PDFs & eBooks: The Future of Reviewing?
I’m part of the Cybils (Children’s & Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Award) fiction picture book committee this year, and have been receiving review copies of nominated books for the last few weeks. I was interested to see that some publishers have sent downloadable PDF files instead of a physical copy of the book. It got me to thinking: will electronic review copies ever become the standard? From the publisher’s standpoint, it makes sense – you can send out books quickly, to many people, and you save a boatload of loot. From this reviewer’s point of view, it’s not a perfect system. Especially with picture books, it’s hard to beat the physical copy. Reading a picture book on the computer screen just doesn’t have the same appeal. This is less of an issue with text-only titles, but is PDF book reviewing the wave of the future?
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About Travis Jonker
Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.
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I certainly hope not. Reading whole books on computer screens would make me loopy. Maybe if they threw in a kindle-like thing to read them on…but that still wouldn’t work for picture books.
All I can say is that I would review fewer books. I spend quite enough time on the computer already – reading PDFs on the computer just wouldn’t work for me (I’d do it if I had to for the Cybils, of course, but not as a regular thing). I could maybe see using a Kindle type of thing – I’d have to try it to see how it worked for me. But otherwise, I think I’d just revert to reviewing books from the library or that I purchased.
We have had a number of offers from authors and publishers to “send us” PDFs for review. I completely understand the rationale on one hand, because picture books aren’t cheap. But I also think that authors/publishers are risking so-so commentary when you can’t savor the illustrations and feel the pages. Readers and listeners love to flip back and forth to look at the “pictures.” Kids get so much screen time already, I just cringe at the idea of promoting reading as an electronic activity for toddlers. Since the Reading Tub promotes reading as a family activity, so we only accept hard copy-versions (ARCs, galleys, finished product). The image of a parent and children huddled around the Kindle just doesn’t have the same effect. On a personal note, I am intrigued by the Kindle, so I’ll be interested to hear what you think.
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