This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/02/young-readers-drive-book-sales
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| The BFG, Skellig, Aubrey ... children’s books boom | The BFG, Skellig, Aubrey ... children’s books boom |
| (5 months later) | |
| Robert McCrum | |
| Sun 3 Sep 2017 00.04 BST | |
| Last modified on Sat 2 Dec 2017 02.46 GMT | |
| Share on Facebook | |
| Share on Twitter | |
| Share via Email | |
| View more sharing options | |
| Share on LinkedIn | |
| Share on Pinterest | |
| Share on Google+ | |
| Share on WhatsApp | |
| Share on Messenger | |
| Close | |
| Once upon a time, nine-year-old bookworms used to curl up with Little Women, or burrow under the bedclothes with a torch to read Swallows and Amazons after hours. Childhood reading was an idyll in a walled garden and books forever shaped the landscape of our minds. | Once upon a time, nine-year-old bookworms used to curl up with Little Women, or burrow under the bedclothes with a torch to read Swallows and Amazons after hours. Childhood reading was an idyll in a walled garden and books forever shaped the landscape of our minds. |
| Did that golden age ever exist? One thing is certain: in troubled times the nation’s reading habits have become a lightning rod for parental pessimism about video games and the end of civilisation as we know it. There is, however, a silver lining to these clouds. | Did that golden age ever exist? One thing is certain: in troubled times the nation’s reading habits have become a lightning rod for parental pessimism about video games and the end of civilisation as we know it. There is, however, a silver lining to these clouds. |
| This week, as Britain’s schoolchildren creep like snails back to the classroom, fretful parents can take heart from statistics that demonstrate a mini-boom in juvenile reading. In 2016, for example, sales of children’s titles rose 16% to £365m, an increase attributable to the buying of printed books. | This week, as Britain’s schoolchildren creep like snails back to the classroom, fretful parents can take heart from statistics that demonstrate a mini-boom in juvenile reading. In 2016, for example, sales of children’s titles rose 16% to £365m, an increase attributable to the buying of printed books. |
| Forget the merchants of doom. According to The Bookseller: “Children are now reading more and want to read print.” This is confirmed by the Publishers Association, which recently reported that book sales for the previous year had jumped 7% to £4.8bn, and data suggests that this has been driven by that whopping 16% jump in revenues from children’s publishing. | Forget the merchants of doom. According to The Bookseller: “Children are now reading more and want to read print.” This is confirmed by the Publishers Association, which recently reported that book sales for the previous year had jumped 7% to £4.8bn, and data suggests that this has been driven by that whopping 16% jump in revenues from children’s publishing. |
| More significant still, as e-book sales fell by 3%, the Guardian noted that “Britons are abandoning the e-book at an alarming rate, as ‘screen fatigue’ helped fuel a five-year high in printed book sales.” Moreover, for the first time since records began, nearly £1 in every £4 spent on print titles is on a children’s book, a market share of 24%. | More significant still, as e-book sales fell by 3%, the Guardian noted that “Britons are abandoning the e-book at an alarming rate, as ‘screen fatigue’ helped fuel a five-year high in printed book sales.” Moreover, for the first time since records began, nearly £1 in every £4 spent on print titles is on a children’s book, a market share of 24%. |
| The boom in children’s lit has begun to have a tangible impact on adult bookshops. In the words of James Daunt, chief executive of Waterstones: “We have been seriously increasing the amount of space we give to children’s titles.” | The boom in children’s lit has begun to have a tangible impact on adult bookshops. In the words of James Daunt, chief executive of Waterstones: “We have been seriously increasing the amount of space we give to children’s titles.” |
| Those children’s books that outperform all other genres are seen to prop up the publishing industry. On this analysis, bestselling David Walliams, described by some commentators as “the new Roald Dahl”, is now as important as any Booker prize winner and the heir to JK Rowling’s success. | Those children’s books that outperform all other genres are seen to prop up the publishing industry. On this analysis, bestselling David Walliams, described by some commentators as “the new Roald Dahl”, is now as important as any Booker prize winner and the heir to JK Rowling’s success. |
