Creating Something You Can’t Describe

Why it’s only getting harder to make a book feel, and how to bring that

feeling into existence nonetheless.

The world feels too big. At least it does to me sometimes. It’s only getting bigger, growing more crowded, more intertwined, and it can somehow be harder to feel connected in it at the same time. It is not for a lack of trying. We look for connection anywhere, and for a lot of us, this search always brings us back to writing, and to books.

The publishing industry, however, seems to have gotten stuck somewhere along the way. In the age of globalisation and digitalisation, a lot of traditional ideas and established institutions have not managed to bridge the disconnect between them, their authors and their readers. With the pursuit of profit and economical advance at the forefront, it feels impossible to find personal connection in the modern world of books.

The recent global pandemic, for once, is not entirely to blame for this. With all readers stuck at home, the physical form of writing keeps outselling its digital counterpart. And yet, the creators of the art we love feel so far away – hidden behind layers and layers of screens and anonymous representatives of large-scale retailers.

It is not easy to put the big publishing houses at fault for that completely, either. The feel of a book is what keeps drawing so many readers back to the medium again and again, but how would one produce that?

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On mornings that feel uneasy or nervous, I like to pack a copy of the work of one of my favourite authors to carry around with me all day. Having the opportunity to read a few pages whenever I want to, being accompanied by the words of someone I admire and care for, has the power to calm my anxiousness, always.

I love this connection, and I want you to feel it, too. This is why I take time to get to know the writers I read; to understand what they want to write and why they wrote it.

When you hold AOS books in your hands, you feel that openness, and that welcoming feeling that you can get to know them as well. You can share their authors’ love for what they wrote. The trust between the writers and the publisher becomes yours, too. When you forget that you set your coffee cup on one of your most treasured possessions a few hours ago, this relationship between all of us makes these physical manifestations not only feel okay, but like they are the only right thing to happen.

Whether you want to write, read, or both: I am here with you, to create space in this big world for us to be and feel together, to make sure that this indescribable feeling gets to you.