Too Many Books?

Are we writing too much? Is the market saturated with books and stories? Just a couple of the questions a writer acquaintance of mine posted to her blog recently. She was on a rant about writers self-publishing too many books. I'll address this specifically over at Dollars and Sense in the next day or two but it got me thinking about communication in general and how it is done in the digital age.

We are bombarded with information, entertainment, and opinion. The ads get sexier, the shows get more violent, and the books more numerous. It's all an attempt to get our attention and hold the audience, maintain the ratings or the subscriptions, and make money.

Those who read my blogs know that I am not opposed to making money. However, I do believe that in our effort to be heard, we are producing greater quantities of material without ensuring that it has quality.  For example, several new dramas for the fall season showed great promise.  Some are already cancelled.  They did not connect with their audience. There was no communication.

Whether it is a television program, an advertisement, an article, or a book, there is a communication give and take. If the audience does not understand or sympathize with the message, it moves on; something it has been willing to do ever since the advent of the remote control.

What my writer friend was trying to say was that she looks for quality in the writing that is currently produced and she isn't finding much. Care is not taken to ensure that the product being sold is worth her time and money. Sadly, that set of circumstances exists for all products. 

We have more and more that is worth less and less.  We exalt low prices but complain when product doesn't hold up. What does that say about the companies and people who produce the goods? And what about us as consumers of those products? If we continue to spend our money on inferior product, we deserve what we get. We communicate best with our wallets.