Thanks to its diverse reading channels and development, Shanda Literature earned 173 million RMB net revenue in the second quarter this year (+24% y-o-y) according to its latest financial statement, for a total of 311 million RMB net revenue in the first half year (+111% y-o-y). At present, Shanda Literature has six original literature webs [...]
Archive for the ‘eBook / eReader’ category
18th Beijing International Book Fair opened (China)
31/08/2011The 18th Beijing International Book Fair opened at the China International Exhibition Center with a total exhibition area of 53,600 m2. As the guest of honor, Netherland has an exhibition area of 1,500 m2. The digital publishing section covering 10,000 m2 is a highlight of this fair, and digital reading terminal products as well as [...]
Digital copyright protection research projects initiated in China
31/08/2011On August 26th, the “Research and Application of Mobile Publication Copyright Protection” project to protect digital copyright during the distribution process of mobile publications and the “e-Reader Application Demonstration” project to establish a digital copyright protection technology system compatible with different ebook readers were launched. China Publishing Group and Hanwang Technology participate in these projects, [...]
“Red Comic Book Series” iPad edition launched in China
26/08/2011China Publishing Group Digital Media Co. issued the “Red Comic Book Series” iPad edition, which includes hundreds of classic “red” (communist) comic works since the founding of China. This comic book series is divided into 5 parts, with one part issued each week. Source: “Red Comic Book Series” iPad edition launched (in Chinese) Also see [...]
Mobile phones in China – competition for e-readers
25/08/2011More and more readers in China choose mobile phones as their device for e-reading [note: causing headaches for Hanvon and others, see post "E-readers in China encountering bottlenecks"], while authors and publishing houses try to cooperate with “mobile reading base” providers. China Mobile Reading Base: paying great attention to content quality Zhong Tianhua, Board Chairman [...]
E-readers in China encountering bottlenecks
24/08/2011With the reduction of revenue, China’s domestic e-reader market has been experiencing a tough period in the recent months. Some of the reasons are: E-reader industry enters the “platform development stage” Compared with the good situationin overseas markets, industry experts think that the development of e-readers in China is still in an initial stage, and [...]
Educational publishing in China: Will e-schoolbag replace 36 billion textbooks?
15/08/2011In the 12th Five-year plan for China’s press and publishing industry, the “e-schoolbag” is described as a combination of mobile terminals, e-education service platforms and systems for resource processing and publishing of digital education content in a network environment. In the past several years, reading habits in China changed drastically. According to the 8th National [...]
Baidu + Fanshu.com: new digital book market monopoly on the horizon in China?
11/08/2011Two recent events caused a wake-up call for online booksellers in China, who had felt save from the uncertain future of physical bookstores: Online bookstore Jingdong Mall supposedly paid around 10 million RMB for exclusive debut rights to Annie Baobei‘s new novel. [As mentioned on her blog, "Spring Feast" -my translation of 春宴- was available [...]
Shanghai will strive for 70 billion RMB annual output in Digital Publishing (China)
08/08/2011In 2010, Shanghai’s digital industry achieved sales of more than 22 billion RMB, accounting for 19.9% of the country. As the first national digital publishing base set up three years ago, Shanghai’s Zhangjiang National Digital Publishing Base has attracted 280 enterprises and about 3 billion RMB investment generating total sales revenue of 11 billion RMB. [...]
Digital media in education: “e-schoolbag” project extended in China
04/08/2011On July 27th, the Municipal Education Commission, Municipal Press and Publication Bureau and Hongkou District government in Shanghai signed the Strategic Cooperation Agreement on Promoting a Digital Learning Environment to promote the “e-schoolbag” project in Shanghai’s Hongkou District. In the first half of this year, eight schools in the district have successfully conducted the pilot [...]
China’s e-reader giant: How can Hanvon regain past glory?
04/08/2011As the “giant” in China’s e-reader industry, Hanvon Technology enjoyed a rapid and positive development during 2009-2010. However, the pattern has changed gradually as more and more enterprises entered the market. However, the fundamental reason for Hanvon’s decline is its weakness in internal competitiveness according to Yu Ren of Beijing University’s School of Journalism and [...]
Industry experts’ analysis of Digital Publishing Report (China)
22/07/2011The recently released “2010-2011 Annual China Digital Publishing Report” stated that the total output value of China’s publishing industry in 2010 reached 105.179 billion RMB, (+31.97%), with mobile publishing, online games and internet advertising each constituting a bit more than 30% of digital publishing’s annual output value. Industry experts made a detailed analysis and say [...]
