We all have favorites, but lately I’ve wondered if we’ve become a society built around either/or questions?  Let’s try a few:

Conservative or Liberal?

Lover or Fighter?

Football or Baseball?

Night Owl or Early Bird?

Sneakers or Sandals?

Beatles or Elvis?

Roses or Sunflowers?

Spender or Saver?

Fiction or Non-Fiction?

I’m not suggesting these are mutually exclusive ideas, but for most of us, one of the words, names or ideas resonates more than the other.

As a lover of fiction, I never understood the exponential growth in popularity of non-fiction.  I do understand what fuels it—the self-help market—but is our society so desperate for a quick fix that we are unwilling to commit to the greatest self-help lessons contained within the pages of classic literature as well as contemporary fiction?

I have long believed that fiction is the best type of self-help book, but non-fiction can be developed, written, edited and sold faster.  Most businesses are looking to make a quick buck and the publishing industry is no exception.  Authors also propel the gap between fiction and non-fiction sales by hoping to become the next big self-help guru and using books to achieve self-proclaimed expert status.

Readers, too, want something for their effort.  The notion of reading for itself seems terribly out-of-date.  People gravitate toward non-fiction in the hopes that their effort will be rewarded with new ideas which will enhance their life and livelihood.

But I’m an eternal optimist.  I refuse to believe that fiction is a dying art form.  Digital publishing is revitalizing fiction in the way that Napster, Rhapsody, and iTunes has for music.  Virtually anyone can publish a book now; and while this may create a quantity-over-quality issue, websites like Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are great equalizers.  Avid readers are also avid reviewers and word-of-mouth marketers, which is more important than any single advertising dollar writers may spend.

Social media sites drive independent book sales.  Book lovers congregate in these online communities and spread the gospel of fiction.  More fiction is being written than ever before and that’s a good thing.  Amazon may have started the digital book phenomena with the introduction of Kindle, but lovers of good old-fashion fiction are joining and creating new fiction-centric communities in droves which are literally changing the landscape of how fiction is created, marketed and shared.

The Internet’s endless virtual bookshelf allows us to broaden our interests now more than ever.  We don’t have to be as selective as we used to be.  The average digital book costs less than $9.99.  Some independent authors are making a name for themselves by selling $0.99 novels.  The digital era allow us to expand our horizons beyond our typical interests and genres.  Let’s test a few more either or scenarios:

Reader or Writer?

Print or Digital?

Commercial or Independent?

Mystery or Romance?

Fantasy or Chick Lit?

Sci-Fi or Historical?

How about all of the above?  It’s time we embrace fiction again and get back to the concept of reading for art’s sake.  Thanks to the digital book revolution, our choices are more plentiful, cost-effective, and easier to buy.  The days of either/or are diminishing as fiction continues to surge in popularity once again.  Let’s do our part and support small presses and independent authors.

© Quinn Barrett 2011

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Description

Kate Snow married the wrong man for the wrong reasons. Paul Delacroix was smitten with Kate the first time he laid eyes on her and was willing to do anything to have her. She was raised in a large, impoverished family near the slopes of Sun Valley, Idaho. He was the sole heir to his family’s Los Angeles-based multibillion-dollar corporation. It should have been a fairy tale romance, but it wasn’t.

Kate’s marriage unravels when she discovers a mysterious safe room which harbors her husband’s darkest secrets. The legacy of the family business is at stake, but power is not always about money. Their showdown results in a shocking twist of fate—a destiny Kate never saw coming.

Invisible Snow is a classic family drama about wealth, power, greed, and redemption. Marriage is a delicate dance of power between lovers, but Kate and Paul Delacroix are strangers caught in a disparate union somewhere between betrayal and truth. Confronting their true selves for the first time results in an epic clash of wills where only one will prevail.