According to the trade publication, The Bookseller, in the UK today – Thursday 3rd September 2020 – some 600 books are going to be published. Yes, 600! On one day!
Books from ‘big’ publishing houses as well as the myriad of independent and Indie publishers. The suggestion is that this figure represents a catch-up from the more bleak covid months earlier in the year where publishers held onto books until shops were open again. Presumably there’s a small window in which to gather some momentum for Christmas sales too.
Whichever way you look at it, 600’s a big number.
And isn’t it great that books are so ‘healthy’? Doesn’t it demonstrate how creative we are as a species? It also shows just how competitive a world it is for authors – and how vital readers are. Not just to have readers, but what readers do when they have read something you’ve written.
It may seem like nothing at all, an insignificance, but writing and posting a review – on Amazon, Goodreads, anywhere – is really so critical, so vital to authors everywhere. And how long does it take to click a few boxes, choose three, four, or five stars, and type “I really enjoyed this”..?
So a plea – on behalf of authors everywhere – if you read something and like it, please tell someone, somehow. It makes all the difference…
Ian Gouge - Writer 