Last week I received a postcard. It was from a 9-year-old fan. I’m having it framed and will put it next to my desk as encouragement to keep on writing. This is what we authors dream will happen with our books. Sadly, trying to achieve that goal is not easy. It takes years of work and dedication.

A further complication is lack of readership. Here are some statistics regarding readership of newspapers. http://www.readership.org/consumers/r...

• Readership among the youngest respondents (18-24) dropped to 2.40 from 2.84 in 2006. With the exception of the 2006 study, this continues a trend of decreasing RBS for young people since 2002. RBS for people age 65 or older has actually increased to an all-time high of 4.52.

I will grant you this is a study based on readership in Newspapers, not books. I for one am one of those who has lost interest in newspapers. Not because I don’t read, it is because I have lost faith in their ability to report the news. Their advertisers are feeding what we read and therefore, the news is skewed.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A09223...

The percentage of adult Americans reading literature has dropped dramatically over the past 20 years. “Literature” includes novels, short stories, plays, and poetry but not works of nonfiction.

U.S. adult population Rate of decline 1992–2002
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 1982 1992 2002 * * * * * * *
Number of literary readers (in millions) 96 100 96
Percentage reading literature 56.9% 54.0% 46.7% (–14%)
Percentage reading any book n.a. 60.9% 56.6% (–7%)

Source: National Endowment for the Arts, Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America, June 2004.

This study only goes through 2002. In the following years, the statistics are even more alarming. Today, 42% of American adults can’t read above an eighth grade level. (90 million adults). This is from a 2007 Associated Press/Ipsos Public Affairs study.

http://www.steamthing.com/2007/12/are...

My point being, how can we engage young readers to want to read and become an active participant on Goodreads?

I propose Goodreads reaches out to those young people with pages on the Goodreads website that has some of the appeal a younger audience seeks on other frequented young adult / children's websites.

In addition:
• Feature young authors and encourage their participation
• Engage Teachers to nominate students for a Goodreads “Featured writer of the week”
• Start a Graphic Artist page to take stories written by young authors and then put into a Picture book / comic book 10 to 12 picture story.

These are just some suggestions to get young people included in our Children’s Book / Fantasy-Sci-Fi section of Goodreads.

Would love input from my peers at Goodreads – all genres – because our future is based on our ability to get young readers - reading.

Thora Gabriel