I keep hearing that book sales are down because people can find the information they want on a website.
That’s not what I’m seeing in our business. We’re busier now than we’ve ever been in our 23+ years.
People are buying books because they still believe in possibility.
We live in a world overflowing with information.
We can find an answer to almost any question in seconds. We can watch a video, listen to a podcast, ask AI, read an article, or scroll through thousands of opinions on just about anything.
And yet, we still write books, read books, and buy books.
Why?
I believe one BIG reason is HOPE.
Sometimes we pick up a book because we’re looking for evidence that things can be different.
Maybe we’re going through a difficult season and need to know that someone else has made it through. Maybe we’re standing at the edge of a change we aren’t sure we’re ready to make. Maybe we’re building something new, recovering from something old, or simply wondering, Is there more for me than this?
We might say we’re looking for inspiration.
Or encouragement.
Or a new perspective.
Or a good story.
But underneath all of those things can be the same quiet question:
“What if this is possible for me, too?”
That’s one of the things I love about books.
A book is a doorway to the soul. A space where an author’s experience, knowledge, hard-won lessons, or imagination invites the reader into their world.
Although the author may have written that book years ago, in a completely different place and season of life, somehow the right words can still find the right reader at exactly the right time.
And sometimes, what that reader needs isn’t another piece of information.
They need someone to say:
I’ve been there.
Here’s what I learned.
Here’s what I tried.
Here’s what happened next.
And if I could get through it, maybe you can, too.
That’s a powerful kind of HOPE.
It doesn’t promise that everything will be easy. It doesn’t pretend that every story has a happy ending. In fact, some of the most hopeful books acknowledge just how hard the journey can be.
Hope simply says:
The story isn’t over yet. There’s MORE!
And this is where I think authors have a unique opportunity.
When you write a book about something you’ve lived through, learned, built, discovered, or finally understood, you may think you’re simply telling your story.
But somewhere on the other side of those pages may be a reader who desperately needs to hear it.
Your experience can become someone else’s evidence that what’s next is possible.
That’s why I believe books still matter.
And perhaps it’s also why writing a book can be a brave thing to do.
It takes courage to put your ideas, your experiences, your expertise, or your story into the world and say, “maybe this can help someone.”
Books can last for generations, handed down and cherished by younger family members.
I’ve known authors who visit a library where they know their book is on the shelf. They find their book, take it off the shelf, and find a cozy chair where they can sit and read their OWN BOOK.
After a short half-hour or so, they get up, start toward the door—and casually lay their book down on a table on their way out.
Why?
Because that AUTHOR BELIEVES their book can help “someone.”
They believe “someone” will walk through that library, happen to see their book sitting there, and pick it up.
That book silently calls them, as if it has been waiting for the one person who needs it right now.
Because that person is looking for a way forward.
That person is wondering if change is possible.
That person simply needs to believe that tomorrow might look different from today.
Maybe that’s one of the reasons we still LOVE books.
Not because we need more information.
But because sometimes, we need HOPE.
