Is Now The Best Time To Self-Publish A Novel?

It has often been said that everyone has a novel inside them. Oscar Wilde pithily retorted that in the case of most people, that’s where it should stay, but that clearly isn’t the case for everyone.

If you have been using the down time of lockdown to dream up and start writing a novel, there are many good reasons that the near future might be the best time to consider self-published book printing.

Firstly, there is the fact of lockdown itself. A survey by the Reading Agency during the first lockdown last year found one in three were reading more, with the greatest increase among the 18-24 age range, where the increase was 45 per cent. Only three per cent were reading less, with people motivated both by escapism and simply having more time on their hands.

For some, this may have ignited a love of reading that many will have left behind once they left school and it no longer became mandatory to read certain books. While some people will use the gradual opening up to revert to doing all the other things they used to do, at least some, it may be reasonably assumed, will have got the reading bug.

It’s not just adults who may be more likely to read something you publish. A recent study by Renaissance Learning of 1.1 million youngsters in Britain and Ireland showed that while schools were often closed, pupils started enjoying reading more than they did before. The poll revealed 24 per cent enjoyed reading ‘very much’ and 32 per cent ‘quite a lot’.

The study found popular books included One of Us is Lying by Karen M McManus, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K Rowling.

Another piece of research, the National Literacy Trust’s Annual Literacy survey, found reading for pleasure among pupils had dipped at the start of 2020, with only 48 per cent saying they liked reading, the worst level since 2005. However, that changed as lockdown kicked in, with three out of five saying it made them feel better during the crisis.

Such findings may suggest that now is a particularly good time to publish a novel aimed at children.

A third reason to publish a book may be that a whole genre of writing may have arisen from the pandemic. Peter May’s book Lockdown may have actually been written before the pandemic, giving it a compelling element of prescience, but others may have picked up ideas and inspiration for their own novels based on pandemic scenarios.

Finally, while it might be the case that people have less spare time for reading as something more like normal life returns, the economy is now growing significantly again and it may be that this leads to significant employment growth. That will mean people’s incomes will start increasing again and there will be more cash to spend on all sorts of things, including books.

So, after all the troubles of Covid-19, it may be the next thing to go viral will be something much better – your literary efforts.

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