A hungry cow yields no milk. Likewise, writers must be provided with the conditions for creative development first — an opportunity to receive an education, read good books, and only then can we expect high-quality literature. A writer can develop their potential only through active self-education, thinking a lot, diving into the essence of things.

To understand what readers want, the writer must be a good reader. For the last few years I have mostly read books which reveal the depth of human life and psychology.

I think readers nowadays have a spiritual hunger. They need kindness and love. An environment that can be trusted, a supportive one. Nowadays a "bird of loneliness" nests in everyone's soul. A person cannot escape from that nest. They cannot tell others about their loneliness. And if they do, they fear that they will be misunderstood or laughed at. They feel confused, like a fragile kid looking around for support from his parents. Even a good job, a family,  a house, and a car can not protect from loneliness. No one seems to understand. In one’s daily life, one gets depressed and, finding no way out, languishes in a cage of one’s own thoughts. Eventually one begins to act, realizing that no one else will rescue them from this abyss. One reads popular psychology books to get rid of loneliness and send one’s thoughts in a different direction. One engages in self-development to avoid conflicts with others. Hopes to find useful insights in books. Learning to manage emotional intelligence. 

If you think about it, it's all from a lack of love and kindness. Stress, suicide, constant anxiety — all come from the fact that people have become violent, turned into moral vampires. 

That is why I think that people often buy books that talk about feelings and psychology, help build relationships with others. 

To prove my point, here's a list of the best-selling titles in the Meloman network for the past, pandemic, year. At the top of the list was the book by Mikhail Labkovsky “I Want and I Will: Accepting Yourself, Loving Life and Becoming Happy.” It is followed by "Hungry Steppe" by Sarah Cameron, books by Jan Cincero and Mark Manson, "Karashanyrak" [1] by Yermek Tursunov, and "Words of Instruction" by Abay Kunanbaev, Kamshat Bekzhigitova's “Changing Mind Changes Your Life” (the Kazakh title is Oyydy Ozgertin, Omirdi Ozgert) and Mukhtar Auezov's novel-epic “The Way of Abay.”  And books by psychologists and motivators are in great demand on Instagram. Among them are "The Contorted Wall" by Marziya Bekaidar ("Kaisyk Kabyrga"), "Boundlessly in Love with Life" by Dinara Bolat ("Өmirge sheksiz ғashyk"), as well as books by other authors.  Books by Kuanysh Shonbai for entrepreneurs were also quite popular.  

But this is not to indicate that readers do not need classical literature. Kazakh-speaking readers willingly buy books by Abay Kunanbayev, Bauyrzhan Momyshuly, Talasbek Asemkulov, Mukhtar Magauin. 

The advance of digital technology being in full swing, fiction has not lost its relevance. On the contrary, there is a growing demand for books that broaden the horizons, form an intellectually developed personality, making one turn away from bad things and embrace the good. 

Now there are a lot of young people who know books. For example, if you go into any Meloman bookstore, you will see that there are more 16-30 year olds than older people.  I often meet book lovers of this age. 

Of course, not all of these books are written to "teach wisdom." I don't think readers require any kind of teaching. For a reader who wants to focus and find peace of mind and read your book to the end, it has to have interesting content, has to make sense of human feelings and allow the reader to weigh their own actions against it. 

What the contemporary reader needs most is intellectual work that has the potential to broaden their horizons, pushing them to see the world in a new light. 

A text that describes a hare running up a hill over two pages is unlikely to gather a significant readership. 

[1] This is the title of the Russian edition of the book (translator’s note). The translation is "the ancestral home which, according to tradition, the youngest son inherits, the sacred family hearth.