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Books for dummies

A recent survey by The Bookseller, the British book trade’s magazine, confirms what every book professional the world over already knows: not enough people are reading. In an opinion piece for The Herald, Rosemary Goring examines the reactions to the survey within the British publishing industry. Goring praises the industry for its efforts to raise the literacy levels of the estimated 5 million adults in the U.K. who have trouble reading, but she questions an emerging consensus among publishing executives that the best way to get more people reading is to publish more bestsellers like The Da Vinci Code, which appeal to a wider readership. In other words, the book business needs to be a little less snooty and learn to cater to the lowbrow set. Goring questions this logic by pointing out that there are already plenty of reader-friendly and picture-heavy books out there, and speculates on where this reasoning may lead the industry: “If books are to be written to order, by second-guessing the desires of a market so-far resistant to anything on offer, then authors might as well take their seats at the factory production line.” (Thanks to Bookninja for the link.)

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Read Rosemary Goring’s op-ed piece in The Herald

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