Why Readers Are Choosing Shorter Books – Let’s Find Out
We are officially living in the era of short attention spans where the most popular kind of content is short format videos on social media.
That is why it is not really a surprise that the average attention span of a book reader is reducing by the day and we are seeing a trend of readers choosing shorter books intentionally.
This is also sparking the phenomenon of authors choosing to write shorter books that can be finished within hours instead of days.
In fact, A Financial Times piece highlights concerns about “brain rot” from social media and screens pushing people away from long-form reading and universally reducing their attention spans.
This kind of reading phenomenon can also be noticed in academics as students are reading fewer books in English classes.
According to this report, this student by the name of Chris and many other students simply did not finish reading any book in class 8 simply because their Google classroom assistant had detailed summaries of each book making reading the actual book redundant.
So, why is this the case?
We are here to find that out once and for all and help you understand this dynamic shift in reading patterns and how this is affecting authors all over the world and even shaping books for the future.
Reasons Why Readers Are Choosing Shorter Books
Time Constraints
Today’s modern life is very fast-paced and this means that you simply do not have the time to read for a few hours each day.
The average modern person has to balance work and life as well as social obligations and family responsibilities and even interact with social media during that time.
If you add all that up then reading a book is simply something that most people choose not to do for more than one hour. You might find it quite difficult to look for a reader who spends more than an hour reading books.
That is why readers consciously choose to pick up shorter books because it will be over sooner and this will provide the readers with an enjoyment of completing in narrative and exploring a topic and finishing it within a matter of days.
However contrary to popular belief, audiobooks have stayed the same in duration because people can listen to audiobooks while doing other things such as driving or cooking or doing household chores. We will talk more about this in the next point.
Rise of Digital and Audiobook Platforms
We are seeing the exponential growth of digital and audiobook platforms in the form of Apple Books as well as Kindle Singles and even the very popular Audible and even Blinkist.
These formats of consuming books are just more practical for the modern person because they can now continuously listen to an audiobook for more than an hour while doing other things such as going to work or exercising.
Reading a book during that time might be quite difficult but listening to an audiobook would be not only very convenient but in some cases cheaper and more practical than physical paper books.
The thing is when people listen to audiobooks it is the same as reading a book and that is why you still have books in the traditional large sizes coming out in audiobook and digital versions because the reading shorter book trend simply does not work with digital and audiobook platforms, people are happy with longer books when it comes to digital formats.
Social Media and Changing Attention Spans
With the rise of short-format content, you have readers accustomed to digesting information in shorter bursts.
An average short video on social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube Shorts can range from anything between 15 seconds to 30 seconds.
Now imagine a brain conditioned for something like that would find it very difficult to consume information in text format for hours and hours. People still like books and there is still gratification in reading books but the short attention span of people is directly affecting the size of books.
A Sense of Accomplishment
Like we said finishing a book still feels good and will always feel good and that is one of the primary reasons people complete books.
Now imagine if people get to feel that accomplishment faster and that is exactly why people are now choosing shorter books that will enable them to feel that accomplishment much faster.
This sense of accomplishment of finishing a book faster is also tied to other accomplishments such as finishing a web series and that is why readers now equate books to other formats of information and entertainment.
Broader Range of Topics and Voices
Short-form books are sometimes experimental and authors choose to experiment in this kind of format because it is simply not practical to experiment long format that can take a significantly longer time to create if it’s an experiment.
That is why we are seeing the popularisation of short format books as emerging authors are writing about niece topics and unconventional genres which readers are picking up and enjoying.
This is where they are able to finalize their ideas and decide whether to pursue something longer and these short format books feel like exclusive releases which readers love.
Minimalism and Intentional Living
There is this rise in the minimalist lifestyle that has gained popularity which emphasizes simplicity and in accordance with this kind of lifestyle people prefer reading shorter books.
This philosophy has changed the reading habits of people and that is why many readers now prefer books that deliver value at a smaller size.
We hope you now understand why authors are choosing to write shorter books and why readers are choosing to read shorter books.
One of the most important things to understand is that as authors and publishers, we must respect the preferences of readers and that is why if you are planning on writing and publishing a short format book then we are here for you.
We are Orange Publishers and we are one of the most reputed and acclaimed publishing companies in India an extensive experience in publishing all formats of books including shorter-sized books as part of experimental novels.
Along with that, we do every other kind of traditional book publishing whether it is novels, children’s books or autobiographies and much more and we welcome you to visit our website and check out everything we do.
