are buying only hardcover and paperbacks. So, the ebook train has lost some steam.
3) Monthly plans for ebooks are a thing, now. There are many places where you pay a certain amount and read all you want on the store. I can't speak to how successful they are in a financial sense. I expect that some will flourish and others will fade.
4)I was in a K-Mart just yesterday. I was surprised to note the waning of the tablet market. There were several new models out there, very cheap, with some new features. For instance, a split memory sort of deal. Two people could share the tablet and their stuff would be completely separate. This is a good idea for couples or siblings, if they didn't fight over it. When my kids were growing up, they tended to be territorial. There was not a single person in the tablet aisle. I saw an article on the web that showed the percentages that various brands had slipped, year to year. It ranged from 17% to 69%.
    Tablet sales are down across the board. Interesting. So, five years has pretty much told the tale. I was involved in the tablet scene from the outset. It changed the world and made a lot of money. Now, phones with bigger screens are the multi-purpose device of choice for casual gaming, books, movies, social interaction and everything else. The supposed demise of the P.C. was prematurely predicted, however.
5) The picture shown is of an old Zane Grey book I own. If it looks like death warmed over, that is because it is around 100 years old. It looks like acid has spilled on the cover. I bought it at a used book store years ago and am in the process of rereading it for about the 20th time. As I hold it carefully, it provokes many thoughts. There are passages I read that are so fraught with emotions and thrills that I feel tears start to run down my cheeks. What is the value of a good book? Can one truly put a price on it?
    As I swivel my desk chair around and look at my book shelves, I am assailed by many impressions. I have right around 1000 books, not counting hundreds of ebooks. Recently I rearranged the paper books so that an author's books were all together. For instance, I have read all of Zane Grey's work but did not have all of them due to loaning and their not being returned, or books left behind back when I moved around the country on jobs. I had to adopt a policy of not loaning books, movies etc. Anyway, if I find that I am missing a book or two from a favorite writer's work, I will go on-line and order it or look for it at used stores. (Not many of those left.) Often I have gone on Amazon and ordered used copies of out-of-print Burroughs books or Zane Grey or many others. It is fun to look at the fly leaf of some of these. "From the library of Judge so-and-so".
      One thing I discovered was that I am in a rut. I see from my shelves that I have tons of books by a chosen few that I have read multiple times. Then I have scads of books that I have never read at all. One noted author has 40 books here on a shelf and I literally can't stand to read him anymore. I am just sick of the same old characters. Of course our own likes and dislikes change over the years.
      There are so few good writers and good books that I felt rather bad when I quit writing for a couple of years. This sounds self-serving, but if anyone is enjoying your work it seems a shame not to work. Perhaps you are not a household name, but few people can provide a pleasant hour for the invalid, the shut-in, the lonely. So what if you don't get the acclaim or the big money? There is a reward somewhere in this life for providing enjoyment to people.
     But back to that pictured book. I look at the binding on that book and see threads trying to unravel. It is tender, fragile. Back around the turn of the twentieth century this book was around. Both it and my father were young. In that day, wealthy people bought quality books and cherished them. They dusted them. They sat in a comfortable chair of an evening, stuffed their pipe and had a glass of wine. There was no telly. Perhaps the rain beat on the window and their wife worked on her knitting. Did that gentleman know that his book would travel all over and wind up shown on a picture, on the internet? Of course not. He bought well-made books and hoped, presumed, that his grandchildren could read them after his demise. That maybe they could glean an insight into Papaw's personality, his likes and dislikes. Maybe those children did read that book and thought of the cranky old rascal.
     There is that sense of time when you write or read. I go back and read my stuff and see that I created a character. It may be possible that he/she will be talked about 100 years from now. This is a thing that no one can take from you. It gives a sense of satisfaction that is beyond price, like an excellent book. Good day from the author's green retreat. I'm CE Wills.