Almost Nobody Writes. Here’s the Proof.
And Why That’s About to Change for You.
A Handout for Folks Who Like Facts
By Paul Truesdell, JD, AIF, CLU, ChFC, RFC
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Let me tell you why you’re here, or at least why I hope you’re here. You’re not here to write the next great American novel. You’re not here to craft fiction or chase a publishing deal or see your name on a shelf at Barnes and Noble. You’re here because somewhere inside you, there are stories that matter. Real stories. Your stories. The ones your children and grandchildren deserve to hear, the ones that explain where they came from and what shaped the family they were born into. Memories that will be cherished long after you and I are gone.
The problem is, almost nobody actually writes those stories down. And I can prove it.
The Size of the Country
The United States population sits at roughly 342 million people as of early 2026. That’s the official Census Bureau figure, not one of those inflated estimates floating around the internet. Of those 342 million, about 260 to 270 million are adults, eighteen and older. Remember that number.
Books: The Numbers Are Smaller Than You Think
According to Bowker, the official ISBN agency in this country, self-published titles with ISBNs hit over 2.6 million in 2023, up about seven percent from the year before. Traditionally published titles, books that went through an actual publishing house, came in around 563,000 that same year and actually declined slightly. Toss in titles that skip the ISBN process, like many Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing e-books, and you’re looking at roughly three million or more new titles per year.
Three million sounds like a lot until you realize nobody tracks unique authors. Bowker counts titles, not people. On the traditional side, industry estimates put it at roughly 300,000 to 600,000 unique authors per year, accounting for writers who publish multiple books annually. On the self-publishing side, when you narrow it down to people who actually completed and released a real, full-length book, estimates land around 500,000 to a million.
Combine both sides and a reasonable estimate for unique authors publishing at least one book in any given year is somewhere between 500,000 and 1.5 million. And that high end is generous, because a whole lot of those self-published titles are barely pamphlets.
Even at one million unique authors, that’s three-tenths of one percent of the U.S. population. Zero point three percent. At the more realistic estimate of 500,000 to 800,000, you’re looking at fifteen-hundredths to a quarter of one percent.
Almost nobody writes books.
Short Stories: Even Fewer People Bother
Short stories, the real kind, crafted fiction that appears in literary magazines, journals, and anthologies, not your nephew’s social media ramblings, are an even smaller world.
The top outlets like The New Yorker, Paris Review, One Story, and Granta publish maybe ten to fifty stories a year each. Smaller publications run four to twelve. Add in anthologies like Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Prize collections, and the Pushcart Prize, and you’re looking at maybe 5,000 to 15,000 unique short stories published in legitimate U.S. outlets per year. And many of those are written by the same people, established writers and MFA graduates cycling through the same magazines year after year.
Unique short story authors in any given year? Probably a few thousand to maybe 10,000, and a good number of them are also publishing books, so there’s overlap.
Almost nobody writes short stories either.
Put It All Together
Combine book publishing and legitimate short story publication, account for the overlap, and the total number of unique Americans producing real, publishable creative writing in any given year is probably under one million. More realistically, it sits between 300,000 and 800,000.
As a percentage of the total population? Somewhere between one-tenth and a quarter of one percent. For adults only? Still under four-tenths of one percent.
Well under half a percent.
But Everybody Says They Write
Here’s where it gets interesting. The National Endowment for the Arts ran a Survey of Public Participation in the Arts in 2022, the most recent detailed data available. According to that survey, about seven to eight percent of American adults said they did some form of creative writing in the past year. Stories, poems, plays, that sort of thing.
Seven to eight percent sounds significant until you understand what that number actually includes. It includes the person who scribbled a poem on a napkin at Applebee’s and never looked at it again. It includes the fellow who started chapter one of his memoir in January and abandoned it by Valentine’s Day. It includes everybody who told people at a cocktail party that they were “working on something.”
The distance between “I did some creative writing” and “I actually finished something” is roughly the same distance as the one between telling people you jog and actually running a marathon. That gap gets wider with age, which tracks perfectly with what I’ve observed working with retirees for over four decades.
What the Numbers Actually Tell Us
People don’t write books. People don’t write short stories. The overwhelming majority of Americans, north of 99.5 percent, never produce a finished piece of writing of any real substance in any given year. Not a book. Not a short story. Not a personal memoir. Not anything.
That’s not a criticism. It’s just a fact. Writing is hard work. Finishing is harder. Most people would rather do almost anything else, and the numbers prove it.
So the next time someone at a party tells you they’re writing a book, smile politely. The odds say they’re not. And the odds say they never will.
But Here’s the Thing. You Can Beat Those Odds.
I’m not asking you to write a novel. I’m not asking you to craft fiction or submit short stories to The New Yorker. I’m asking you to do something far more important and far more personal. I’m asking you to write your real stories. The memories that shaped you. The moments that defined your family. The things your grandchildren will wish they knew about you after you’re gone, the things they’ll never know unless you write them down.
That’s what this class is about. Writing short, personal stories, real memories, told in your own voice, the kind of stories that get passed around at Thanksgiving dinner and tucked into family Bibles and read out loud at reunions decades from now. This isn’t about literary prizes. This is about legacy.
And here’s the good news. We’re going to make it easier than you think.
The ONE School Approach
For years, writing classes have been taught the same way. Sit down, stare at a blank page, struggle through it, and hope for the best. That’s the old school, and it works, but it’s also why most people quit before they finish.
