Young Adult Books not popular with e-publishers

I wonder (and don't know) if it's because teenagers aren't buying enough e-books to justify the cost of producing them? I'm sure there are some kids with e-readers, but it's easy to imagine that most parents (especially in this economy) aren't keen to buy a device of that expense for a teenager. (Mine certainly wouldn't have!)

In other words, it might be less that 'YA books aren't popular with publishers' and more that 'e-books aren't popular enough with teens' (ahem, YET!).

I work in a high school library, and believe it or not, it's hard to get the kids interested in e-books. I think part of it is the expense - they don't want to be responsible for a borrowed e-reader when they could have a much sturdier paperback instead - but they also really seem to like the tactile experience of the paper book.

I think part of it may be the covers. E-readers are popular with the erotica crowd because nobody can tell what you're reading. But kids WANT everyone to know what they're reading, at least the kids who are big readers. They're so busy advertising their chosen identities through clothing, makeup, loud look-at-me music; a visible book cover is just one more way to brand themselves as whatever they're trying to be at that moment. She reads 'Pretty Little Liars' because she's trying to be one of the popular girls, he reads 'Fight Club' because he's looking for a way to intellectually rebel, they trade their manga back and forth because they want to be different... etc. It's just my theory, but it's based on pretty close observation.

And as if on cue, there's this article on the BBC new website today, which includes the following quote.

Text messages, magazines, e-mails and websites were the top leisure reading choices of young people. But Ebooks were read the least frequently.

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Ebook sales seem very tied to hardware and particularly - in the UK at least - to the Kindle. Kids don't, it seems, have Kindles; and although they could read books on their phones etc, it hasn't caught on as yet.

The best ebook sales figures I've seen for YA are the kinds of books that cross over to an adult audience.

I agree with the comments made above in regards to kids owning kindles (or similar), and also kids buying e books. Most of the kids I know don't have an ereader - too expensive, too easily broken, easily stolen etc etc.

I wouldn't buy one for my teenage kid becuase I know it would get lost, broken or stolen in a matter of weeks.

I think there's got to be more to it than expense. Kids have phones, high-end ipods, and laptops.

Any of those could be used as e-readers, if the kids were so inclined, but also, they all probably cost more than an e-reader does, and people don't seem to think that they're too expensive for a student to carry around.

So the kids could read e-books on existing equipment, or they could get dedicated e-readers, but they don't.

I think there has to be a deeper reason than just expense. If no-one's buying my 'book as display of persona' argument... maybe teen resistance to e-books is because kids are more attached to the physical reality of 'Book' than adults are. Picture books are treasured possessions of many children, and I've seen kids reject a shiny new copy of a favourite book because they were attached to the ragged old book as an object more than as a story. Maybe teenagers have retained some of that sentimentality?

Captcha said:

I think there has to be a deeper reason than just expense. If no-one's buying my 'book as display of persona' argument... maybe teen resistance to e-books is because kids are more attached to the physical reality of 'Book' than adults are. Picture books are treasured possessions of many children, and I've seen kids reject a shiny new copy of a favourite book because they were attached to the ragged old book as an object more than as a story. Maybe teenagers have retained some of that sentimentality?

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You're a high school librarian (which is definitely of teh kool!), so we hereby give you the assignment to find out directly from the kids themselves.

Captcha said:

I think there's got to be more to it than expense. Kids have phones, high-end ipods, and laptops.

Any of those could be used as e-readers, if the kids were so inclined, but also, they all probably cost more than an e-reader does, and people don't seem to think that they're too expensive for a student to carry around.

So the kids could read e-books on existing equipment, or they could get dedicated e-readers, but they don't.

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I agree with all of that. I think when a kid gets an iPhone their first instinct is to use it to play games, not read books - there's too much competition for their attention when they have a device like that.

