Studying the changes in the books industry has never been more captivating than now. With the soaring amount of published production and the mindblowing number of genres and styles offered by millions of authors, the readers’ tastes and preferences are also changing. This process is developing deep in our minds, behind the veil of impetuous real life changes, so we seldom give it the deserved attention. Still, the fact is obvious: our reading habits are changing.

First of all, our ‘skill’ of reading today is certainly different from that of our parents and grandparents. Take the latest 30 years: with all informational technologies which have come to our lives, we all read a lot every day. Even those who never pick up a book, cannot completely ignore reading: they simply have to read every sign, ad, or warning that dashes into their eyes; because of the changing lifestyle, every person must be a fast reader today.

Being able to read very fast has become an inevitable, life-protecting skill.

Secondly, it is the quality of perception of the information which comes to our minds through reading. It is changing rapidly, too. Some people describe their own reading process like “reading with inner eye” that “copies the words from the book and makes them understandable” for them; some say that they “read by pronouncing words in their mind” and “listen to the sound of words, then understand them”; while others say that they “visualize what they read”, so the images — not the written words — give them the feeling of what they have read. It is interesting to watch how the number of people in the second group is growing, and in the third group is soaring, while the number of “verbal” readers is decreasing.

Isn’t it a red light for authors to revise their writing and make it as ‘visual’ as it can be?

We have a habit of offering a lot of illustrated books for children. The grown-ups, however, believe that they are mature enough not to have to attract themselves to reading by looking at illustrations. In my opinion, this approach needs to be revised. It is not the question of maturity; today, it is the question of our survival. Our minds have to process incredible amounts of information every minute, and I am sure that our minds, without letting us know (so far), are already trying to adapt to this change.

Our minds process tons of informational packages which flow into it through our eyes, ears, noses and all other perceptive organs. The visual information comes in a ‘condensed’ way and is easier and faster to process. This is why our brain “likes it more” when it is visual, don’t you think?

I think this provides another red light for authors to revise their textual production and make it more “visual”. Because, unless we think about it, our readers will: they will simply stop reading anything that is not “visual” or “imaginative”.

Finally, here is a scheme I ran across in an article describing the essential components of reading . The article focuses on a different study, but what I found interesting here is the authors’ focus on studying the dynamics of their students’ spelling ability. Here is what it says:
“A group of researchers found that, although students’ growth in passage comprehension remained close to average from first through fourth grade, their spelling scores dropped dramatically by third grade and continued to decline in fourth grade (Mehta et al., 2005).  Progress in reading does not necessarily result in progress in spelling.  Spelling instruction is needed to develop students’ spelling skills.”

In this particular case, the researchers’ task was to solve the problem of the kids’ inattention to spelling as they read and write. In my opinion, this whole situation could be anticipated (and is going to develop even more in the future): the younger generation no longer “reads with their eyes”; I mean, they no longer tend to “photocopy” the written words and paste them into their memory: they prefer to use a more convenient and direct way of acquiring knowledge: their imagination. The ability to visualize everything you read right away, as soon as you see it written, and to create a dynamic mind picture (practically creating video in our minds) is quickly replacing all other methods of information preception.

Visualizing text is convenient; moreofer, it is becoming a necessary part of our lives, unless you want to fall behind the others at scool and gain a reputation of a “slow guy”.

Don’t you think that behind this process lies an answer to the question: “Which genres and styles of writing are going to become more popular in the nearest future?” To me, this is an important question which is going to show me the direction to go in my future work.