This great article (thanks Dawn!) talks about how the future of Children’s Publishing is also the future of publishing. Just as our future hinges on having our kids grow up and save the planet from our follies, the publishing world depends on young readers growing up and becoming, well, older readers. And perhaps an indication of what those older readers want can be found in this great quote by Jeff Kinney, famed author of The Diary of a Wimpy Kid:
“Great stories are being told that do not rely on violence or sex or those sorts of things that are the hallmarks of literature that is intended for adults,” Kinney said. “I think we focus more on storytelling. There are a lot of adults I encounter who exclusively read children’s literature.”
If adults are reading kidlit, then what are the kids doing? Many of them are going online, and not just the YA crowd. More and more, younger kids are lured by book-related games and online activities to hook them into the printed books. According to Scholastic, they have 760,000 registered users on their site. I know my kids rock Club Penguin all the time. They’ve just recently decided to tie some books to the popular on-line game. But these multimedia and social-networking enterprises are big money, and usually reserved for MG books that publishers have decided to put their advertising budgets behind.
I still think e-readers will ultimately draw young readers in, once they are common in households. But will they take the 6+ hours of time to read the book? There are many that say kids cannot sustain that kind of attention, but I’m not one of them.
All they need is a good story.
Yes! I agree that it's all about the story. My second grader fought against his 20 minutes of reading/night homework rule (the goal is 100 minutes a week)until last week – when he discovered Diary of a Wimpy Kid! This week he logged over 250 minutes of reading time in only 4 days!!! He's eight. Enough said! Ha ha ha.
I agree too! There's a book out there for every type of reader. You just have to seek it out. And if you really like a book, you can't put it down. You're not looking at the clock, so you get lost in another world. Children need that kind of focus!
I prefer books-in-print over eReaders because they provide me with a break from the plugged in world. I do enough reading on the computer as it is! And children are looking at screens so much these days, that it's important for them to read real books too.
I'm glad you enjoyed the article, Susan!
@Shannon My heart gives a little leap whenever I hear about a kid getting sucked into reading by a cool story. Thanks for sharing!
@Dawn I think print books will be around for a good long time. Whatever gets the kids reading, works for me. Thanks again!
Yes, the story is everything. My daughter is 11 and she'll tell you she doesn't like to read. But put a horse magazine or a Saddle Club book in her hand and she gobbles it up. It's all about the guts of the story and how well it relates to the kid.
And if e-books take off – watch out! Kids are all about techno stuff 😉
~JD
@Justine Doesn't it break your heart when they say that? But then, if it's not really true, it's not so bad.
I like your blog! I'm a writer myself…mostly TV stuff, though I'm developing a novel right now (based on the Lighthouse Keeper entries on my own blog). My girlfriend is also the webmaster at Vroman's bookstore (I think at vromans.com…but you can google it), so check out that blog too (she runs it…along with their Twitter and Facebook presence).
CED
Thanks! What do you write on TV? I became a fan of Vroman's over on FB. Good luck with your book!