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Child’s play

01 Apr 2010 | Danuta Kean

Children’s publishers have proved to be quick learners when it comes to reaching readers through new digital platforms, reports Danuta Kean

Children's publishing is at the cutting edge of the digital revolution taking place in book publishing. Where once publishers could happily ignore technology and stick to traditional formats, now a digital platform is not just a necessity but an expectation among readers raised in classrooms where smartboards are replacing blackboards and computers being used instead of rough books.

 

Not only that, but books need a digital presence in order to remain relevant to a generation faced with a myriad of electronic entertainment devices competing for their time. According to research released by Ofcom last year, 84% of children between five and 15 have access to the internet at home and nine out of 10 live in a home with a games console (Ofcom, UK children’s media literacy 2009 interim report).

 

Added to this mobile phone usage is getting younger. A poll of parents in Wales by Beaufort Omnibus for the BBC in March last year found that one in four parents would let their children have a mobile phone, while a report in the Times (23rd June 2009) claimed more than half of British children aged between five and nine own their own mobile phone. Such is the uptake of phones with children, O2 last year launched Firefly phones, a range aimed at children as young as four.

 

With the threat of texting toddlers a push button away, it is no wonder children’s publishers are looking seriously at how they make books relevant to a generation for whom digital is second nature. "We're competing in an ever-converging marketplace, where we have to face up to the threat of on-demand TV, games, music and other social media," Paul Rhodes, head of digital at Walker Children's Books points out. "If we're not at least visible in those areas, that share of voice is gone, and will be difficult to claw back."

 

For Walker that has meant creating ebooks for Anthony Horowitz's hugely successful Alex Rider series (see An Author's Perspective), as well as apps for Scream Street and Triskellion and other Walker titles. Last month it launched nine picture book apps with Scrollmotion that enable parents to add their own voiceovers to texts. As this includes brands like Guess How Much I Love You?, which has sold nearly 20 million copies, the commercial potential is huge.

 

Walker's strategy is carefully thought through. It needs to be, because these are dangerous waters involving significant investment in time and money, as well as a market as fickle as a teenager's latest crush.

 

Though there is consensus that a multi-platform approach is important for children's publishing in the 2010s, the medium remains the message. Put simply, just plonking a book on every platform is not just costly, but foolish if it fails to take into account the different content needs and way each platform is used.

 

It is a point made by Sara Lloyd, head of digital at Macmillan, who believes all digital activity must be guided by the intended goal. "The multi-platform approach is not always about porting the same content across platforms, but about creating different entry points and environments to support the core content, so, creating web experiences that extend the life of the novel for example," she explains.

 

This goal-orientated approach to digital marketing and delivery makes the entry level for publishers flexible enough to accommodate businesses of all sizes – it is possible to create apps with limited functionality for as little as £400.

 

In fact, the lack of corporate inertia or overheads in small company can give them an advantage in both speed of development time and culture (the idea of taking a book from idea to inception in three months would strike fear into traditional publishers who are more used to lead times in years not weeks).

 

If a publisher knows their market and is smart about how it target its digital strategy, the investment involved can be far more cost-effective than traditional advertising – which according to Books in The Consumer’s recent conference has such a negligible effect on readers it isn't included in list of influences on readers buying decisions. Not only can apps and social media create word-of-mouth buzz that will do the marketing for free, but the data-gathering opportunities provided by digital mean campaigns can be tightly targeted and measured.

 

Children's publishing veteran Kate Wilson says one of the biggest threats to success in this market is a poverty mentality that fails to understand the value of digital expertise. "To do anything interesting with books it is going to be expensive," she says. Wilson is behind new start-up Nosy Crow, of which the Appiness division produces apps for iPhones and other mobile devices. She believes the industry must be realistic and move away from the cheap as chips mentality that underscores much of its approach to marketing.

 

Of course spending must be justified, she argues, but adds: “If we are willing to spend a lot in an auction for a debut novel, then we should be willing to pay the most creative people. It is a different way of looking at content, because what you are paying for is innovation and quality.”

 

One reason for caution among some in the children’s market is that it has been badly burned by the latest must-do technology not so very long ago. Only 15 years ago all were being urged to throw money at the CD ROM market, which proved not just expensive, but very short-lived.

 

Though HarperCollins Children’s marketing director Alison Ruane accepts publishers need to be sensible about how they invest in digital, risk-aversion poses dangers too. “To an extent, we shouldn’t fear the blind alley, it is impossible to innovate and maintain a competitive edge if you need a cast iron guarantee of success before trying anything new.”

 

At HarperCollins’ rival Penguin Children’s Books Joanna Galvin, digital marketing manager, agrees that risk-taking is central to this market, but suggests there are ways to manage it cost-effectively. “Most of what we do in digital is trial and error and the only way to approach this is to analyse what you do and fail fast if necessary,” she says.

 

Penguin has been at the bleeding edge of creativity in this market, investing heavily in the Spinebreakers social networking site for teenagers, launching Shadow War – a Young Bond reality game, which culminated in a live online final – and the wemakestories.com website, which provides a toolkit that enables young readers to create everything from a pop-up book to treasure maps and graphic novel.