Baidu Library signs agreement with publishers to sell authorised ebooks （China）
19/07/2011After the copyright infringement allegations against Baidu Library in March，an agreement to sell ebooks was now reached with several publishing houses and consulting companies in the press industry including Wenhui Publishing House， Blue Lion Readers’ Club and eBook House Culture. There are currently 10,067 authorised ebooks sold in Baidu Library from 47 copyright holders. Ebooks [...]
GAPP establishes strategic cooperation with China Mobile for digital publishing
07/07/2011On July 5th, GAPP and China Mobile signed a “Memorandum of Cooperation on Strategic Development in Digital Publishing”. According to the document, GAPP will cooperate with China Mobile in offering internet technology services and operation control of digital products to publishing houses. A cooperation in digital copyright is also intended in order to launch digital [...]
Wake-up call for traditional publishers: Appeal in China’s first digital copyright case turned down – industry voices
06/07/2011On July 4th, China’s so-called “first digital copyright case” [see post "First digital copyright case decided in China"] came to an end with the court dismissing Zhonghua Book Company’s appeal. Voices of publishing insiders on this case: Bi Yu of Light Industry (Beijing) Web Press Ltd.: Publishing houses should increase competitiveness in digital copyright and [...]
Feedback on digital schoolbag pilot project in Shanghai, China
28/06/2011Liu Binjie, GAPP director, stated that China will strongly promote e-schoolbags in primary and secondary schools. Feedback during a pilot project using e-schoolbags in schools of Shanghai’s Hongkou District included: Parents are concerned about the device’s electromagnetic radiation and the screen’s negative effect on children’s eyes. The development of content resources can’t keep up with [...]
First digital copyright case decided in China
28/06/2011In October, 2009, Zhonghua Book Company accused Hanvon Technology of infringing its copyright. Last week, the verdict on China’s “first digital copyright case” came down: Zhonghua Book Company lost the lawsuit. The case reflects the disorder in the digital copyright trading market, therefore, establishing a fair digital copyright sharing platform becomes very necessary and urgent. [...]
Shanda Literature’s six acquisitions in 2010 (China)
27/06/2011This article provides tables on the five online literature websites and one offline book distribution company Shengda Literature acquired last year for 140 million RMB, as well as data such as investment and revenue as submitted in the SEC prospectus: Rongshuxia (榕树下) — http://www.rongshuxia.com/ Beijing Zhongzhibowen Book Distribution Company (中智博文) — http://www.zzbwbook.com/ Tianfang Audiobook Net [...]
Hanvon cuts e-reader prices by up to 40% in China
25/05/2011Hanvon stated that in order to cope with market competition and to activate the e-reader consumer market, the company intends to reduce the price for more than a third of its product line by 15% – 40%. Hanvon believes that consumers will buy e-readers once their price is down to 500 – 600 RMB. Source: [...]
iPad in China shocks hardware makers but promotes digital content
24/05/2011Since May 6th, Apple’s iPad 2 is being sold China, resulting in a rapid drop in sales for many Chinese e-readers. As an example, hardware make Hanvon suffered a loss of more than 46 million RMB in the first quarter. [Also see previous posts: "Hanvon Technology: a closer look at its challenges."] On the other [...]
Taobao Bookstore client launched in China – digital copyright competition?
06/05/2011Shortly after Shanda Literature released its Cloud Bookstore 2.0, Taobao Bookstore has also launched its client. Baidu Library is trying to eliminate the negative influence of its copyright infringement crisis. Apparently, a new round of competition in the digital copyright market is on the verge of breaking out. Source: Taobao Bookstore client launched (in Chinese) [...]
Guangdong focuses on digital publishing and e-book industry (China)
05/05/2011According to the recently held Guangdong E-Book Industry Symposium, this year the Press and Publication Bureau of Guangdong Province will focus on the development of the e-book industry, paying special attention to four aspects: Carrying out the Special Investigation on E-Book Industry’s Development in Guangdong. Launching the New Media Forms Exploration and Content Construction Pilot [...]
120 million Chinese read e-books, generating 610 million RMB sales volume on mobile phones
03/05/2011In 2010, more than 120 million Chinese read e-books, leading to 610 million RMB in sales volume on mobile phones alone (+203% y-o-y). This is also due to “mobile phone reading bases” set up by the three major telecoms operators which attracted many new mobile phone readers. Source: China’s e-book reading population exceeded 120 million [...]