| Another symbol of a rejuvenated children’s book market is a self-styled “kaleidoscope of creative genius for kids”, the magazine Scoop, a startup based in Dalston, east London, which the author Neil Gaiman has described as “the kind of magazine I wish we’d had when I was eight”. | Another symbol of a rejuvenated children’s book market is a self-styled “kaleidoscope of creative genius for kids”, the magazine Scoop, a startup based in Dalston, east London, which the author Neil Gaiman has described as “the kind of magazine I wish we’d had when I was eight”. |
| Scoop is the idea of the writer Vita Sackville-West’s great-granddaughter, the publisher Clementine Macmillan-Scott. A year ago, hers looked like a quixotic venture fraught with jeopardy. But, against the odds for little magazines, Scoop has survived. Chris Riddell, the former children’s laureate and Observer cartoonist, has called it “the perfect accompaniment to the beautiful books we see on our shelves”. | Scoop is the idea of the writer Vita Sackville-West’s great-granddaughter, the publisher Clementine Macmillan-Scott. A year ago, hers looked like a quixotic venture fraught with jeopardy. But, against the odds for little magazines, Scoop has survived. Chris Riddell, the former children’s laureate and Observer cartoonist, has called it “the perfect accompaniment to the beautiful books we see on our shelves”. |
| Macmillan-Scott said: “I really wasn’t certain we would get to this point, but we are now approaching our first birthday.” She links the magazine’s fortunes to a dynamic market and reports that “through the hundreds of children, parents and teachers we speak to at our workshops, we know that children are greedy for storytelling.” | Macmillan-Scott said: “I really wasn’t certain we would get to this point, but we are now approaching our first birthday.” She links the magazine’s fortunes to a dynamic market and reports that “through the hundreds of children, parents and teachers we speak to at our workshops, we know that children are greedy for storytelling.” |
| The Scoop story illustrates the resilience of print and paper in the face of the digital revolution. Inspired by an Edwardian model, Arthur Mee’s Children’s Newspaper, Scoop is a mix of crusade and creativity. Establishment heavyweights such as the playwright Tom Stoppard, plus children’s writers such as Raymond Briggs, author of Fungus The Bogeyman, have adopted its cause. The magazine has also given space to 10-year-old writers and pays all contributors, high and low, the same rate – 10p a word. | The Scoop story illustrates the resilience of print and paper in the face of the digital revolution. Inspired by an Edwardian model, Arthur Mee’s Children’s Newspaper, Scoop is a mix of crusade and creativity. Establishment heavyweights such as the playwright Tom Stoppard, plus children’s writers such as Raymond Briggs, author of Fungus The Bogeyman, have adopted its cause. The magazine has also given space to 10-year-old writers and pays all contributors, high and low, the same rate – 10p a word. |
| It’s a winning formula. Macmillan-Scott reports “a quarterly sales increase of roughly 150% every issue”, but is cautious about her good fortune. “It’s all too clear to us that these children are hungry for print.” One of the biggest secondary schools in Hackney, east London, has just ordered 300 copies of Scoop for its Year 7s. There’s also been an approach from Great Ormond Street hospital. | It’s a winning formula. Macmillan-Scott reports “a quarterly sales increase of roughly 150% every issue”, but is cautious about her good fortune. “It’s all too clear to us that these children are hungry for print.” One of the biggest secondary schools in Hackney, east London, has just ordered 300 copies of Scoop for its Year 7s. There’s also been an approach from Great Ormond Street hospital. |
