Children’s reading shows simultaneous rise and decline. How can that add up?

The number of youngsters reading for pleasure has declined sharply, but this sector of publishing is booming – which results in some very strange mathsAre children reading less – or more? I’m confused. If less, then what happened to the 854,262 copies of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars that were snapped up last year in the UK, according to Nielsen BookScan, or the 481,662 copies of David Walliams’s Awful Auntie? If more, then what’s with all the doom-mongering?A mischievous friend of mine once hatched a theory about Jeffrey Archer’s sales figures which could only be proved by the discovery in years to come of millions of copies of Cain and Abel mouldering away in remote warehouses. Clearly, for Messrs Green and Walliams, one would have to come up with a different scenario – cobwebbed towers of virgin ‘Aunties glaring balefully from the back of toy cupboards across the land, perhaps? Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #awful auntie #jeffrey archer #sales figures

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Children’s reading shows simultaneous rise and decline. How can that add up?'


Amazon.com buys children's books list from Marshall Cavendish

Amazon.com has acquired 450 titles from publisher Marshall Cavendish, marking the retailer's... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Digital Book Census shows rates creep up

Digital royalty rates paid to authors by publishers are increasing, though there remains... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


RNA restructures awards and adds new logo

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 23/11/2011 - 08:15 The Romantic Novelists' Association has restructured its awards, switching names from the Pure Passion Awards to the RoNAs, and with a new brand identity for the organisation. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #romantic novelists #brand identity


Openmargin Hopes to Be More Than Social E-Reading

Notes in the margins of ebooks could be the next platform for social interaction. At least that's what Amsterdam-based Openmargin is hoping. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-11-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #social e-reading #social interaction


Keeping Regional Shows Relevant

For the past five years publishers have talked about the need to consolidate trade shows—and lower their costs. A struggling economy, the increased power of Amazon, and the erosion of print book sales to ebooks have only accelerated calls for change from not only publishers but from some... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #struggling economy


*Openmargin Hopes to Be More Than Social E-Reading

Notes in the margins of ebooks could be the next platform for social interaction. At least that's what Amsterdam-based *openmargin is hoping. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-11-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #social e-reading #social interaction


Ribblestrop scoops Guardian Children's Book Award

Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 11/11/2011 - 07:30 Return to Ribblestrop by Andy Mulligan (Simon & Schuster Children's Books) has been awarded the Guardian Children's Book Award, beating off shortlisted titles including David Almond's My Name is Mina and Simon Mason's Moon... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book award #guardian children #simon mason


French VAT rise threat to books

Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Tue, 08/11/2011 - 09:26 French prime minister François Fillon has announced that the reduced VAT rate applying to books would be raised from 5.5% to 7% from 1st January as part of a fresh economic austerity package to help rein in France’s massive... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #1st january


Mabecron moves into children's fiction

Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Mon, 07/11/2011 - 08:30 Independent bookseller Ron Johns is moving into children’s fiction publishing, following a number of successes as a publisher of picture books and coffee-table books under the ­Mabecron Books imprint. Johns, who owns bookshops... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #picture books #coffee-table books #owns bookshops #st ives #local authors #publishing titles


EUP reports 40% rise in ebook sales

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 01/11/2011 - 09:40 Sales and profit for 2011 have slumped at Edinburgh University Press at the same time the company has reported a 40% rise in year-on-year ebook sales. The Scottish academic publisher has reported an 11.6% fall in sales and... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ebook sales


Pullman and Díaz to reveal reads for Yale

Yale University Press will be nosing around authors' bookshelves with the publication of... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Booked Up 'encourages more reading'

Booked Up, the government-funded programme that gives a free book to Year 7 pupils, has found... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #free book


Titles decline during France's "rentrée littéraire"

Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Wed, 26/10/2011 - 08:40 The number of titles published in France during the "rentrée littéraire" declined to 704 this year from 714 in 2010, but the number of publishers producing them rose to a record 231 from 208, according to market research... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #titles published #rentre littraire #11% increase #entertainment director


Subtext Livens Up Ebooks With Author Commentary and Social Reading

A new social reading app called Subtext today launches on the iPad with a selection of books laden with annotations from authors and researchers. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #social reading


Macmillan Children's buys Birthright trilogy

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 24/10/2011 - 15:50 Macmillan Children's Books has acquired a new trilogy called Birthright by Elsewhere author Gabrielle Zevin, who was previously published by Bloomsbury. UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, were bought in the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #macmillan children #previously published #deal brokered


Reading for pleasure kicks in

Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Mon, 24/10/2011 - 08:05 The Government emphasis on reading for pleasure could be behind an uplift in sales to school libraries, claims bookseller Marilyn Brocklehurst of the Norfolk Children's Book Centre. She said: "The pronouncements by the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #school libraries #book centre #school library


Children's minister asks Hunt to intervene on Brent

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 21/10/2011 - 13:12 The children and families minister Sarah Teather, Liberal Democrat MP for Brent, has added her voice to those calling on the secretary of state Jeremy Hunt to order a local inquiry into the borough's library service. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #local inquiry #library service


AOP Summit 2011: Publishers must show courage of conviction

The opportunity to put a value on content and services should be harnessed and not feared by publishers, a panel at the AOP Digital Publishing Summit 2011 has argued. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2011-10-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Pearson adds free learning management tools to Google Apps for Education

Publishing and educational tools company Pearson on Thursday launched the beta version of OpenClass, a free, cloud-based learning management system (LMS) that is integrated with Google Apps for Education, and will be available in the Google Apps Marketplace. Earlier today, techie Ryan Tyler... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2011-10-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #beta version #earlier today #big part


Workmen prepare to board up Kensal Rise library

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 13/10/2011 - 16:12 Around 50 demonstrators, including women with children, are gathering outside Kensal Rise library in Brent this afternoon (13th October) as workmen prepare to board up the door and windows. The library was closed this... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #including women #staff briefing