Hanvon’s troubles: China’s e-reader market facing reshuffle
03/05/2011More and more famous and unknown e-book producers have withdrawn from China’s e-book market int he past months. However, this is not an easy option for Hanvon Technology since the company has large stocks of materials and finished products, having reached a volume of 0.464 billion RMB by the end of 2010. Compared with Kindle [...]
Pirated books in App Store: Chinese publishers to fight against rampant copyright infringement
29/04/2011After the fight against Baidu’s copyright infringement, Chinese publishers intend to join hands, targeting Apple as the next enemy. The writer Wu Xiaobo found his work “Thirty Years’ Surging” ["Jidang sanshi nian", there must be a better translation for the title...] sold in the App Store at a price of 1.99 USD, although neither he [...]
China’s printing service export revenue to reach 100 billion RMB in 2015
28/04/2011According to the 12th Five-Year Development Plan for the Press & Publication Industry, China will promote its printing service export and encourage enterprises to undertake international high-end printing processing business. The printing service export revenue is expected to reach 100 billion RMB in 2015. Some specific actions and figures are given in the plan for [...]
First iPad-related copyright case goes to court in China
28/04/2011For using the content of Beijing News without authorization, the developers of the “Chinese Newspapers & Periodicals” iPad application were sued for compensation of 600,000 RMB. The defendant claims that they only integrate publicly available content for users’ free reading and the application is still for trial use, not for commercial operation. Zhang Hongbo, deputy [...]
China National Reading Survey released; 23% had read on mobile phone
27/04/2011The result of the 8th China National Reading Survey was released by the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication on April 21st. The result show that: In 2010, the Comprehensive Reading Rate (including books, newspapers, periodicals and digital publications) of Chinese citizens 18-70 years old reached 77.1%, +5.1% y-o-y. Book Reading Rate reached 52.3%, +2.2% [...]
China’s e-reader market: already in crisis?
23/04/2011Probably not only investors were surprised, when Hanwang Technology posted a loss for this year’s first quarter, as reported in Caixin‘s article “Closer Look: Crisis Looms for E-Book Reader Market“. Declining sales volume and prices for its e-readers are mentioned as main cause – but if that is the case, then investors shouldn’t be “stunned”, [...]
Alibaba enters digital publishing with iPhone client and Taobao Bookstore
18/04/2011After Baidu and Shanda, Chinese e-business giant Alibaba, revealed its digital publishing plan. An iphone client named Taobao Bookstore is launched, representing the first such e-book platform with copyrighted works in China. Relying on the high traffic volume on its Taobao online e-commerce website, Alibaba aims for users who want to download copyrighted works, of [...]
12 provincial and municipal Xinhua bookstores suggest fighting against e-book piracy (China)
11/04/2011Recently, Xinhua Bookstores in 12 provinces and municipalities called for fighting e-book piracy. In order to meet the e-reading needs, Xinhua Bookstores set up special in-store areas for e-book sales, but e-book piracy has threatened the development of publishing houses and bookstores. According to the joint statement, traditional bookstores should also develop e-book sales as [...]
Online copyright infringement: Apple next target of authors in China
31/03/2011After three days of manual deletion, Baidu stated that unauthorized literary works in its Baidu Library have been removed: of previoulsy 2.8 million works only 169 are left. Baidu’s Copyright DNA Recognition will be launched in early April to prevent unauthorized works being uploading. However, leading author representative Shen Haobo assumes that Baidu’s action is [...]
Publishing in China: Digital Copyright Protection Projects
29/03/2011A list of Major Science & Technology Projects in Press and Publishing was published, starting with 23 Chinese Library Projects (of which I provide a selection in this post). Of more interest for the publishing industry are the 15 Digital Copyright Protection Technology Research Projects and 6 topics, with each one having been awarded to [...]
Hu Yong and Tim O’Reilly on copyright and piracy in publishing
27/03/2011Beginning with “Chinese authors blame search giant Baidu for copyright infringement – with comment“, I’ve tracked the development of this case in several posts, the latest being “Copyright negotiations fail: Baidu accuses authors of insincerity, denies requests“. Two days ago I read posts on blogs by China Media Project and Forbes published on the same [...]
Questionning digitalization of China’s traditional publishing industry
25/03/2011Digital publishing has become a necessary trend, but whether it’s advantageous for China’s traditional publishing industry is still being discussed. Several industry professionals voice their opinions, which can be summarized as follows: Traditional publishing industry has to be listed Although large publishing enterprises are rather unwilling, their listing is because of the environmental pressure triggered [...]
