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Show HN: Litnerd (YC S21) – Kids Book Club Meets Gaming

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Re: Show HN: Litnerd (YC S21) – Kids Book Club Meets Gaming

#12

Post by neilxm »

Anisa_Mirza wrote: post #8
awb wrote: post #7

Might want to consider a different name. “Nerd” is a negative label for many kids.

You say that but in the last 2 years not one of our 4000 kids felt that way :) In fact, kids love the Litnerd lapels. I'm bullish on the name. But hey, there's always a kid that might not like the name. I get that.

'nerd' being uncool is a 90s theme. every nerdy is cool again in 2023 :)

Re: Show HN: Litnerd (YC S21) – Kids Book Club Meets Gaming

#13

Post by neilxm »

i'm a bit worried about mixing screen time and reading. i know parents who try to limit tablet usage and use reading as a way to get their kids into a calmer state of mind. Is gamifying reading going to take away from that? I realize that screen time is unavoidable these days, but I worry about attention span issues in kids. What have you found among students using the app?

Re: Show HN: Litnerd (YC S21) – Kids Book Club Meets Gaming

#15

Post by Anisa_Mirza »

chrisab wrote: post #11

Congrats! What's the plan for new title releases? Will you localize in different languages?

Right now, are focusing on original sequels and releasing new titles based on analytics of popular books in the app. The nice thing about being in business for a couple of years is that we can now assess, with data, which books and IP were hits and which fell flat. For now, going to keep our focus on North America but in the future, most certainly we have a desire to localize IP based on regions. As someone who grew up in Karachi, for example, I would love to see versions of our books where the characters are more relatable to locals.

Re: Show HN: Litnerd (YC S21) – Kids Book Club Meets Gaming

#17

Post by Anisa_Mirza »

neilxm wrote: post #13

i'm a bit worried about mixing screen time and reading. i know parents who try to limit tablet usage and use reading as a way to get their kids into a calmer state of mind. Is gamifying reading going to take away from that? I realize that screen time is unavoidable these days, but I worry about attention span issues in kids. What have you found among students using the app?

This is a fair concern. The gamification aspect certainly does not take away from our users calm state of mind while reading. In fact, it aides with learning because research supports that if you are engaged in the subject matter you are studying, your learning/memory recall and comprehension all improve. Huberman Labs even had a podcast on this recently. Parents biggest feedback is that this is the first time they felt their child was engaged in any educational app, esp reading. The app is designed to motivate students and our average reader spend 30-40 minutes daily reading and doing reading activities (worksheets and quizzes on phonics, vocabulary, comprehension). Additionally, the weekly live meetup helps provide an offline component of community building in the app. I hope you will give us a try for your child (if you have kids!)

Re: Show HN: Litnerd (YC S21) – Kids Book Club Meets Gaming

#19

Post by Anisa_Mirza »

sramam wrote: post #18

I watched the video on the site - a first grader winning a top prize and $1000? Speaking as a parent, money seems like a wrong metric for gamification of reading - especially at that age and those amounts. Perhaps you have insights to justify?

We do! Have you seen some of the interviews with past winners? Our kids range from parents who have a second home in the Hamptons, NY (high networth) all the way to parents from mid to mid-low income bracket. Using usd cash prize is a HUGE incentive to get kids excited. I have observed no difference based on parents income bracket oddly. Lesson: kids don’t care to virtue signal :) Even our school launches go better when there is a usd cash prize for top school.

Having said that, we reward users with our own in app currency, Litcoin, after the first promotional usd prize. The reason it works is that after a month with us, kids value Litcoin and care for it more than the usd reward.

Past winners videos: https://www.litnerd.com/post/a-new-litnerd-reading-club-tour...

https://www.litnerd.com/post/litnerd-reading-club-tournament...

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