How is technology changing the face of children publishing?

Technology is both a boon and bane for children publishing.Children nowadays are exposed to a multitude of information at an early age through technology. Basic content is now available to them at just a click of a mouse. Furthermore, parents and teachers are redesigning teaching methods using technology which allows them to go very deep into subject matter and make learning more engaging.

Publishers need to rethink…

Therefore, children’s publishers now must produce content that is much more attractive and appealing. They must think out of the box to create subject matter that keeps children away from computers/phones, which are competing for their attention spans.

The possibilities are enormous…

Furthermore, it is not about physical copies anymore. Due to the ever-growing widespread usage of computers and phones, children’s publishers must also focus on fluidity of content. It should be accessible on devices on which children spend majority of their time through animations, electronic books, audio books and interactive games and applications. Publishers also have to adapt to new software such as Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator etc. that make it easy to create content that can be moved from one form to another. Recently, introduction of graphic design platforms such as Canva and Smartmockups have made designing books much simpler and efficient.

Digital is the buzzword…

Another area which has been impacted by technology is the physical copy retail market. More than 60% of the retail market demand has moved to e-commerce platforms as these platforms have allowed for a wider collection of books (long tail character) to be available to parents. Therefore, every publisher now must have an online presence. All their titles should be available on all major platforms with accurate listing metadata supported by digital advertising spends and social media presence. Publishers must come up with engaging content for their social media platforms, tie-up with digital influencers and bloggers and run marketing campaigns in order to create a digital brand identity and increase sales. Simultaneously, since transparency is high in the digital world through customers ratings, publishers have to be very careful with their content quality as there is a direct relation between reviews and sales.

In the end, we believe that when one is cruising along and then technology changes, one has to adapt, as said by Marc Andreessen.