British Books

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.”