The Future of Children's Publishing

Accessability and Multiple Formats

As an educator in a primary school, I see a strong need for literature that is accessable to a wide range of users with complex needs. A responsibility to cater for students with low literacy as well as disabilities and learning difficulties within mainstream settings means that publishers must consider and provide a variety of delivery formats that can be manipulated to best suit the reader. Development of dyslexic-friendly fonts, large print, braille, audiobook and e-resource availability are some noteworthy developments in publishing, I think continued demand for these types of resources will necessitate further developments.

Diversity

My hope for children's publishing is that it continues to develop in its representation of diversity. Our communities are increasingly diverse, with varied ethnic and cultural background, family arrangements, gender and sexual identities, economic, and social backgrounds just to name a few. I feel it is important for mainstream children's publishing to reflect this in literature for children. This helps children to identify themselves within the literature they read, but also to develop a wider sense of "normal", and an awareness of the diversity that exists outside of there own experiences.

Who will drive the change?

I would like to think that book artists, readers and publishers all have a role to play in the future of children's literature. The reader and the book artists provide the "what": What do we, as artists want to create? What do we as readers want to read and consume? What do we as readers need? Once this has been established, the publishers provide the "how": How can we make the vision of the artists become a reality for the reader? Perhaps this is how publishing works, but I doubt it. The reality is largely driven by sales and profit margins and is much less sunshine and rainbows than my ideal scenario.

Ultimately, it is the reader, the consumer who has the power in publishing, as they are the ones who will drive sales. Children, and what they want and need from reading should always be at the forefront of the children's publishing agenda.