(1) The chart above was done a while ago, but I have no reason to assume current figures differ greatly.
(2) The answers to some of the questions may be obvious to Christians, but I am Jewish, not Christian, and I don't know the answers.
(3) The table above is both revealing and mystifying. The data comes from Google, which is not 100% perfect, but does offer a pretty good snapshot of the world. The table leads to some questions:
- Why do Christians have a much stronger need or desire to self-publish than followers of other religions?
- There are about 150 Christians to every Jew on the planet. However, the ratio of links for "Christian publishing" to "Jewish publishing" is only about 3.7 to one.
- The ratio of "Christian self-publishing" to "Jewish self-publishing" is 4,370 to one!
- Why do the members of my tribe -- who do a huge amount of writing and publishing -- have such a tiny need for religious self-publishing compared to Christians?
- Do Christian writers think they are blocked by traditional secular publishing companies, or merely feel more comfortable dealing with Christian self-publishing companies than with secular self-publishing companies?
- Why do followers of Islam ("people of the book" like Christians and Jews) who make up over one-fifth of the world's population, and are strongly involved in publishing, have such a tiny need for self-publishing that reflects Islam?
- Why do Hindus and Buddhists -- who comprise one-fifth of the planet's population and have substantial involvement in publishing, have no apparent need for self-publishing that reflects their faiths?
- Why do the millions of Sikhs, Baha'is, Confucians, Jains and Shintos have no need for self-publishing services that cater to followers of their faiths. (Yes, I know that the English version of Google may not reflect links to websites in other languages, but since it does show links to "X-publishing" but not "X-self-publishing," I think it's valid to consider the Google numbers).
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Monk drawing from the Jane Austin Society of Australia. Thanks.
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