Teen readers: print or digital?

From Publishing Perspectives:

YA books sold $1.56 billion for the month, of which $222 million were ebooks.

And yet, teens appear to be “snapping back to print,” said Kristen McLean at the Tools of Change Bologna conference on Sunday morning, just prior to the opening of Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Sales for YA ebooks represent just 20% of the segment, versus 15% for children’s books in general and just 2% for picture and story books.

What about you? Have you noticed any trends in the hows and wheres of teen reading?

Comments

[JoanneMarie Faust]

There are so many books with strong visual components, that I think are just better for print books. I know that last year I gave YA books to teens that I knew read on e-readers because the books were better suited to the print format. Like Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Why We Broke Up.

Personally, I'm just thrilled when kids want to read.

[Allison]

Last year, of 90-ish students, one or two read consistently on their smartphones or on eReaders. This year, our of sixty I have at least ten who almost always read digital texts.

[Kerry]

I can't comment on teens, but my 9 year old has access to both paper books and a Kindle. I asked him which he preferred reading and the paper books were a clear winner. So we'll keep him supplied with library books and he'll be happy. I don't know if that will change as he gets older, but that's his preference now.

[Leila]

Thanks for chiming in! In my library, I see some ereader use, but overall, print is still king. Then again, it's an academic library, so that might skew the numbers.

[Jennifer in GA]

My teens don't have Kindles, but I do. They never want to borrow it. I offer to buy them ebooks (especially if the price is better and it's not something I necessarily want to read). No dice. They want print books they can pass around to friends.

[Leila]

Yes! The difficulty of borrowing and lending is a huge drawback to ebooks, especially when you're dealing with social readers.

[B Kleinman]

Since you are interested in learning about good teen reads, you might enjoy following this Tarzana, California teen’s blog:

http://tarzanareader.blogspot.com/