Reading Is Punk

Neither the book industry, nor the minds of consumers, nor the professional lives of authors are the same as they were 20 years ago. In fact, allow me to revel a little in frustration: All of that is gone forever. I just submitted the manuscript of my next novel to my editor, exactly 20 years after my first book, and I have the feeling that culturally, 100 years have passed between the two. When I sent that first manuscript, I was filled with great enthusiasm for the future, and not only because I had fewer gray hairs than I do now. However, last week, when I sent the manuscript of this novel, I was accompanied only by a mixture of emptiness and melancholy.