All tagged Trends

Reportage: ALA Midwinter Meeting 2013

Reportage: ALA Midwinter Meeting 2013

Sarah Moon
In the News, Events

Laura, Sandra and I headed up to Seattle on Saturday to check out the exhibits at the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting. 

This is a large conference and trade event for the library profession. I also saw a number of people with identification indicating that they were teachers or educators, authors, agents and, of course, bloggers (I didn't see as many as I expected, however--I suspect the smaller midwinter meeting doesn't attract as many people who travel just for exhibits). The Big Six publishers all have a presence, as do many of the smaller ones, such as Algonquin, Soho and a number of independents I wasn't familiar with. Notably missing was the Harlequin empire, which I understand only exhibits at the major ALA conference in the summer. 

Here's a roundup of some observations from ALA--this is by no means exhaustive, as I was only able to spend a day and didn't attend any of the social activities. (Though we did get to hang out with Mindi for half a day, which is more awesome than any of the organized meet-ups.)

The vast majority of the books showcased were young adult and younger titles. We intentionally went on the "spotlight on adult fiction" day so we could see a diversity, but with the exception of some literary and women's fiction and a few key imprints or publishers, most were targeted at younger readers. I heard a number of librarians complain about this to exhibitors, which I though was interesting gossip. I was pretty disappointed that several publishers didn't even have their adult fiction catalogs available. I was also their wearing my educator hat, and was seeking non-fiction I could use in my communications classes, but only Wiley had much in the way of academic titles featured. 

I was pretty shocked at how little romance was being promoted, since I know that it's the most popular genre and that libraries carry romance pretty heavily. I assume more of this is showcased to librarians at their larger annual meeting. Even in the YA exhibits, it definitely skewed toward the fantasy/science fiction/historical fantasy realm (fans of YA fantasy should be very, very happy this spring and summer) or Issue Books (eating disorders, cutting, incest). 

Ten Wishes for the Year in Reading

Ten Wishes for the Year in Reading

Sarah Moon
Listorama, Opinion

I’m not one for resolutions—I completely agree with the theory that goal-setting can actually lead to failure or mediocrity. In fact, the lowest-functioning organizations and people I’ve worked with have all been extraordinarily preoccupied with goal attainment.

 

I participate in the Goodreads reading challenge for the sole purpose of having that handy count of books read in the sidebar, not because I want to reach a specific threshold. (Though I will admit, two years in a row, I’ve been a couple of books shy of 150 during the last week of the year and have power read through to ensure I have a nice, round number.)

So in the spirit of ignoring the idea of goals, I’m eschewing the reading resolutions posts that abound on the web today and would like to share a bit of what I’d like to see in the upcoming year in reading, publishing and book culture.

#1 An end to the divisive, unproductive, ridiculous discussions of e-reading versus print reading.

Why anyone cares in what format people choose to read books is beyond me, particularly in a culture in which a quarter of the United States population has not read a single book in the last year. Whatever helps ensure people get a book—digital, print or etched in a stone tablet—in their hands is fine by me, and it should be for anyone who truly cares about promoting reading culture. 

#2 An end to the term, “Mommy Porn.”

Thanks to the legion of ridiculous articles about 50 Shades of Grey, “mommy porn” is used to dismiss the reading choices of women by people who are threatened by women reading about S-E-X. I wrote about this early last year and it continues to frustrate me. 

Thoughts About That YA Book Buying Study

Thoughts About That YA Book Buying Study

Sarah Moon
In the News, Opinion

A lot of fuss has, understandably, been made over Bowker’s study about book buying trends in the young adult/teen category, Understanding the Children’s Book Consumer in the Digital Age.

People seem to find the data surprising or somehow a sign of something signficiant (I’m looking at you, Atlantic Wire aka Sarah’s Daily Annoyance), but I’m not so sure. 

Most of us only have access to the report summary (hey, if someone wants to hook a girl up with the very pricey full report, I’d love to analyze it further, I kind of know my stuff re: data anaylsis*) and that summary makes two interesting points. 

  • 55 percent of buyers of books in the teen/YA category are adults (note: this does not say books, it says “buyers”); and
  • Adult YA book purchases represent 28 percent of all actual teen/YA books sold. 

Now, a lot of people have jumped on this (quite a few negatively so) 55 percent number as very significant. And, a number of high profile media outlets have confused buyers versus books sold. Hence, somehow, the inaccurate statement that adults buy the majority of YA titles has emerged, which is wholly incorrect. Teens are still buying far more young adult books that adults do, representing 72 percent of YA books sold. Basically, teens buy more YA books, per person, than adults, despite being a smaller percentage of the actual buyers of YA books.