But then I realized the very second the eReader industry kicks out a PINK or YELLOW or BLUE eReader with all kinds of cool skins aimed at teens...Hello Kitty, etc.... that is when teens will be carrying digital books around. Hmmm.......
I do have an image of my head of KEEPERS OF THE EMERALD CAVE on an eReader...complete with illustrations and recipes for really stinkin' cool bubbles, so maybe the whole idea isn't too crazy to think about.
Until then, I will finish the revisions and make it pretty.
Unless my kids drive me cuckoo first.
Two major things hold my kids back from reading on eBooks. The first is purely monetary. Although they have an iPad they can read on, I myself am not comfortable letting them carry it back and forth to school with them. Perhaps if they just had a kindle or nook it would be different, since they are less of an investment, but then they can only do the one thing as well.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, and this is not a vote against ereading as much as a problem with the schools - I was going to say self-publishing, but it is really more of a school issue. I don't know what your district is like, but every district around me has subscribed to this "Accelerated Reader" program, which allows the kids to take a comprehension test on every book they read. Since the schools emphasize this AR reading to such a high extent, during the school year, my kids hardly get a chance to read a book that is not an AR book, because it "doesn't count." And RenLearn of course only has the big publisher books in their database. So if its not from a big publisher, it doesn't count, and can't be read until the summertime.
Finally, ebooks for kids books are often as much if not more than the paperback, since paperback kids books are usually so inexpensive. Then they can't be lent out, the teachers don't stock them in the classroom, and you can't get them from the library. And while people are generally willing to buy ebooks for themselves, ignoring these things, it is much harder to convince oneself to buy them for kids.
Just some thoughts - oh, and sony has a pink ereader, and nook has skins in all the cute colors as well.
My kids are the most likely type of early adopters of ebooks, they read a ton, we are early adopters so they have an ereader, and I am generally willing to buy them books. My husband in fact keeps asking why they are not reading more on the ereader. But we have had the ipads for 10 months now and while I read on them all the time, the kids have only read one book. And that was on an airplane, on vacation, after the kid finished his paperback.
Thanks, Tracey -- You actually backed up my real position perfectly. Everything I read out there on eBooks says it's not hitting the under-18 crowd yet, which is why authors who write YA and MG may have some trouble self-publishing, simply because kids either aren't equipped with readers or they just really love holding the book in their hands.
ReplyDeleteMy kids are all under 8 years old, so we aren't at the point where they are reading entire books yet. In fact, imagining a world where little kiddos grow up reading on a pad instead of turning a page makes me a little queasy. Mine have enough trouble remembering what page they stopped on, and they still spend a lot of energy making and collecting bookmarks!
I didn't know one reader is available in pink, though... I did a search and no pink ones came up. We only have a Kindle, and it's pretty boring to look at. LOL
I am not planning on self-publishing, for what it's worth. I also want to hold my books in my hand and hopefully have something like "Scholastic" or "Simon & Schuster" printed on them somewhere!
:-)
Cynthia