Recently, weRead launched a new feature on our homepage, polls! We want to hear what you all think, and so we will be regularly asking questions for your feedback. Sometimes this will be on things you might like to see on the site, or something similar, but sometimes it will be a little more fun. Currently, we want to know “If Shakespeare were alive today, he would be…”? We’ve gotten a lot of interesting responses, but so far 40% of you think he would be a struggling author.

What does this tell us about the state of the industry when we think that the playwright we all read in high school would have to struggle to get anything published if he were alive today? Maybe he would be on weRead trying to promote his books, or publish them for free on a self-publishing site like Lulu.com? Regardless, this is exactly why we started weRead in the first place. We want to help struggling writers find new avenues for reaching their fans, and to help book lovers to find books they might not have ever heard of, and share their love of books with their friends. It’s a tall order to be sure, but maybe we can help the next William Shakespeare connect with his or her fans.