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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December 15, 2008 at 9:13 am
teacherninja
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.
December 15, 2008 at 10:39 am
Scope Notes
It will indeed be interesting to see where this leads. I haven’t used the Kindle, but I hear it’s great. I agree that it still isn’t the solution for picture book viewing.
December 15, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Jen Robinson
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.
December 15, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Scope Notes
Good point about the added computer screen time that would come with reviewing PDF/eBooks. Scope Notes’ sore neck says “I’m glad you addressed this important issue”. Adding time on the computer would be a drawback with reviewing digital books. This discussion is spurring my interest in picking up a Kindle, however, just to see how that would fly. E-picture books remain a wild card in this game of euchre (a card game played pretty much only in Michigan (as far as I know))
December 15, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Terry Doherty
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.