The Changing World of Children's Books 2013 was a keynote given by Dominique Raccah at the Tools of Change Bologna 2013 Conference which took place at the Bologna Children's Book Fair #BCBF13
18. “There is a content explosion
going on. Reading is moving to
the screen … by the end of
2013, 65% of US children will
have access to an e-reader.”
—Rubin Pfeffer
East West Literary Agency
19. “Over the next few years,
textbooks should be obsolete…
the United States has an
opportunity to lead the world in
education by moving from print
to digital as fast as we can.”
—US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
November, 2012
22. Barnes & Noble and Nook Kids are clear leader in children’s ebooks
• increase in digital sales in children’s publishing all the
way across the board
• “In picture book sales we’re the only game in town.”
23. In education, the leader is Apple…
• More and more iPad 1-2-1 schools
• The space is dominated by apps rather than books
26. Some of the big technology trends
taking place in US education:
• 1-2-1 ipad vs byod (bring your own device)
• Flipped classrooms
• Personalization
• Gamification
• Social learning
• Open ecosystems; distributed repositories,
cloud based learning resources
• Student data; data dashboards; outcomes
reporting
27. “Great is the sheer
exhilaration of falling in
love with a book.”
—Edward Nawotka
Publishing Perspectives
28. Personal choice
“children are driving the market by
what they choose to read rather than
the adults who purchase the books on
their behalf.”
42. Great early press …
★ As seen in the New York Times:
Children’s Books Starring Your Own
Children
★ “‘Put me in the story, Mom!’
Now you really can.”—The
Christian Science Monitor
43. Great early press …
★ “A wonderful tool to aid in the
development of your child’s language skills and
improves attention span through interactive
reading.” – AppDiction
★ “I had to wrestle my iPad away from the
girls” – Barbara Vey, Publishers Weekly,
Beyond Her Book
44. Great early press …
★ Very young children will be
enthralled and delighted by this app
that allows you to quickly and easily
personalize specific picture books so
your child is included in the story.”
– The Literary Platform
45. Strong early user reviews for the app …
“One of the best apps for children
on the iPad! Beautiful art and
animations, enjoyable story and a
delightful Put Me In The Story
mode. Very much recommended!”
46. Strong early user reviews for the app …
“My daughter and I have had so
much fun with this app already.
She loves Dream Big Little Pig and it
was so fun for her to be in the
story. We read The Night Night
Book every night.
What a great idea!”
47. Strong early user reviews for the app …
“My kids actually crave for more! It
works great and is on of the
coolest storybook apps I have
found for the iPad.”
55. “I loved being able to add her picture
to the dedication page giving the
book an even more personal touch.
Kinsley and I have sworn to be best
friends forever so when she saw this
page, she was awed because not only
did the book have her name in it but
also one of our favorite things to say
to each other, ‘You are my best friend.’
Kinsley loves reading this book over and over. It feels
personal to her, like I am not just reading a book but saying
each word to her specifically. The book was so easy to
customize and shipping was much faster than I expected. It
was a huge hit with my baby girl!”
—Melanie
58. Put Me In The Story
A personalization platform for
bestselling books,
authors and brands
59. “I am excited about Poppy the pig being a part of
the Put Me In The Story personalized platform
because it’s such an innovative and creative way to
really engage a child’s imagination within a book.
There’s no better way, in my eyes, for a child to
Yamaguchi slide
connect with a story than when they are the star of
it! So just like Poppy, I can see how Put Me In The
Story will encourage kids to Dream Big!”
̶ Kristi Yamaguchi, March 2013
60. “I am excited and proud to be a debut
author with Sourcebooks new e-
initiative that will offer kids and
parents a new way to connect with a
love of reading!”
̶ Marianne Richmond, Nov 2012
61. Put Me In The Story
A chance for you to express
how you feel, using your
favorite books and best-loved
characters
62. Why is Put Me in the Story News:
• APP and Print — Creates Experience, Sharing and Keepsake
• Bestselling Books — Beloved Stories and Characters
• Organized Platform for Bestselling Brands and Authors (curated)
• Perfect Gift Platform — Gifts are estimated at 50% of books sold
• Beyond Children’s Books
63. Put Me In The Story
What’s different:
• Collaboration – not every
personalization is the same
(not cookie cutter)
• Creating a virtuous circle that
impacts all 3 parts of the
relationship: adult, child and
the book
• Building a first love of reading
• Building a bridge to what to
read next
• GREAT user interfaceI!!
• Creating our own IP
69. Slides and notes @ TOC and
putmeinthestory.com blog
Email: dominique.raccah@sourcebooks.com
Twitter: @draccah
Bologna: Hall 25 Booth A113
Editor's Notes
Everyone had a bit of a different perspective. And then I asked the data
Very real decline in the overall size of the p-book market Not a complete representation since there are retailers missing here.
Three consistent comments …
Sometimes I think publishers will only take a chance on books that have at least one sequel in the works. Also thanks to our friend Harry Potter, tons of fantasy is still being published. And loads of dystopian fiction.
