Children’s books dominate the market

What better way to understand an industry than by following the consumer? For the past four years, this is what a team of experts at Scholastic did, with the goal of understanding how children and teens are consuming media, specifically books in an era where technology is taking over our day-to-day lives. Elize Knoetze discusses the findings of the study.

The report of the study was discussed in length at the Nielsen Children’s Book Summit which took place on the 12^th of December 2014. The findings surprisingly show that even though tablet use has risen drastically and the number of kids having read an e-book increased by 36% from 2010, children still prefer printed over digital books. This shows in the 71% of children who still purchase books in print and 51% strongly preferring print over digital. The interest among children of all ages to read e-books dropped by 37% since 2012, also making it clear what kids want.

What may be more interesting is that while we assume that kids are wasting their time online, Nielsen revealed in the study that they are actually creating bonds with friends which often lead to book recommendations which they value highly. Children’s decisions on what to read are nowadays dependent on social media and are highly influenced by what their peers are reading. While their friends are allowed to influence them, they prefer not to be forced by parents and teachers what to read. The findings show that kids are more likely to read and finish books if they have chosen them themselves. With an overwhelming 91% of the youth market stating that their favourite books are those that they have picked out themselves, research also confirms that encouraging children to read books that they choose at school and home and giving them time to do so, will make them enjoy reading more.

The study further found that 2014 was dominated by children’s books in the U.S, with it being “the best year ever for juvenile books” and having John Green (author of The Fault in our Stars) and Veronica Roth (author of Divergent) as the highest-selling authors for the past two years. In the past decade the children’s book market has almost doubled with a 44% increase. With 17 of the 20 overall bestsellers in the country in 2014 as children’s books, it is clear that children still read today. Which is good news for parents seeing that the majority (71%) of parents who participated in the study, believed that reading skills are the most important skill a child should have. While support and encouragement from parents is important in making kids read more, it is also access to books (either in school or at home) and reading aloud (both as a reader and listener) that should make them eager to read.

While kids still enjoy old time favourites such as Charlotte’s Web, the interest in movie related books is also growing, with Disney’s Frozen as one of the number ones. Kids also tend to be loyal readers who enjoy following an author whose work is familiar to them. Aside from that, children of all ages want books that make them laugh (70%) and books which allow them to use their imagination (54%). The Put me in the story approach where kids get to use their own names in the story, also shows some interest and potential as this allows the children to identify with the character in the book. Critics, however, believe that this will lead to a level of narcissism and in a way alters the authors work.

Overall the Nielsen’s first Children’s Book Summit in December 2014, was claimed a great success which gave a lot of insight in the state of the Children’s book market. With a few surprises from the Nielsen study and with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair coming up on the 30^th of March, this market has a promising future that we should all be sure to keep abreast of.

• Crunching Numbers at the Nielsen Children’s Book Summit, by Natasha Gilmore & Matia Burnett, http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/65068-kids-are-thriving-reading-and-hungry-for-more-crunching-numbers-at-the-nielsen-children-s-book-summit.html
• What makes kids read? By Mercy Pilkington, http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/what-makes-kids-read
• The Children’s book market has grown 44% in the last decade, by Michael Kozlowski, http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/the-childrens-book-market-has-grown-44-in-the-last-decade

Author: Elize Knoetze