I think kids have a very limited number of spending dollars. Unless they're book nerds (and I mean that in the BEST way), they are not going to spend those dollars on ebooks. Our son has an Android phone. He texts and plays games, etc. But we downloaded an ereader app for him. In order for him to read on it, we need to purchase the books for him. And we do. Not all parents are going to be willing/able to feed their children with ebooks on demand. We know young adults are reading. That's a fact, Jack. It's not ONLY adults buying Harry Potter, Hunger Games and the like. The stats would change on esales of YA books if parents bought the books they wanted on ereaders or apps.

AND...I myself have purchased over 30 YA books in ereader format over the past year. I'm throwing that number out as an estimate...but I'm sure it's WELL over 30. I've noticed that more adults are actually reading YA these days...and the ones who are a bit shy to publicly read them are reading them on ereaders or phones.

I agree that there is competition for kids' attention when it comes to their smart devices...but it's not only that. Reading kids can download a game app for free and start playing. Not all the books they want to read are free. That's where the communication between parent/child has to be made. And it's probably the parent that has to start that communication. "If you download a reading app, I'll set up an account and you can buy books when you want to."

Side note: my esales have been good so far (on par with my print sales). I think ebooks--even YA ebooks--are going to see bigger and better sales. The trend of adults reading YA books is already there. Adults are needed for book trade to happen. Unless kids are crazy avid readers, they're not going to spend their limited budgets on books. I think the adults that currently buy YA books for kids in paper, will start to buy them ebooks. It's just a matter of time. But also...paper is never going to go away. I buy just as many paper as I do e. If anything, the advent of ebooks has only made the quantity of books I buy rise...not the split between e/print.

Terie said:

You're a high school librarian (which is definitely of teh kool!), so we hereby give you the assignment to find out directly from the kids themselves.

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Believe me, I've tried! We'll have kids come in and ask for a book that we don't have, and we'll order a copy of it for them, but we'll also offer to download a copy onto one of the school Kobos. They'll either say, no, thanks, I'll wait for the real book, or they'll take the Kobo and then come in every day to check if the real book has arrived. (It's a rural school, no nearby bookstore, so almost all of our books come mail-order).

I've asked them why, but most of them just shrug and say they like real books better. (That's the wording they usually use, 'real' books). I'll say, yeah, okay, but why? and they look at me like I'm a martian.

And sometimes, I don't mind. We had one male student who was a walking billboard for my 'boys read too' campaign. Good looking, athletic, popular, and a CRAZY reader. Just fun stuff - YA, a bit of fantasy, but if a new book came in any genre and I wasn't sure about it, I'd hand it to him and he'd come in the next day with a review. Anyway, he'd read e-books if what he wanted wasn't in print, but with him, in order to make his 'walking billboard' function more effective, I generally tried to suggest physical books, so it would be crystal-clear to the rest of the kids that, no, he wasn't just playing with an iPad, he was, *gasp* reading. I started only giving him books that we had several copies of, because as soon as the kids saw him reading one, they'd want to read it themselves. An e-reader wouldn't have worked for that - they'd have had to speak to him to find out what he was reading, and he was apparently too intimidating for an actual conversation. The turkey went and graduated last year, though, so I'll have to find a new candidate for the job. (okay, sorry, I digress. Don't get me talking about my library!)

Captcha said:

And sometimes, I don't mind. We had one male student who was a walking billboard for my 'boys read too' campaign. Good looking, athletic, popular, and a CRAZY reader. Just fun stuff - YA, a bit of fantasy, but if a new book came in any genre and I wasn't sure about it, I'd hand it to him and he'd come in the next day with a review. Anyway, he'd read e-books if what he wanted wasn't in print, but with him, in order to make his 'walking billboard' function more effective, I generally tried to suggest physical books, so it would be crystal-clear to the rest of the kids that, no, he wasn't just playing with an iPad, he was, *gasp* reading. I started only giving him books that we had several copies of, because as soon as the kids saw him reading one, they'd want to read it themselves. An e-reader wouldn't have worked for that - they'd have had to speak to him to find out what he was reading, and he was apparently too intimidating for an actual conversation. The turkey went and graduated last year, though, so I'll have to find a new candidate for the job. (okay, sorry, I digress. Don't get me talking about my library!)