| Scoop focuses on the most lucrative sector of the children’s market, Britain’s eight to 12-year-old readers. In literary culture, this is the crucial bridge between toddlers and adolescents and its publisher knows it. Macmillan-Scott is committed to listening to readers aged eight to 12, who have an editorial board where they can express their ideas about the magazine. “If we don’t get these children reading,” she says, “we will lose out on adult readers. To be fully literate, you have to start as a child.” | Scoop focuses on the most lucrative sector of the children’s market, Britain’s eight to 12-year-old readers. In literary culture, this is the crucial bridge between toddlers and adolescents and its publisher knows it. Macmillan-Scott is committed to listening to readers aged eight to 12, who have an editorial board where they can express their ideas about the magazine. “If we don’t get these children reading,” she says, “we will lose out on adult readers. To be fully literate, you have to start as a child.” |
| Macmillan-Scott disputes the suggestion that reading is in decline. “If you look at our figures,” she counters, “you’ll find that children do read and that Scoop is part of a craze for reading hardback books. Kids love paper and print. They might play games on a digital device, but they prefer not to read on a Kindle. The real market for e-books is among YA [young adult] readers.” Some of her evidence is anecdotal, but her sales figures and readership surveys support a picture of eight to 12s immersed in books. | Macmillan-Scott disputes the suggestion that reading is in decline. “If you look at our figures,” she counters, “you’ll find that children do read and that Scoop is part of a craze for reading hardback books. Kids love paper and print. They might play games on a digital device, but they prefer not to read on a Kindle. The real market for e-books is among YA [young adult] readers.” Some of her evidence is anecdotal, but her sales figures and readership surveys support a picture of eight to 12s immersed in books. |
| “What our research shows beyond question,” she says, “is that children have a love for reading that’s not seriously threatened by other kinds of entertainment. Reading for pleasure is a very real thing at this age, and the worries that some adults have about children losing interest in reading are simply not grounded in reality.” | “What our research shows beyond question,” she says, “is that children have a love for reading that’s not seriously threatened by other kinds of entertainment. Reading for pleasure is a very real thing at this age, and the worries that some adults have about children losing interest in reading are simply not grounded in reality.” |
| Addictive digital games do not trouble Macmillan-Scott. She concedes that “video games are incredibly sophisticated now and very appealing, especially to boys. But they have been around for at least 25 years and have not taken the place of reading. Books and magazines offer an alternative to the screen. Our surveys show that reading books is still desirable. | Addictive digital games do not trouble Macmillan-Scott. She concedes that “video games are incredibly sophisticated now and very appealing, especially to boys. But they have been around for at least 25 years and have not taken the place of reading. Books and magazines offer an alternative to the screen. Our surveys show that reading books is still desirable. |
| “Besides,” she adds, “kids who were born after the millennium don’t see a conflict between old media and digital. They just love the written word, in whatever form.” | “Besides,” she adds, “kids who were born after the millennium don’t see a conflict between old media and digital. They just love the written word, in whatever form.” |
| In this, these new juvenile readers are at one with the adult market. As the Observer has often noted, this is a golden age of reading in an unprecedented number of formats. Scoop’s editor, Sarah Odedina, says, “kids judge books like their parents. They’re looking for strong characters, a great plot, good sentences and a satisfying resolution. Now isn’t that as old as the hills ?” | In this, these new juvenile readers are at one with the adult market. As the Observer has often noted, this is a golden age of reading in an unprecedented number of formats. Scoop’s editor, Sarah Odedina, says, “kids judge books like their parents. They’re looking for strong characters, a great plot, good sentences and a satisfying resolution. Now isn’t that as old as the hills ?” |
| SCOOP’S TOP BOOKS FOR EIGHT TO 12-YEAR-OLDS | SCOOP’S TOP BOOKS FOR EIGHT TO 12-YEAR-OLDS |
| Children's books: 8-12 years | |
| The Observer | |
| Children and teenagers | |
| Children | |
| Ebooks | |
| news | |
| Share on Facebook | |
| Share on Twitter | |
| Share via Email | |
| Share on LinkedIn | |
| Share on Pinterest | |
| Share on Google+ | |
| Share on WhatsApp | |
| Share on Messenger | |
| Reuse this content |