Despite having inspired writers and lists of recommended
readings to survive his presidency, it seems that the president has actually
had a detrimental effect on book sales.
An article in the New Republic
argues that “Trump’s Presidential win has sent a rippling effect through the
book publishing world, affecting authors, booksellers, editors, agents, and
publicists: In a world where reality has become stranger than fiction, actual
books are no longer selling.”
Apparently, watching televised hearings has replaced
reading: “The disastrous and almost
comically incompetent Trump presidency has both frightened the reading market
away from popular books and functioned as a kind of mass entertainment with
which it is difficult to compete, with Senate hearings and official testimonies
becoming must-see TV.”
The good news is that “there seems to be a renaissance
emerging for marginalized artists: The same identities that are being
persecuted and demonized by the Trump administration are finding a warm welcome
from an increasingly diverse literary audience that is eager to hear vulnerable
voices.”
The article concludes, “For authors whose books were
released in the thick of the political storm, to booksellers watching readers
flock to dystopian works, the Trump administration has succeeded in influencing
our consideration of books—not necessarily for better or for worse, but in ways
that demonstrate how much we need words to survive and provide solace for
troubling times ahead.”
Read the entire article at https://newrepublic.com/article/144029/trump-ruining-book-sales.
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