The majority of major book publishers, including the likes of Harper Collins, Random House, Penguin, and Scholastic, have put their weight behind a proposal to offer age suitability guidance on children’s books from autumn 2008.
The plan is to include a new item near the barcode on the back of children’s books stating the recommended age range: 5+, 7+, 9+, 11+ and 13+/teen. These are to start appearing on reprints around now, with new publications including them from the autumn.
Elaine McQuade (MD, Scholastic Children’s Books):
Potential book buyers were putting books down because they didn’t know where they stood.
It has taken almost three years of debate to make what seems a very obvious move to become reality and once more demonstrates how slow the huge publishing powers can be. I’ll bet the debates were more about power, control, and influence than doing what is best for their readers.
But the meetings and discussions are not as yet over, with the ‘pioneers’ reaching out to any and all bookselling businesses, and libraries, in the hope everyone will understand their motivation and the potential bonus of this move.
Is it really that tough to understand that people these days need a little help in determining what is best for their children’s edication and entertainment?
In a bookstore, I would suggest this was less of an issue. Trained and knowledgeable staff on hand to help guide potential purchases mean wrong choices are minimised. But this should be a boost for booksales in places such as supermarkets.
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  Browse Inside this book |
I just came across this while desperately trying not to start work this morning, thanks to Stumbleupon.
The complete text of Neil Gaiman’s bestselling novel American Gods is available to read online thanks to Harper Collins’ Browse Inside service. This service provides online access to a total of 500 books, enabling you to read any part of them prior to purchasing.
There is no download option, of course, simply online reading in your browser. I guess this is no different to being sat in the comfy sofa of a bookshop perusing your potential purchases as the online reading experience is going to make it a challenge to get through the entire book - but by no means impossible.
This is an interesting move for a major publisher and I’ll bet there are armies of suits in the halls of Harper Collins suffering sleepless nights over the idea of making stuff available for free on the internet. They know full well, however, that th enumer of people who will use this service for anything more than a pre-sale taster is extremely low, so it acts as a promotional piece rather than an alternative to buying.
Once again, great to see the big publishers testing the online world.
The Bookseller is about to play out its first half day seminar of 2008: “Reaching Readers Online”.
How to market and sell books and content direct to consumers - see your sales and profit grow.
Reaching Readers Online is back for 2008. This year the half-day seminar welcomes experts in consumer trends and digital marketing. For an inspirational and practical look at maximising your book sales online - you cannot afford to miss out.
Just half a day can bring you all the secrets of online success?
The organisers seem pleased to have such lofty presenters as Channel 4’s Cameron Sanders (their ‘digital marketing guru’), and ‘renowned digital consultant Peter Collingridge of Apt Studio’, plus half a dozen other presenters offering their words of wisdom. Not many words with as many presenters in just a half-day session, we think.
I always wonder at the true value for attendees of such seminars. There’s no questions that at the £164 price tag, the primary goal of the organisers is to make a little cash, but can attendees really grasp the “golden rules of marketing in genres such as women’s fiction, fantasy, teen fiction, travel, business and humour”, during such brief sessions? I doubt it will offer any real value.
I also doubt there will be even the barest mention of the truly independent and pioneering authors currently marching over the horizon who are able to reach large global audiences without a whiff of a publisher in sight. Still, it took a few years before TV and Radio woke up to the new wave of independent media producers, and even longer for the music industry to realise the potential dangers of ignoring DRM-free distribution. Publishing is just at the cusp of what may become something of a reeducation and if they don’t watch out, an army of new, internet-savvy authors might just end up snatching their audiences from right under their feet.