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That's a great story! Thank God for digressions! (-:

KTC said:

That's a great story!

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Amen! It's the stuff of life for us YA authors!

It might also have something to do with having to ask a parent to purchase books with their credit card. It would be easier to ask for a game app than a book that might hold a very personal topic. "Why would you want that kind of book?"

And yet some of the mega-selling self-publishers of ebooks write YA?

veinglory said:

And yet some of the mega-selling self-publishers of ebooks write YA?

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I can only really think of Hocking and I suspect her readers skew older than YA. But then I don't really have any data on that.

If I look at our own YA ebook sales, the top 10 are all crossover authors and mostly genre - fantasy, paranormal romance, etc. - which means they have an adult audience and also an early adopter audience.

I think teens compartmentalize more than adults -- they don't multi-task. So when they want to read books, they read books (most people still mentally think of paper books as books), and when they want to play around on their computers/ipads/phones (because I don't know very many kids with Kindles), they want to play around. Most kids I know -- even the ones who love reading -- don't consider reading and playing to be the same thing.

I think part of it is that teens would rather spend money on other things then a Kindle, they are still on the pricey side, or parents don't want to spend money on them either.
However, my publisher (e-book and print) has just broken into the YA genre (mine is YA) let's face it, a lot of Adults read YA too.

We trialled Kindles at our high school, but the kids just weren't interested. My biggest fan, a gifted 16 year old girl, has asked if I can print my ms for her instead of giving it to her digitally. She likes the feel of a physical book, and it feels more "real" to her. I said if she read it and gave me real feedback from someone smart enough to do it and smack bang in my target audience I would even get it spiral bound for her reading pleasure!

Reading less

iphone apps make it easier that ever to access reading. but then young people seem to be reading less than ever which is a shame. Reading is a far more satisfying way to stimulate your imagination than TV!

http://markwhiteway.weebly.com/

I'm finding this discussion fascinating.

I'm def not a teenager, but while I'll read ebooks, and I work completely digitally, I love a "real" book.There's something about paper and ink and cover-love that makes the experience more fulfilling for me. And if I really love a book in ebook format, I have to eventually buy the actual book or else it doesn't feel like I really own it.

So...maybe some of that thinking is also involved - the completeness of experience?

gingerwoman said:

While the Young Adult genre seems huge for the print publishers right now, I recently did research for a workshop on epublishing for my local romance writers chapter and I discovered that all the top selling epubs and many of the next rank down were no longer accepting Young Adult submissions. Often they were accepting every other genre even branching out into non romance genres such as horror, and yet they won't touch Young Adult.
I'm wondering why and I'm wondering if there are any respected epublishers willing to take on Young Adult Romance.
I don't write it myself, but I think I might like to at some future date.

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Without checking other responses posted here, I'd say it's a matter of disposible income and access to credit cards. The target market for YA books doesn't tend to own e-readers or tablets, and even the small percentage that do still need access to credit cards in order to purchase.

In short, there are significant barriers still in place for your target market to be using ereading technology and purchasing ebooks in sufficient numbers to make it worthwhile for a publishing house to push YA work in this format.

You should check the other responses, Burnt. We were saying that even when we provide the e-readers, the kids still don't want them.

There's something more than finances behind it, especially since the kids could read on their phones or i-pod touches.

Hi Captcha,

I have looked at the other responses. I was simply offering my own perspective, which differs from some of those posted here.

Re: kids and e-books, in my own personal experience as a teacher librarian, many kids love reading books on kindles and i-pads, both of which we've introduced into the school library and have proven to be quite popular.

I understand that it's a complex issue and people may have different experiences based upon a multitude of factors, however I'm expressing my own views, based upon my own experiences.

And even if some YA readers were not interested in reading e-books (a real possibility, just as some adults are also disinclined to use e-books) this fact would in no way invalidate the very reasonable explanation that I put forth (which is also based upon actual market research).

All the best...


Burnt Flesh