Inktips: Why you need to read more in 2020

Dear Pennies & Pens, 

In this post, Inktips: Why you need to read more in 2020, I will talk about why you should read more books this year. If you’ve been following me for awhile, you know that I’m an Author and I’ve published two books, #MakeUrPenLoud: How To Be A Lifestyle Blogger and The Loudest Pen Ever. I’ve also produced two travel guides, Cruising thru Cali and Chillin in Chi-Town. 

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on rewriting my business plan and revamping my sales strategy. I have been looking for ways to increase product sales so brainstorming ideas to do this has been my main focus. But then it hits me, people don’t seem to really be reading…

Why no one reads anymore 

Too busy scrolling

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me but in general, I feel like all people do is scroll nowadays. Like I remember a few months ago, I wrote “Fuck Instagram” and said click the link in my bio to find out why I’m retiring from social media and do you know how many people commented without reading the blog post? Like I was clearly posting a dramatic caption to drive traffic to the blog and yet here comes all these people commenting when they never even read the content. 

Like bruh the IG post was literally less than 20 words, hashtags included. I had to actually comment back to several people asking them to read the post. Like what the fuck is that about? So in my mind, people saw the caption, then started commenting without even educating themselves on what I was trying to say. So should I write FUCK in all caps in every caption? Is that what needs to be done to get your ass to stop scrolling and read some shit?! 

Laziness and lack of focus

Honestly, the innanet is making us all lazy. If anything is longer than a few sentences, you lose the majority of your audience. People will barely read a facebook post, let alone a blog post and a book is something they’ll post on their IG story and never actually read. 

The truth is information has in some ways become too accessible. All you have to do is “Google it” and boom, you’ve got info. And fuck reading a book when you can watch a YouTube video. But the real truth is none of this shit matters. The fact is people are lazy and don’t want to read. Reading requires focus, effort, and energy. Why read when you can scroll? 

They can’t read 

Unpopular FACT, most Americans cannot read. Over 32 million Americans cannot read. Yall think I’m playing but I’m not. It’s real out here.

Reading and the ability to read well is becoming a lost art form. So another reason people aren’t reading books is because they can’t. 

No “time” 

It’s crazy how the innanet has convinced us that we have no “time” and are “busy”. Lol if you checked your email more than once today, spent more than 15 minutes texting or scrolling on social media, your ass has time to read. Instead of doing the things I just named, consider reading a book. 

Reading just a few pages or chapters of a book can make all the difference in the world. I am currently reading the bible and a book about Jay Z and it’s making me so much better as a person. Just the other day, I corrected my friend to let them know that Exodus is the second book of the bible as it is the one I’m currently reading.

I never would’ve known that if I wasn’t taking time out of my day to read. Also with the Jay Z book, I had no idea how close he was to Nipsey Hustle, I remember hearing about them in the news when Nip died but Jay really saw Nip as a little brother and a great MC. 

Why you should #ReadMoreInk 

Alright so I know I spent most of this post, ranting and raving but it’s because I feel some type of way about this. In 2020, I want to see more people Instagramming and posting to Facebook about a new book they read. The fashion, beauty, music, travel and sports posts are cool but let’s take a look because it’s in a book in 2020. 

I believe that you should #ReadMoreInk for many reasons. See the list below. 

1. Reading gives you knowledge which in turn gives you power. 
2. Learn something new. Reading gives you the opportunity to learn something new and educate yourself on a topic you may not have known much about. 
3. Reading gives you the chance to provide value to your audience. Since you’ll be learning new things, you can share what you’ve read with your audience. They’ll appreciate the value and will be more likely to see you as an expert. 
4. It’s relaxing and fun. It sounds nerdy but reading is relaxing and fun. I like putting my phone down and curling up on the couch with a good book. I don’t have to interact with anyone, stare at a bright screen, etc. It’s AMAZING!!! 

#ReadMoreInk 

To wrap up this ink, I want to encourage you to participate in the #ReadMoreInk campaign by sharing a photo of a book you’re reading or you reading a book using the hashtag #ReadMoreInk. ISLP is partnering with bloggers and influencers to increase awareness of the campaign. 

#ReadMoreInk is an integrated marketing campaign designed to encourage you, Pennies and Pens, to read more books. So I have just one question, will you ink with us? 

And there it is. de la Pen…All Pen Everything. With us, keeping it real never goes wrong.