Globalization Has Brought More Competition For Authors And Writers

There can be no argument to the fact that globalization, or the extension of markets to include the whole world, has taken the world by storm. Countries are more integrated in terms of their economy than ever before. Independence and isolation have given way to interdependence and mutual dependency. And there are several positive outcomes of this as well. Since the market expands, so does the supply. Thu the consumers are now exposed to a wide variety of options to choose from. Not only can they select products suitable to them, but also companies will cater to consumer needs. They do this in order to earn their customer’s trust. This results in competitiveness.

This competition can manifest in quality, prices, service deliver, benefits, future privileges, quick response, etc. But every company will try to distinguish its products from the rest to make it stand out and attract customers. This, then, also extends to the literary market. As globalization increases, readers have access to more and more books. Which book they select from the stack available to them depends on several factors, including those related to the author. They must compete for the reader’s attention, and here’s why.

Cultural Integration is on the rise

This refers to the unison and intermingling of several cultures, results from diaspora. As people move away from their home countries for education, work, leisure, travel or more, they are exposed to different cultures. These cultures attract them, and they start reading the country’s literature. In the process, local literature is now forced to compete with foreign literature for the reader’s attention.

Easy availability of books creates pressure

With globalization, access to goods and services becomes very easy. Books are available at the drop of a hat for people who want them. These books may be local, national, global or cultural. Sites like amazon which provide doorstep delivery further compound this. The result is that if an author’s book isn’t better than others, they will opt for other books which have been made available to them due to globalization.

Local markets are merging into global markets

As I said previously, the distinction between local and global markets is becoming all the more blurry is global products become available in local markets. The implication of this is that there is a lot of tension between authors from different local markets, which are now integrated into one big global market.

Local bookstores are dwindling

The problem I mentioned in the previous point leads to this other problem – local book stores shut down due to inability to handle competition. This means that there is a vicious cycle for those bookstores that refuse to adapt. They don’t adapt, thus people are not attracted to their stores, they shut down, and access to local books diminishes further.

As number of authors grow, the share of each declines

By the basic economic principle of markets, the supply and demand must be in equilibrium for the market to function smoothly. That is, the supply and demand should me more or less the same, since any discrepancy will create inflationary or deflationary pressures. This further translates into the individual share of each seller, in this case author. When the size of the market and hence number of authors and hence supply increases but demand stays constant, there is a lacuna in the market. To fill this up, the competition between authors skyrockets,

Globalization accelerates creation of trends and fashions

Globalization has another important facet to it that we haven’t discussed yet – social media. Social media gives people access to other people, and facilitates easy propagation of opinion, both individual and collective. Thus, with hashtags on twitter and Instagram and easy sharing of posts, opinions an become popularized. Most of all, this leads to creation of trends and fashions. This influences how people buy products including books. Thus authors compete to make their book stand out, become a part of the trend and hence attract attention of readers.

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