Even in 2012, you could have taken a sliver of mainstream media like "vampire fantasy novels" and failed to read everything in a single year. I think the author

Even in 2012, you could have taken a sliver of mainstream media like "vampire fantasy novels" and failed to read everything in a single year. I think the author simply had a narrower view of what was "important". Yes, media is now more accessible and a few key areas (TV in particular) have increased output 3 or 4 fold. But I think its likely that as the author's social circle has grown the author is aware of a greater variety of media that they weren't consuming. Additionally, most people have less time to consume things as they age. These are old problems.