Sent to you by john taube via Google Reader:
Kids love to be read to (check out StoryLine Online). In fact, it is good for kids to be read to. If a child is brought up being read to, they tend to develop a good imagination and even a desire to read themselves.
Something interesting about children is that they seem to enjoy being read to by other children. I remember being in grade school and having times when I was allowed to read to the kindergarten class. For some reason children love it when other children take that kind of time.
The creators of Smories had an idea. What if children had a place where they could watch other children reading stories without the inherent dangers of social video sites like YouTube? What they are doing with Smories.com is using the Internet to bring together story writers, child readers, and the children who love being read to. Now children can have carefully "vetted" (the word they use) stories read to them by other children without fear of danger.
Without the rest of the details, you can go straight to Smories right now and begin to watch the videos of the stories being read. It's easy because the front page contains thumbnails of a bunch of videos. As you hover your cursor over each thumbnail, you'll see the information about each video, including the age-appropriate label.
Clicking the thumbnail will bring you straight to the video page for watching.
You might notice that right now most of the children have an English accent. That is because the site was created in the UK. They are going to be having American readers soon also so keep an ear out for them.
You'll notice that the videos aren't professionally done. I think they were actually recorded using flip-style video cameras. They are trying to keep the atmosphere relaxed to keep the style of children reading to other children in the home.
Beyond just going and watching the videos, there is also information about how to submit your own stories. They used to run contests with cash prizes for stories submitted but they recently stopped doing that. If there is no cash rendered for accepted stories, why submit them? The exposure, of course.
For instance, they are now doing detailed author biography pages containing information you'd probably like to have spread around.
Don't worry because authors still retain the copyright (copyright information). You are only giving Smories.com permission to narrate, record, and publish the recording on their site. Check out the FAQ page for more information about submitting a story, the Submit a Story page to actually submit a story, and the Tips for Writers page for some tips on writing for children.
Now as for where they get the child readers, I haven't figured that part out yet.
Smories is a safe and fun online destination for children to be read to. That and being a new place for authors to test out unpublished work and gain some exposure, I think it's a good find. Oh, and did I mention they have an iPhone version?
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