Change ...

... Rethinking the Familiar Book Tour | By Joanne Kaufman - WSJ.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Americans' ever-shrinking attention span and an ever-shrinking number of leisure hours are also issues. "We're asking for people's time and we're competing with other experiences they could use the time for. We want them to leave the event saying 'wow,'" said Ms. Jennings, who'd like to say something similar when she looks at the cash register receipts after one of these events. One recent example: a visit from Vanessa Diffenbaugh, who spoke about the foster-care system—a theme of her debut novel, "The Language of Flowers"—and who gave a PowerPoint presentation about the significance of particular nosegays in the Victorian era.