Reading culture starts young
and how we can all support it - guest post by Mark Thornton
Hello and welcome to Making Crime Pay! I’m Nicki Thornton - I’m an author. I share my creative journey here and what I am learning along the way. I pass on my love of books by sharing what I am reading and review them so you can enjoy them too. I visit schools and other places to encourage a love of reading and help writing be more fun!
Today I am delighted to have my first guest writer. And who better than my wonderful other half in life, Mark Thornton, who is the Senior Partnerships Manager at Bookshop.org. He has written on the importance of supporting children’s reading - and this has shaped a fundraising initiative with UK literacy charity BookTrust during February that I am hoping you will be able to support.
Read on to discover what this is all about and hopefully how you can support. Enjoy!
Nicki
Overcoming obstacles to children’s reading
There have been many reports into children’s reading habits, not least because reading levels are a great indicator of a child’s future.
One of the elements that can help children to develop a reading habit is to have access to books - and this is one of the biggest aims of BookTrust, the UK’s biggest reading charity. At the beginning of the year BookTrust (together with some of our biggest children’s authors) called on the government to put greater investment into children’s reading.
This spurred Bookshop.org into thinking about how we could help. Our mission is to help independent bookshops thrive on the high street - could we also help support the readers of the future who might visit those shops?
For children, being able to visit a bookshop is one of those positive experiences that can help with their journey into becoming a reader.
How Bookshop.org helps bookshops and a reading culture to thrive
Bookshop.org is a company that has set out with a mission to help keep independent bookshops in town centres, on high streets, where many people have access to physical books - because bookshops are shown to be a strong factor that encourages a reading culture in communities. And this is true of children’s reading.
So children’s reading is very important to me as the Senior Partnership Manager at Bookshop.org.
It may sound counter-intuitive (Bookshop.org sells books online). But online sales support the long-term survival of independent bookshops. Having a strong online presence - and being able to sell online - is critical in a world where 3 out of 5 book sales now happen online - across all formats.
Independent bookshops need to ensure they have a share of those sales, because that is where many of their customers will be buying.
Enabling bookshops to do what they do brilliantly
On-line sales through Bookshop.org allow bookshops to continue to invest in their physical shops: the events, bookgroups, expertise and welcoming spaces that add value and vitality to their communities, and help build a reading culture.
Bookshop.org makes it easy and competitive for bookshops to sell online, and this is critical to bookshops’ survival.
How do we help with children’s reading?
During February, Bookshop.org and BookTrust are running a joint promotion called Read It Forward. The premise is straightforward: every children’s book sold on the site during February will result in a 10% donation to BookTrust, to support its early years work amongst disadvantaged and vulnerable families.
How do we know we are helping with children’s reading?
Bookshop.org launched in the US in early 2020, and in the UK later that year, with a mission to support independent bookshops. So far $30m has been earned by indies in the US, and over £3m in the UK. There are currently nearly 600 UK independent bookshops who sell books through the platform.
The mission word is important, as we are a certified B Corp. This means we are audited on our impact in how we support bookshops, and in 2022, we were judged to be in the top 5% of B Corp’s worldwide. It means we are held accountable for our stated aims.
In 2022 we also added two specific areas that can make an additional impact in terms of boosting reading culture. New Futures looked at improving representation within bookselling, and we also committed to helping bookshops sell more children’s titles.
Last year we worked with students on the publishing and bookselling course at University College London to look at the challenges and opportunities on diverse bookselling and children’s bookselling.
The children’s report shows just how critical physical bookshops are as a route to children seeing and choosing books and developing the ability to read for pleasure.
We know just how important reading is - from learning new skills to improving mental health - so this work is so important. It’s also why there are a number of initiatives to increase children’s access to books.
Skilled children’s booksellers will help young readers and families identify a diverse range of books to get them into the reading habit.
Most people encounter BookTrust when they start a family
BookTrust are the UK’s biggest reading charity and a leading part of this is The BookStart scheme, which distributes free books to families across England and Wales.
They also work with disadvantaged and vulnerable families - often where English isn’t a first language, or parents themselves struggle to read - to help them access books and build confidence with reading.
Read It Forward is a beautifully simple way to help everyone achieve their goals
How this scheme works is simple: every children’s book bought through Bookshop.org during February will result in 10% going to BookTrust.
Together we can help independent bookshops as a whole to gain more of the market for children’s books - and hopefully sell a broader range of books that reflect the golden age of children’s writing that we currently live in (and not just the usual bestsellers).
I really hope you can support the initiative - and what better way to start than with some favourite series books that get children reading - picked by an award-winning children’s author?
Mark Thornton