I think Hunger Games was the beginning of this trend
They have helped lots of struggling readers (especially boys) improve
Until recently, nonfiction was the poor relation of the industry. Now, with digital developments, nonfiction is being reinvented. With augmented reality and gaming, new dimensions are being brought to information books.” I wholeheartedly agree with Lionel's point about illustrated nonfiction, especially in the US where the new Common Core standards require more nonfiction in schools. In fact, Common Core itself is expected to create a huge shift in the way librarians/schools acquire books for the classroom.
Bookshops haven't a clue where to put children's non fiction, unlike adult books, Nonfiction books have gotten more attention due to current research that boys often prefer nonfiction. A growing interest in children's illustrated nonfiction. Until recently, nonfiction was the poor relation of the industry. Now, with digital developments, nonfiction is being reinvented. With augmented reality and gaming, new dimensions are being brought to information books One publisher and a retailer told us, it was the SINGLE largest growing segment of the business.
I wholeheartedly agree with Lionel's point about illustrated nonfiction, especially in the US where the new Common Core standards require more nonfiction in schools. In fact, Common Core itself is expected to create a huge shift in the way librarians/schools acquire books for the classroom.
Think Rubin probably meant readers and tablets and ipod touches and laptops…all screens.
When you talk to librarians and educators, what they tell you is…From textbook adoptions which will save districts thousands of dollars to the newest fiction titles - that is the future. In fact I can't even get some newer titles in print form.
Barnes and Noble + Nook kids clear leader in children’s ebooks Experiencing “increase in digital sales in children’s publishing all the way across the board” “ In picture book sales we’re the only game in town.” (from What Makes Children’s Books Great conference; June, 2012) Obviously, part of what’s true here is the conversion of picutre books to apps, which is the other part of the space and dominated by…
Obviously, part of what’s true here is the conversion of picutre books to apps, which is the other part of the space and dominated by…
Obviously, part of what’s true here is the conversion of picutre books to apps, which is the other part of the space and dominated by…
And what are the implications of that boundary?
Really beginning to take off. Really started in apps. We’re seeing a worldwide children’s book market develping in front of our eyes
Means a lot of different things. I’m going to now give you an update on the work we’ve been doing.
Here’s one of our users. Bedtime reading, it’s always been an important moment for parents and grandparents. It can be that magic, silent moment when you and your child really connect with a book. We believe it can help foster a lifelong love of reading and build a stronger relationship between parent and child, just like books have always done. And what we’ve been working on is exactly that…can we create
Launched late Nov 2012
Today, we’re introducing new ways of actually connecting you and the book more intimately…putting YOUr child into a story. Put me in the story: This is something new… an innovative new personalized children’s book platform that creates personalized books with the child’s name throughout each bestselling story. You can customize a digital book using your child’s name and picture. Let me show you how this works Play video here
Not surprising, this is a captivating and magical experience for any child and an amazing experience for parents. And that’s exactly why We built Put Me In The Story to create greater bonding through and with books, and to change how kids grow with books. We categorized the app in education because we think that it could well have real education outcomes. The goal is to engage kids more deeply with stories that include them as a phase towards being more deeply engaged with books of all kind. By the way, The app is free and comes with a free book. I'd love to hear what your experience is.
Launched a few weeks later – in December.
This is coming out of book publishing.
launched late 2012 (week before Thanksgiving)
Elmo launched on his birthday – Feb 3 rd – he was 3 ½ again!
We now have pages of testimonials
Here’s what I think we can create. Books that really matter children’s and adult personalized books platform
I don’t know if you know that Kristi has a literacy foundation called Always Dream Foundation… she’s an incredilbe role model for that…
Think of this as …supported self-expression. These are books that really matter to people.
This is coming out of book publishing.
But that’s actually not all that’s different.
There’s a detailed roadmap
Berenstein Bears concluded. Should be announced in the next few weeks. Hello Kitty at contract. Nickelodeon in process. Expect 6 brands from there. Hasbro now under discussion (lots of big brands there though we have to be very careful to not over mass market the brand). Sesame Workshop is very happy with what we've done with our first title Elmo Loves You. (They gave me the photo attached, which we obviously share with all the hardworking folks on your team!!). They've offered us two new sets of books which we are now evaluating. You should expect this relationship to grow.
All of us, together, are creating a completely new future for the book, for authors, for readers. It’s really time for us to break some of the boundaries that separate us and try to grow some of these new ideas. I hope we’ll have a chance to work together. Thank you.
As you can see today, we're at the very beginning of what the book can become. Our first experiences of books come from children’s books and textbooks, but our children will have new and different experiences with books. For them books will be interactive - Content itself will be touchable, social, experiential, smart and deeply personal. Books will become not more mechanical, cold, impersonal but just the opposite. Books will talk to you and help you. Books will be connected and connecting, becoming something quite new that we’re just beginning to understand.
We’re at the transformation of the book .it’s happening faster than we ever imagined. What we do, what we choose has never been more important. I look forward to what we will all create together.