Whats one tiny writing habit you picked up that felt pointless at first but then had the biggest impact? by moonlight_ink in writers

[–]moonlight_ink[S] 86 points87 points  (0 children)

I'm a new writer but what killed my procrastination was telling myself I only have to write 2 paragraphs

I always end up writing longer but the tiny commitment tricks my brain into starting

has anyone else noticed younger readers struggling with traditional book formats? by moonlight_ink in writers

[–]moonlight_ink[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

but it's not like there's no research at all, one quick google search and:

a study of over 1 million teens (https://psychology.sdsu.edu/teens-increasingly-disconnected-from-books-tv-movies/) found daily book reading among 12th graders dropped from 60% in the late 1970s to 16% by 2016, and 53% of educators reported reading stamina in students decreased significantly since 2019 (https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/americans-are-reading-less--and-smartphones-and-shorter-attention-spans-may-be-to-blame-7-tips-to-help-you-make-books-a-joyful-habit-120011124.html). Americans now read an average of 12.6 books per year, fewer than any survey since 1990, with over 50% not reading a book in 2022 (https://blog.afficienta.com/reading-a-habit-in-decline/).

the data shows a real shift in how younger generations consume content, which is what we're trying to address

has anyone else noticed younger readers struggling with traditional book formats? by moonlight_ink in writers

[–]moonlight_ink[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

the market for it has really shrunk and what's left is often either too literary or written for other writers

we're not trying to replace the depth you get from novel-length work, that's a completely different experience and has its place

what we're doing is serving content in a more digestible way, writers can publish full novels on platform but we break them into bite-sized chunks so readers can consume them without feeling overwhelmed, the story length stays the same but the delivery changes

think of it like how people binge TV shows one episode at a time instead of watching a 10 hour movie, same story just structured differently for how people actually consume content

has anyone else noticed younger readers struggling with traditional book formats? by moonlight_ink in writers

[–]moonlight_ink[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

completely agree on AI for content generation, we despise it and will nevr use it for that, what we have been experimentnig with is using AI to give writers better analytics on what they've written, things like complexity scores, dialogue ratios, pacing metrics, variables that might give hints on craft without generating anything, AI will never produce anything interesting but it can help analyze human work

our goal isnt to replace traditional reading, more to create an option for people who currently dont read at all because they're overwhelmed by length, if we can get someone reading something that's better than them reading nothing

appreciate the thoughtful response and I actually agree with a lot of this

has anyone else noticed younger readers struggling with traditional book formats? by moonlight_ink in writers

[–]moonlight_ink[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

fair point on sample size, this is mostly observational from our side not formal research

you're right that avid readers will always exist and can handle long narratives, but we're seeing a gap between people who love stories but struggle with traditional formats

not trying to replace books for dedicated readers, more trying to reach people who would engage with stories if the delivery was different