Writing for You
Had another fantastic lunch today in Lakeland, Florida where I’ve been visiting for the past week. Afterwards, took a walk around an outdoor mall and found a bookstore, so you know I had to check it out.
Here’s the non-fiction new titles shelf
Looking at this image (go ahead, zoom in and have a good look at some of these titles) made me ask the question of why anyone would want to write a notable non-fiction book. Who is the audience here?
To me, this shelf seems like a shelf of assorted candy. No two flavors would taste good if taken together (potentially revolting actually) but each one would be an amazing jolt that one would enjoy but soon tire of and wish it was over - like a stick of fruity gum.
There might be one or two good titles up there, I was overwhelmed by the selection. It made me double think my old desire to publish non-fiction books. What could I offer if this is the market? These books are here because they sell, and they probably sell quite well to those who are looking for something to chew on that will wow them with flavor for a few moments.
The internet has allowed for a diversity of writing styles and topics that perhaps has created this morass of a new non-fiction shelf. At the same time, it seems a great reprieve from such collections of books that are clearly printed just to turn profit while setting you up to buy another such book. I would hope that non-fiction books would supply something a bit more to us than a few moments of entertainment made more real or pressing because we know it isn’t a story that someone just made up (or do we?).
Central Florida’s bookstores, particularly a mass market one like this that probably sells more games, toys, and actual candy than books, are unfamiliar to me so I shouldn’t be too unfair. I’m used to much better stores to shop around in back in New York. But a sight like this makes me wonder if anyone is writing toward a thinking, intelligent audience to improve their process of thought, judgement, or reason, or are they writing to create and maintain this audience, make them feel they are such an audience, as an income stream? Which came first, the audience or the notable non-fiction shelf?