What two posts one after another! No I'm not raising the bar for 2012. Remember, I missed some posts over the holidays.
Well, guys, I'm about to attempt the impossible (how negative); attempt what could be quite revealing and important to us. I am going to write the main bookstores and distributors and ask them the names of their best sellers in children's books: in children's picture books, and in young adult/tweens. Hello! I decidedly lick my head, right! You know my people do not like to give out any information, in case ... they are not even sure in case what. However I am not asking how many they have sold, just what are the best sellers.
This info would be of general interest and also be very instructive to our authors: Are we writing what nobody wants to read? Can we write what children are more interested in? Knowledge is power! Which come to think of it, might be why people don't want to give you info. Anyway, wish me luck with this. I really do hope that some will see it as something they can support.
Now since I love pictures and pretty/pretty, I have to find an image to go with this post. I've chosen a book which I gather children like, but which since it's a Ministry book is not available in stores. In this way I know I cannot not affect the validity/reliability of the survey even before I start. As if choosing a Jamaican/Caribbean cover could affect my informal survey! What a something if it could! What a something if one of the best sellers is a Jamaican/Caribbean book! And actually if there is such a book, I think I know what it is/series it is! You see this now! Is this not begging the question or the answer. However what a something that would be! Let's see, eh.
Good luck on this. One of the things you might find if you could expand research to what the children like to read, is that this differs from the booksellers' report.
ReplyDeleteI thought of that and would like to expand it. Of course, I'd have to go through the schools, which would either mean a proper sampling procedure or recogntion that the results are skewed, and also there is a good chance that the schools will feel they have other things to do, and it also seemed to have more variables, e.g. books made available through the school, teacher choice, teacher exposure/knowledge to Children's Lit.which could build on my MEd. study, but it could take up time which I should use for writing, but we'll see. I do have some teacher contacts (from the MEd. study etc.), so perhaps even a limited response could prove interesting.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with this Dianne. I would be most interested in the respones. I'm not sure the bookshops are selling what the children want to read, rather what their relatives think they would like, and that is often books which they themselves read as children.
ReplyDeleteMuch of the time the children don't know what's available. There are lots of books they would probably love if they got a chance to look at them.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right, Helen. Do you have any ideas on how we can overcome that?
ReplyDelete