YA readers prefer physcial books, not e-books - true or not?

I've not self-published in YA (yet) but am trade-published in it and plugged in to things YA--and yes, it seems to be the case from everything I've heard) that YA readers prefer paper to e-books. So making your book available in both formats is probably a good idea, because there's a large population of adult YA fiction readers, and they do buy ebooks.

My eighteen year old is rereading a paper copy of Percy Jackson as we speak but she recently discovered she can download ebooks from the library (Libby or Lib-e) and is over the moon about that.

She prefers paper. She says many prefer ebooks. She says it is hard to read on her phone but a kindle might be different.

I've yet to meet a kid who likes ebooks particularly -- which is purely anecdotal, but there it is. I know someone gave their three kids their own ereaders with festive covers and everything, loaded with books. The kids were like 'oh, those are nice...' and went right back to their paper books.

cornflake said:

I've yet to meet a kid who likes ebooks particularly -- which is purely anecdotal, but there it is. I know someone gave their three kids their own ereaders with festive covers and everything, loaded with books. The kids were like 'oh, those are nice...' and went right back to their paper books.

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Parents are constantly complaining to me that their kids don't like ebooks. At this point I can (also anecdotally) confirm kids preferring print is A Thing.

Adding to the anecdotal evidence, my 3 YAs prefer paper.

Yeah, I'm nineteen and I prefer paper. I don't think I know anyone that reads e-books, come to think of it. Most of my friends don't read, but if they do, they always buy the actual, tangible copy.

I remember trying to get into PDFs/text-files when I was a 'young adult' and never could. The thing that really bugged me about ebooks was the tediousness of keeping up with where I was when I took a break. If acrobat had a bookmark function back then, I never figured it out. There was also the restrictive nature of having to have a laptop or be sitting at a PC (before cell-phones and kendle stuff) to read. Kids don't really have those issues now, so I would have though electronic format would be more popular. It's a pretty interesting phenomenon.

Another vote to the "YAs prefer physical copies of books". Personally, I find that quite heartening. HOWEVER, as we all know a significant number of YA readers are not teenagers, and they will buy e-books, I'd hazard a guess even more than physical books. Certainly my sales figures are massively biased in favour of electronic sales, which is mainly as a result of a big Amazon promotion on my debut, and most of those sales were to adults (quite a few of them bought it in error if my Amazon reviews are anything to go by...)

Anyway, for that reason I think anyone self-publishing YA would be well-advised to do both hard and e copies.

Keep in mind that as of the last report I read on it, half of YA sells to adults for their own use.

My three kids definitely look for physical books despite having access to e-readers. That may change over time, but they find most of what they read at the library or Half-Price Books. I've downloaded stuff for them to read digitally and they never seem to get through those. They'll even go find the paperback at HPB rather than continue on the e-reader. As best I can tell, all their friends read physical books too. This is all anecdotal, of course, and as many have pointed out, adult readers of YA may prefer ebooks.

My 17yo refuses to read ebooks. We actually had a conversation about that this week, since there's a book I've been trying to get her to read for months ("Peter Darling", by Austin Chant - LOVE IT! ) that doesn't have a physical edition*, and she said she just doesn't like e-readers. She doesn't mind scrolling fanfic all day on her laptop, but only wants actual books.


*Apparently it does now, but it's really expensive for a novella...

Mark, your question is moot if you go with most trade publishers, even the fairly small ones. And with your prior publishing experience, judging from your web site, your agent (or you) can likely get you published by one of the larger or mid-size trade publishers. They will want to buy rights to both print and ebook formats. It would be a rare case where they buy ebook rights but don't publish. So your YA book will go out in both formats.

If you self-publish (as I do) my experience is that physical books sell a lot fewer than ebooks. It may be specific to me so far, but I sell 2-3 print books for every 100 ebooks. That's since my first book went out 6 years ago and as you see from my sig I'm up to six books so far with two in the pipeline and a third going the rounds of agents seeking trade publication.

That's in general. YA MIGHT be different. I think it unlikely.

In any case, if you self publish, do what most substantial trade publishers do: publish in both formats. It's much easier to do ebooks, and they are more likely to sell quicker and so get the rumor mill working for you. So do that format first. Amazon has made it fairly easy and has a big hand-holder community.

They even have a service which will turn your ebook into a print version. I haven't tried it. I'm dubious about the results. In any case after eight tries I've gotten good at creating a print version.

And as for the teens preferring "pbooks" over ebooks. I don't doubt other's posts about their own experience, but mine is the opposite. I have ten nieces, nephews, and grandkids. Only one liked pbooks over ebooks. He said it's because he likes the smell of print books. Three others read both formats with no preference.

Why do they read ebooks over pbooks? I asked and got an "Isn't it obvious look?" Ebooks fit on their phones, of which most teens nowadays have. Ebooks weigh nothing, cost less (from 80% of pbook costs to as low as 30%), and can be gotten for free from modern libraries nowadays.

I peruse a lot of YA review sites and YA booktubers, and for some readers, the "unboxing" (or acquisition of the item, when you first put your hands on a virgin copy and know it's yours) is one of the draws, plus the attractive covers. I am pretty sure such factors tilt a reader's opinion when the writing and story are poor.

Coming from the perspective of a 'young adult': I'm happy to read indie YAs on kindle... I really like LGBT fantasy novels and there aren't a lot of those coming from mainstream pubs, so I like that kindle gives me the option to read books I might be otherwise unable to find.

However, I do prefer paperback books so when there isn't much of a price difference between a kindle edition and a paperback I'm always keen to get the hard copy. A lot of indie authors have a price difference of £8+ between kindle and create space editions so I often find myself downloading the ebook.