Why we need a new format for business books

I have a confession to make. I love business books but have almost completely given up on actually reading them. My consumption of long-form texts has been on a trajectory of decline for some years. I believe this has to do with the ever more distractions now competing for my attention. Even worse, there is my increasing incapability to read deeply. Long, concentrated reading has become a painful activity. I always defined myself as someone who reads books. In fact, I don’t read books anymore. I just buy and own them.

I am convinced that I am not alone. We now live in a world where online access is omnipresent and everyone is glued to their phones (or other electronic devices) all the time. We shouldn’t make the mistake to think that this will be without consequence. The truth is that technology has already changed the way we read and think and will continue to do so.

Arguably it all started on June 29, 2007 when Apple sold its first iPhone. Since that time, both the availability and the nature of content have changed in a fundamental way. Today, content is mostly delivered to us in conveniently short texts and videos as informational fast food. For many of us, reading has largely moved from paper to screens, particularly phone screens where the amount of text that can be displayed is severely restricted. Barriers of switching to other content do virtually not exist anymore. The next distraction is just a swipe away.

The diffusion of our attention has led to a demise of long-form text consumption. We will soon witness the “death” of deep, linear reading. Largely, skimming has replaced reading. We now tend to scan texts both online and offline to decide whether they are relevant to us at all and, if so, to quickly identify the key messages. We then move on to the next source without bothering about the rest of the text.

This new form of “reading” changes the way we think. In his excellent book “The Shallows – What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains” Nicolas Carr points out the neuroplasticity of the brain. Our behavior rewires the neural circuits of our brains and the way we read is critical behavior for that matter. Technology literally changes the way our brains work. The change that technology inflicts on our brains is likely to stay and it will even get worse.

Reading is essential for our comprehension of the world and our ability to succeed in it by means of learning. Our reduced ability to read deeply should be a cause for great concern and the preservation of it a priority. But we also have to acknowledge that we probably have already passed a point of no return. If this is true, we have to reconsider what it means to communicate effectively. We have to reach readers where they actually are, not where we want them to be.

In this new context, traditional business book formats don’t work anymore. We have to write business books in a different, non-traditional way if we want them to remain relevant, if we want to make sure that their content is actually consumed. To accommodate the needs and limits of contemporary readers new business book formats are required. We need books for our distracted minds with limited attention spans.

As a consumer of business books, I have five suggestions for business book authors:

• Write shorter books with more condensed content.
• Avoid large, uninterrupted blocks of text and make sure the reader can clearly identify key messages and take-aways.
• Enable easy navigation within the book based on a logical structure.
• Allow for self-contained sections that make exiting and reentering the material easy.
• Extensively use visualizations that support the delivery of the written content.

I believe the very concept of the business book has to change. What do you think? Are traditional business books still relevant? How would you like them to evolve? Please leave your comments below.