Just a year ago, most parents chose independently which ebooks their children read. Now those decisions are split nearly evenly between parents and kids, according to a new report published today by PlayCollective and Digital Book World.
The expanded roles children are now playing as consumers of digital content present publishers with new challenges and opportunities.
While more children are now primary owners of e-reading devices, a circumstance that PlayCollective finds drives e-reading itself, ebooks must now compete for kids’ attention with a battery of other media on those very same devices.
And around age eleven, reading begins losing ground to other activities like games and apps.
Opinion is split as to how publishers should respond, but what’s seems clear is that the goal will increasingly move toward attracting children first and their parents second.
Much more, including graphs from the complete report.
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Macmillan Enters a Changing Subscription Ebook Market (DBW)
Adding 1,000 back-list titles each to Oyster and Scribd, Macmillan wades into a subscription landscape that’s evolved dramatically over the past eight months. Scribd now claims it’s the third biggest revenue source for some publishers, even though Oyster’s catalog now boasts twice as many titles.
Why Subscription Ebooks Are Gaining Steam (Wired)
One observer wagers the main reason publishers are steadily–and even reluctantly–doing more business with ebook subscription services is the industry-wide thirst for reader data.
Related: New Routes to Reader Data
Penguin Publishing Group Reshuffles Upper Ranks (Pub Lunch)
Madeline McIntosh, president of the freshly established Penguin Publishing Group, institutes major changes in the division, merging the Dutton and Putnam imprints, accompanied by a number of top-level appointments.
What Trade Publishers Can Learn from the STM Market (DBW)
Science, technology and medicine (STM) publishers may not publish the most glamorous titles in the book business, but major players in the sector have different ways of operating than their trade counterparts, which occasionally seeds more collaboration. Here’s one industry insider’s take.
Remarkably, Little to Remark on Ebook Best-Seller List (DBW)
We’ve seen few long, multi-week runs at No. 1 ever since mega-hits like Divergent or The Fault in Our Stars swept the rankings in the middle of last year. Since then, average prices have skittered up and down, and this week’s uptick is no exception to that variability. Somewhat remarkably, though, few titles moved very far out of the positions they occupied last week.
How Will Reader Data Impact Readers? (NYRB)
Publishers may welcome the expanding opportunities to gather insights about ebook readers, but one observer points out more readers may begin to turn away from publishers and retailers that scrutinize and parse their every move.
Doubling Down on Original Content, Amazon Signs Woody Allen (NYT)
Fresh off its landmark Golden Globe win for “Transparent,” Amazon announces it’s secured Woody Allen to write and direct an original series for Prime Instant Video.
UK Publishers Collaborate on New Digital Imprint (Teleread)
Two former Quercus executives partner with the digital head of Profile Books to launch Canelo, a UK-based digital publisher focusing on ebooks, apps and web-based fiction and nonfiction.