Hanvon (Hanwang) publishes Japanese manga in digital form for the first time (China)
25/03/2011Hanvon (Hanwang) cooperates with Japan’s Creek & River Press (Chuanghe Press in Chinese) to import their manga for digital download onto the Hanvon e-reader. Hanvon’s President Liu Jianying expressed that this kind of digital publishing import and issuing is their first attempt, but that a closer cooperation in import and export of digital content copyright [...]
Digital publishing in China: Dragonsource Qikan to launch 500 magazine apps this year
21/03/2011Recently, Dragonsource Qikan launched its first app “Popular Photography” for the iPad. Within only 4 days, this app was downloaded over 20,000 times without any promotion. This was Dragonsource’s first step in its apps strategy, this year the company plans to launch 500 iPad apps in cooperation with periodical publishers who want iPad access but [...]
Baidu’s troubles: Lawsuits on copyright piracy and search monopoly (China)
21/03/2011In addition to the fifty authors accusing Baidu of participating in copyright violations in an open letter, the complaints against Baidu come from various sides: China Writers Association The association’s vice president Zhang Kangkang pointed out in the “two sessions” that the digital publishing industry is facing a problem with copyright authorization for mass-market works. [...]
“E-schoolbag” e-readers for students in China – a new teaching materials battlefront?
23/02/2011China’s book brand “Double Doctor” (Shuang boshi) launched its e-schoolbag product for college students. The MP4/MP5 product is priced at 528 RMB, cheaper than e-book products adopting E-Ink technology, thus it is more acceptable for students. Source: “Double Doctor” launching its professional e-schoolbag product (in Chinese) Comment: This kind of pre-loaded e-reader might establish a [...]
Shanda Literature’s Cloud Bookstore: one-year promotion and new features (China)
18/02/2011Shanda Literature declared its Cloud Bookstore officially as an independent operation under the new domain www.yzsc.com.cn, further integrating its digital publishing industrial chain. Since Cloud Bookstore waives the user channel charge for one year, many classic books and best-sellers can be downloaded for free. According to statistics, currently 95% of the books in Cloud Bookstore [...]
Success and challenges for China’s leading paid content website for periodicals
15/02/2011Since its establishment ten years ago, Qikan.Com.Cn (Longyuan) has stuck to the paid content business model, becoming a website with 2,700 cooperating periodicals and 50 million new users each year. The average subscription is renewed five times. Reasons for success The website established a user behavior database linked to key content, making users get what [...]
China: First dozen proposals for e-book content standards
31/01/2011According to the 2011 E-Book Content Standard Project Team Annual Meeting, the first twelve standard proposals such as “E-Book Content Standard System Table”, “E-Book Basic Terms”, “E-Book Copyright Page Standard”, etc., were voted for by hundreds of insiders from publishing companies, technology vendors, research institutes and project team. The China Press and Publication Research Institute [...]
Empty shelves in Baidu’s online bookstore (China)
31/01/2011At the end of last month I summarized an article “Baidu began selling e-books to counter piracy allegations” which already stated that Baidu had quietly launched its Bookstore business and that the bookstore is made up of nine categories such as novel, literature, science, etc., with only 28 books on offer. Although the article “Baidu [...]
Digitalization of magazine publishing in China – a review
26/01/20112010 was a harvest year for the periodical industry, with ten big events in journal digitalization taking place: 1 China Periodicals Association intends to establish its digital journal branch China Periodicals Association has been preparing for the establishment of its digital journal branch to better promote the digitalization of the periodical industry. 2 Hanvon (Hanwang) [...]
Xinhua Agency and Datang Telecom to establish joint-venture (China)
19/01/2011Xinhua-Ruide Digital Media Platform, a joint venture between Xinhua News Agency and Datang Telecom, was officially launched on January 17th in Beijing, meaning Datang Telecom enters the digital reading market. Source: Xinhua Agency and Datang Telecom to establish joint-venture company (in Chinese)
Problems and solutions for China’s e-book industry
18/01/2011Two articles in the China Press and Publication Journal summarize problems and solutions for the country’s e-book industry: Problems: Lack of content and real e-books. Content platforms are small in size and disorderly. Big input with small output. Piracy is rampant. Lack of users’ needs and the related market. The industrial chain is still imperfect. [...]
Low margins, fierce competition, no business chain: China’s e-book manufacturers changing to tablet PCs?
14/01/2011A China Daily article spotlights problems for manufacturers of e-book reading devices, half of which might be moving into tablet PCs: “Is this the end of the chapter for e-book manufacturers?” Also e-reader market leader Hanvon (70% share) will expand into tablet PCs.
