Kimberly A. Cook

by Kimberly A. Cook      (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

It’s fabulous news. For the first time, Generation Y (born between 1979 and 1989) have surpassed us Baby Boomers in buying books. The news release last week from Bowker and Publishers Weekly means great news for writers on three fronts.

First, the age group the Librarian of Congress was concerned had the lowest reading rates has stepped up their game. Two, the Baby Boomers, us pig in the python oldies, are still out there with massive future book buying power and we can compete with the young whippersnappers. Last and best – we have more reading customers! Let me just be mercenary about that last part and enjoy it.

The press release listed a couple of reasons for the change, but three stood out; the shift to ebooks, the ease of buying ebooks and the loss of the Borders bookstore chain which pushed people toward ebooks. Is it just me or did I almost swoon with ebook envy?

Though completely unsupported by scientific fact, I’m also going to throw out the possibility this pesky recession also chased more than a few of us to good old-fashioned cheaper entertainment like grabbing a good read. With ebooks also going from free to $9.99 in the most popular price range, it’s also a bargain.

Now before everyone gets crazy from some of the comments I saw online, let’s look at the numbers. Advice from my first semester of statistics comes back to me – you can say anything with numbers. The study says even with Baby Boomers as the biggest population group and spending the most on books in the past, 30 percent, we dropped to 25 percent. The Gen Y buyers stormed up to 30 percent from 24 percent last year.

This does not surprise me. While we Boomers are trying to retire, buy our long-term health care insurance and support college graduate kids who can’t find jobs, we’re slowing down a little on book buying. Ya think?

But just you wait. Treacherous old age Boomers will outwit youth and wi-fi debit cards. As for the small percentage drop in women buying books; while caring for aging parents, growing our own vegetables, babysitting grand kids and trying to make money, we are a tad bit BUSY right now.

However, we will be back. Boomer women buy. We did the 1980s the first time around – we know real sparkle, truly big hair and valley girl competitive mall shopping. We are not done. As soon as we get those retired husbands on an activity schedule, the grand kids atrocious spelling cleaned up from texting and our own businesses built to make enough money to support us to age 115, we’ll be right back.

There is no downside to this news. But keep in mind, there are more of us Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964). We might have lost one year of our book buying edge, but we can win this title back, I know we can. Let’s show these kids we survived without seat belts, bike helmets, cell phones or i anything. It’s a Baby Boomer Book Buying Throw Down. It is on!

Read the entire news release here http://tinyurl.com/c9jshmu )

by Kimberly A. Cook         (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

The Olympics Games are over so we mere mortals can get back to the yard work, laundry and writing. Besides learning what a physically fit woman’s abs are supposed to look like, there are lessons we can all take away from the games.

Preparation and effort are paramount. While Michael Phelps is happy to not hit the cold pool water at 6 a.m. every morning now, knowing he is going to work on his golf game might give Tiger Woods pause. No matter how popular any author is, there are always other authors in the wings. Keep writing.

It’s the journey, not the medals, for writers. We learn a lot about ourselves by writing. Not only what we choose to write about, but how we use description, details and emotions to touch our readers. We also find out where we are on our own hero’s journey and what challenges we are trying to solve through our craft; if we pay attention.

Sometimes it is not our time. While the Olympics makes time keeping and scoring an Olympic sport in itself, a book’s life and acceptance is not graded the same way. Neither is an author’s life work or career. Each of us decide what our goals and “gold medals” will be, not some committee. Thank heaven. Works for us and we don’t have to wear matching swimsuits.

Time is finite. We all only have so much time on this planet to get our work done. We carbon-based life forms don’t last forever. Write because it is what you want and need to do, not because someone else thinks you “should” do it. Figure out how to carve writing time into your schedule and keep at it.

Celebrate. When you achieve a goal have a party. Even if that party is you dancing with the cat or celebrating with a walk around the block and a cupcake. No need for fireworks, but cheering is allowed.

The next summer Olympics are in Rio de Janeiro starting Aug. 5, 2016. What writing goals will you have accomplished?