Why are people reading more?

The book lovingluddite in me jumped with joy at the news that book sales in print are on the upswing Yes they are says a piece in The Wall Street Journal And funnily enough because young people prefer the convenience of reading physical booksWhile this may be an aberration or a phase perhaps it does coincide with one other thing which talks about consumersrsquo search for something elusive gripping and good mdash the rise in long form reading and therefore writing Or in long form viewing How many of us have bingewatched wellcrafted TV shows such as Game of Thrones House of Cards or Sherlock Note also the rise in live performances as a proportion of the music industries revenues mdash these took off soon after digital music went through the roofThe rise in long form reading and therefore writing points to consumersrsquo search for something elusive gripping and good Representation picGetty ImagesThis column is not about the tired old lsquoprint versus digitalrsquo or lsquoold media versus new mediarsquo debate It is about our search for good content or interesting experiences around our favourite content say music in what looks like a deluge of it across every media we use mdash phone TV print radioTake for instance The Caravan a magazine that would have been unthinkable in India till five years ago The monthly magazine priced at R75 was launched in 2010 and carries at least three pieces of an average length of 700014000 words This in a market where the longest story in a magazine could be 30003500 words or in a newspaper 10002000 words Ask any reporter who fights with his editors for wordage and you will know that anything that takes a full page is considered somewhat sacrilegious Long reads or long views however are not just about lengthThe Caravan long reads for instance could range from the Essar saga to a profile of Samir Jain the elusive coowner of the Times Group or Nawazuddin Siddiqui who the magazine discovered in 2012 long before mainstream media These are very well researched wellwritten and offer something that mainstream journalism rarely offers these days mdash perspective Anant Nath editor of The Caravan claims that it gets an average of 600000 page views a month online It has a circulation reported to be around 40000 copies Those are good numbers for a long form print brand in a market which is shifting to quick short breathless easy reads and short videosMuch of this reflects what is happening globally albeit with a fiveyear lag perhaps You could argue that for Englishspeaking people in India reading The New Yorker or The Atlantic is an intellectual fashion statement But that doesnrsquot explain why the features from these iconic magazines get retweeted and circulated so much all over There is something deeper at work hereOn a trip to the UK last month I had a long chat with Jonathan Shainin editor long reads at The Guardian The newspaperrsquos long reads are 50007000 word pieces it puts out thrice a week The Guardian is one of the few media brands globally that went online very early and has done very well with new media However ldquoDigital had changed the metabolism of the paperrdquo says Shainin It was doing large numbers of short quick stories To balance this breathless pace the paper introduced long reads last year A long read story is ldquoautonomousrdquo says Shainin It exists to be read by anyone just because it is a good story Incidentally Shainin was with The Caravan in its formative years and has also worked with The New YorkerLong formats are becoming synonymous with good quality mdash either because that is the genesis of long form writing and television or because commercial sustenance of this form without superb quality is impossible Who on earth would have thought that the umpteenth show on Sherlock Holmes could become a global phenomenon mdash but good writing ensured thatReaching out for long form is a way of reaching towards what seems like the best content in a category It is certainly not about the media mdash print or TV or digital mdash it is purely about the content and searching for the satisfaction that a great story gives you How many times have you had to shake yourself to get out of the world created by a writer in a book or a TV series or an article How long has it haunted you mdash in that nice way that the taste of any good meal does It is about being in a place where you feel truly illuminated informed or entertainedThat is a good place for any media industry or consumer to be in More power then to good storytellingThe writer is a media specialist and author Follow her on Twitter at httptwittercomvanitakohlik