Then along came artificial intelligence, and a whole new set of tools became available. That’s the new school, and it’s powerful, but without the fundamentals of good storytelling, all the AI in the world won’t help you write something worth reading.
So we’re combining both. Old school craft with new school technology. Traditional storytelling methods with modern AI tools that help you organize your thoughts, overcome writer’s block, polish your prose, and actually finish what you start.
Take the O from Old. Take the N-E from New. Capitalize the right letters and you get O-N-E. ONE. It’s a ONE school approach, and it’s designed specifically for people like you, people with a lifetime of stories worth telling and a desire to finally get them on paper.
Old plus New equals ONE. That’s how we’re going to do this.
Occam’s Razor: Keep It Simple
Now, if all of this talk about combining traditional methods with artificial intelligence and multimedia editing sounds complicated, let me put your mind at ease.
I follow a principle laid down by a Franciscan friar named William of Occam back in the fourteenth century. You may have heard of it. It’s called Occam’s Razor, and the idea is beautifully simple: when you have competing explanations or approaches, the simplest one is usually the best. Don’t multiply complexity beyond what’s necessary. Strip away what doesn’t need to be there and focus on what does.
William of Occam is, in many ways, the intellectual father of what we now call KISS, Keep It Simple, Stupid. Or if you prefer a more polite version, Keep It Simple and Straightforward. Either way, the principle is the same. If you can say it simply, say it simply. If you can do it in three steps instead of twelve, do it in three.
That’s exactly how I’ve built this class. Every step in the process is designed to be clear, manageable, and doable, even if you’ve never written anything longer than a grocery list. We’re not going to overcomplicate this. We’re going to keep it simple, and we’re going to get it done.
The Blob: How I’ll Show You the Process
To kick things off, I’ll be sharing one of my own personal stories during the introduction to the class. It’s called “The Blob.”
In 1981, I was struck by a four-by-four and viciously attacked. The result was what appeared to be a gunshot wound to my left chest. And as the great Paul Harvey used to say, I’ll tell you the rest of the story when we get together.
But here’s why I’m telling you about The Blob. It’s not just a story. It’s a demonstration. I’m going to use my own story to walk you through the entire process, step by step, so you can see exactly how it works before you do it yourself.
Here’s what we’ll cover using The Blob as our working example. First, how to outline your story. Every good story starts with a simple framework, the key moments, the people involved, and why it matters. I’ll show you how to build that outline quickly without overthinking it. Second, how to tell your story in rough format. This is where you get the words down without worrying about whether they’re perfect. We call it the rough draft for a reason. Just get it out. Third, how to have your story edited. Once you’ve got a draft, I’ll show you how to use both traditional editing techniques and AI tools to clean it up, tighten the language, and make it read the way you want it to read. Fourth, how to edit your story using a multimedia approach. This is where it gets fun. We’re not just putting words on a page. We’re going to explore how to bring your stories to life using audio, video, and other tools that turn a written memory into something your family can experience, not just read.
It may sound like a lot. But remember Occam’s Razor. We’re keeping it simple. Each step builds on the one before it, and by the time we’re done, you’ll have a finished personal story that your loved ones will treasure.
Now Let Me Tell You a Little Bit About Who I Am
If we haven’t met yet, or if you haven’t had a chance to visit my personal website, I’d encourage you to head over to paultruesdell.com and read the About section. You’ll get the full picture there. But here’s the short version.
I’m the Founder of the Truesdell Companies, which includes Truesdell Wealth, Truesdell Consulting, and Truesdell Insurance. I hold a JD and carry the AIF, CLU, ChFC, and RFC designations. I’ve spent over 40 years in financial services and nearly 50 years around law enforcement, so I’ve seen just about every version of the human experience that exists.
I write every single day. Anywhere from 500 to 5,000 words, sometimes more, primarily for business and for my clients. I’ve extensively produced audio and video content, and I host The Paul Truesdell Podcast. Over the course of my career, I’ve spoken in front of several hundred thousand people and have hosted training sessions, workshops, and seminars on subjects ranging from financial planning to leadership to communication. Around here at Stone Creek, you might know me from the Casual Cocktail and Coffee Conversations I host at the Stonewater Club.
I’ve also been writing my own personal stories for my family, which is exactly what I’m going to help you do. I know the process works because I’ve done it myself, and I know the ONE School approach works because I’ve built it from the ground up, combining the traditional craft of storytelling with modern AI tools that make the whole thing faster, easier, and more enjoyable than you might expect.
If you’ve got stories worth telling, and I know you do, let’s get them written.
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Tippecanoe and Tyler Too, I’m out of here.
What is The Paul Truesdell Podcast?
The Paul Truesdell Podcast
Welcome to the Paul Truesdell Podcast. So, what's the gig? Paul records frequently at the Truesdell Professional Building. He eplains a few things about how life works before time gets away. Paul connects the dots, the plot and knots, spots the ops with a heavy dose of knocks, mocks, pots, rocks, socks, and mops. Confused? Then welcome aboard! You see, Paul the Elder enjoys telling complex stories in a way that is easy to understand. While always based on business, economics, and forecasting, having fun, laughing, and being among like-minded men, women, and children from Earth, Pluto, Jupiter, and Neptune is a requirement. Paul the Elder coupled with Team Truesdell, have been there and done it. If you enjoy front porch philosophers who take deep dives and connect the dots, while drinking coffee during the day and a whiskey after five, welcome.
It is a true pleasure to have you onboard.
This is, The Paul Truesdell Podcast.