Bill Bryson has said the self-publishing world has become too big with far too many books about “some anonymous person’s life”.
Bryson said too many people now wrote because they “think it suddenly makes you a writer”. He added that the growth in the number of books published annually in the UK — which has increased from about 120,000 ten years ago to an estimated 200,000 now — meant there were “more books than you could possibly read”.
The growth in the number of self-published books, which are mainly distributed through Amazon platforms, has previously led to fears that it is harder for “good” self-publishing authors to be noticed by publishers and bookshops.
It is thought that about 90 per cent of self-published books sell fewer than 100 copies, although some self-publishing writers have become successful, notably Colleen Hoover.
Bryson, who spoke to The Times last week after judging this year’s Nero Gold book of the year award, said: “I’m not sure that self-publishing is a healthy development. I think it is great if you self-publish because you want a book to pass on to your kids and tell them about your life, but not if you are doing it because you think it suddenly makes you a writer and you can bother people for quotes for the book.
“I get sent a lot of self-published books and most of the time it is just some anonymous person’s life and it is of no interest.”
As a reference librarian, it makes my job marginally harder; it takes several minutes to wade through the ocean of titles to find the specific one I’m looking for.
That's the worst case scenario.
Best case? Someone has deepened their connection with literature or perhaps preserved a unique perspective.
Guy is being a gatekeeping dick.