If you write stories (or plan to) for children or young adult readers, you may wonder if there’s a market. Sure, YA and MG books are doing well in print editions, but do kids actually have ebook readers? Or is this club predominantly ‘adults only’ for the time being?
The good news is ebook readers are taking off in popularity amongst all age groups. As the prices drop for the entry level models, more and more people are picking them up. With several readers under $150 this holiday season, they’re no longer too expensive to give as gifts to family members. A lot of the new color ebook readers also make viewing picture books an option. Other readers are being designed specifically with kids in mind.
Over at the MobileRead Forums, I asked if anyone had given their kids ebook readers (or planned to), and quite a few people chimed in with positive responses.
A blog post this summer over at Teleread pointed out that even young children are using ebook readers.
Stores like Barnes & Noble are going out of their way to attract youngsters with their Nook Kids program.
There are even people toting the educational benefits of these devices. A Kansas State University professor believes kindles can motivate less enthusiastic readers.
I noticed over at Amazon that many of the books I enjoyed as a kid are popping up in the Kindle store, but they’re often priced as expensively as paperbacks ($7 for Old Yeller and A Wrinkle in Time). Watership Down is $13, gee whiz. If you’re an indie author writing good stories for children, your $2.99 ebook might just appeal to parents trying to make their e-dollars stretch. (And, as an indie selling at Amazon, you’ll take home 70% of that $2.99, so we’re hardly talking peanuts.)
With so many encouraging posts out there, it seems likely the number of e-readers in kids’ hands will grow and grow in coming years. So author friends, if that’s your target audience, write on!
