I'm a little bit obsessed with plastic trash at the moment, and it seems I'm not alone. The news is full of turtles with straws up their noses, oceans full of plastic, and crises in recycling. One of the most wasteful times of year is Christmas, and the humble cracker often comes in a plastic box, contains plastic toys, and all ends up in a plastic bin liner by Boxing Day.
But this year is different, because a lot of people will be focusing on how they can reduce their plastic footprint - and one way to do that is by ditching crackers. If you think about the purpose of them, it's to entertain us for a while on Christmas Day with something we can share, something that could be done just as easily with a joke book as with a pile of stuff that some mug ends up having to tidy up afterwards.
One of the reasons cracker jokes tend to be awful is that they're bland to please everyone: they have to be family friendly, and also understood by most people. But there's no such restriction for indie authors; you can be as niche as you like. There's probably a market somewhere for a collection of knitting and craft jokes, or one for science fiction fans.
Anyway, I'm not about to write one of these books myself, but I hope some of you will be inspired. And I hope I won't be the only person ditching crackers and buying a joke book for Christmas Day instead.