 

HarperCollins has also seized the opportunities afforded by digital platforms, as I write, it is in the final stages of development of an iPhone app for Jez Alborough’s Duck in the Truck picture book. “The unknowns and blind alleys have proven to be valuable learning experiences,” Ruane says, echoing Penguin’s Galvin.

 

Large or small, talk to any publisher in this field and there is a strong sense of boundaries being pushed, making the market exciting but demanding strong nerves.  “This is a market in it’s early stages so, for us, it’s about exploration and gathering valuable insight into changing reading habits and learning how children and parents are using the new technology,” says Kerrie Culff, director of business services and operations at Egmont UK, whose digital activities range from blogs and apps to Nintendo DS. “The digital arena gives you the perfect opportunity to get closer to your consumer.”

 

This research potential is a crucial way in which apps and social media differ from CD ROM. Even if you are setting your sights lower than apps, the technology means gathering feedback is cost-effective and easily integrated into both policy and product, as Maverick Books’ Kim Nye points out. “We have done a lot of research into what we use,” she explains. The independent has embraced social media as part of its marketing strategy, with characters from its books as well as authors using blogs to engage young readers.

 

Maverick’s use of digital technology is both targeted and relatively low cost. “We use Google Analytics to see what is being looked at on our list and how it’s used,” Nye explains. “We have also optimised our site with different key words that are picked up by search engines, so we encourage more visitors.”

 

The potential of such online presence for data capture and marketing cannot be underestimated. Templar Publishing, which publishes the hugely successful Dragonology series, has a game on Nintendo DS, and a multi-faceted website in several languages with a club, members of which receive a monthly newsletter. These are invaluable for both marketing and research.

 

Rachel Williams, co-ordinator of Templar’s e-team, says: “We’ve had to learn some lessons from the experience with augmented reality. However, overall it was very positive and added another dimension to the Ology offering.”

 

A unique aspect of the children’s as compared to adult market is data protection. Though information management is vital, how it is used is not only strictly controlled by law, but needs to be sensitively handled in order to avoid bad feeling among target users. “There are data protection issues that are extremely important to consider when it comes to children under a certain age and the web,” says Sheelagh Cullinan Simon & Schuster marketing and publicity manager, children's.

 

As parents tend to be the gatekeepers of technology aimed at children, keeping them onside is vital says Egmont’s Kerrie Culff: "Children will adapt and engage with new media, but ensuring parents feel in control and understand how the platforms work is an important challenge to tackle.

 

What comes across from all working in this market are three things that must be applied to any digital strategy. First is authenticity. Whether apps or blogs, the community with which children’s publishers are engaging is hypersensitive to anything that feels like a hard sell. “Authenticity is key to success and we actively support and encourage our authors in their own social communications as we believe it should be their voice the fans hear,” says HC’s Alison Ruane.

 

Second is speed and adaptability, as Walkers’ Paul Rhodes, a refugee from the games industry, points out: “Book publishing isn't geared for rapid change in the same way as, say, the video games industry. There, you anticipate that the hardware has a finite sales cycle and you're already planning for the next hardware cycle midway through the current one. That rate of change is utterly new to books and the hardware will change at a ridiculously fast pace.” That leads him to ask: “Are we, as an industry, in a position to deal with that?"

 

It is a question many of the best brains in the industry are trying to ensure gets a positive answer. How successful they are will depend on the third part of the trilogy of factors vital to the success of digital strategies aimed at younger readers. It is content. As Winged Chariot’s Neal Hoskins observes: “In the end it is still about pictures and stories.” The Tunbridge Wells-based publisher’s 59p Red Apple app was picked as one of 30 top apps of the year by The Observer in January.

 

“You have to think about the craft of digital publishing in the same imaginative way as you do traditional books,” adds Hoskins, who is one of the speakers at the London Book Fair seminar Children’s Bookfutures: Children’s Literature and Digital Imagination, to be held on 19th April.

 

Hoskins’ point is a vital reminder that books remain at the centre of publishers’ output, digital or otherwise. “Children will always love stories, nothing will beat being cuddled up on your parent's lap enjoying a bedtime story,” Penguin’s Joanna Galvin observes. “But there are new technologies which are changing the way we share stories and will enhance the experience.”

 

 

An author's point of view: Anthony Horowitz

 

Walker Books has taken the bold step to make available as ebooks the Alex Rider series of novels by Anthony Horowitz. Here Anthony tells Danuta Kean how he feels about this move into a digital future.

" It was the decision of Walker Books to publish Alex Rider as an ebook but obviously I'm happy with it, not so much because I believe that many people will read it in that format (in truth I have no idea) but because it makes the books feel fresh and modern, part of the zeitgeist.

 

"I don't think there's a huge audience yet for ebooks so, at this stage, I'm not at all concerned about piracy. Obviously, if there is an explosion in electronic reading, publishers are going to have to take care. The real problem is that people have got so used to DVD piracy that they don't even see it as a crime (and it's not helped by the fact that DVDs are heavily over-priced in the first place). If this morality extends to ebooks and the technology can't be found to protect copyright, we could all be in a lot of trouble.

"None of my readers have mentioned the ebooks to me, I'm afraid. But my publishers are very excited. Again, these are early days. I'm very glad Alex Rider is there but we'll have to see how it all pans out."

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