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 ‘marketing’ category
Factors influencing China’s book import & export
02/09/2011In 2010, the export of all kinds of publications continued to increase, but an unfavorable balance of trade still exists. However, due to the following factors, the negative balance between import and export in the book market is gradually reduced: Book export channels and paths are more diversified and books on learning Chinese are very [...]
Beijing International Book Fair: Opinions on China’s book market potential
02/09/2011Attendees give their opinion on what’s selling in China’s book market in Publishers Weekly ‘s article “Beijing 2011: The Potential of China’s Book Market“. Also see this previous post: 18th Beijing International Book Fair opened
Telecoms deemed in dominating position for mobile reading in China
30/08/2011With Shengda Literature’s founding in 2008, the real commercial operation of online literature began, and the company became the biggest winner in the mobile market. Literature websites continue to develop rapidly due to mobile reading offers such as China Mobile Reading Base [see previous post "Mobile phones in China – competition for e-readers"], and they [...]
China: Market analysis of imported books
30/08/2011Imported books still occupy an important position in China’s book market in the first half year of 2011. Economics & management Affected by the financial crisis, the proportion of imported bestsellers in the economy & management book market decreases gradually. But books on personal finance management and economical theory are popular, such as “Rich Dad, [...]
Fewer pupils: Anhui New Media textbook sales down, books up (China)
30/08/2011In the first half of 2011, Anhui New Media generated 1.32 billion RMB revenue. Book sales accounted for 610 million RMB, 29.5% more than last year, and textbooks for 516 million RMB, -4.7% y-o-y. With fewer primary school students, textbook revenue will continue to fall. Source: Anhui New Media got 1.32 billion RMB revenue at [...]
Net profit up 33% at China South Publishing and Media Group
29/08/2011In the first half of 2011, China South Publishing and Media Group generated 370 million RMB net profit, up 33.55% y-o-y. A major growth factor was the newspaper business which accounted for 10% of revenue, increasing by 50.48% y-o-y. Source: Net profit of China South Publishing and Media Group grows by 33.55% (in Chinese) Also [...]
China’s Top Ten imported economics and management bestseller books
29/08/2011China Publishing Today‘s article “Analysis of the Imported Books Market in the First Half Year of 2011” (in Chinese) provides the following list of Top Ten imported economics and management bestsellers in China (links to amazon.com added by me): Mismeasuring Our Lives: Why GDP Doesn’t Add Up by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Amartya Sen and Jean-Paul [...]
Survey of China’s city newspapers: market shares and trends in 2011
29/08/2011According to a study of over sixty newspapers in China which included city newspapers and party newspapers, sales of many city newspapers in the first half of 2011 rose and people tended to prefer traditional media to online and digital media. The follow overview of five regions provides brief details for major cities. East China: [...]
“China’s International Book Promotion Plan”: volume to double
29/08/2011According to numbers presented at a press conference for the “China’s International Book Promotion Plan”, since 2006 China has signed publishing agreements with 351 publishing companies from 56 countries and 351 regions and published 1609 kinds of books in 34 languages. In order to intensify the “going out” of Chinese publications and culture, plan participants [...]
Mao Dun Literature Prize: China’s publishing houses cautious about reprinting award winners
25/08/2011Although bestsellers like Bi Feiyu’s “Massage” and Mo Yan’s “Frog” were awarded the Mao Dun Literature Prize, most publishing houses said they will decide whether to reprint these prize winners according to the market situation. Pan Kaixiong, the president of People’s Literature Publishing House, said “If readers have a new demand for “Massage”, we will [...]
“Urgent Notice” on publishing and distribution of teaching materials issued by China’s GAPP
22/08/2011Focusing on the excessive number and low quality of primary and secondary school supplementary teaching materials, GAPP released the “Notice on Further Enhancing the Management of Primary and Secondary School Supplementary Teaching Publications” on August 17th. One day later, an “Urgent Notice” on supervision and implementation was given to localities and departments concerned, setting a [...]
Guangzhou Book Festival opening today (China)
19/08/2011With the slogan “Happy reading, happy Guangdong”, this year’s Book Festival in Guangzhou will be held August 19-25. Major highlights: Larger scale: A record 27 topic areas and more than 300,000 book titles will be displayed in the exhibition. Emphasize current subjects: The book fair will highlight the CPC’s 90th anniversary and commemorate the 100th [...]
What mainland China book fairs can learn from Hong Kong and Taiwan
16/08/2011This summer, book fairs are opening continuously in Hong Kong, Taiwan as well as in Shanghai and other cities on the Chinese mainland. As a newcomer, the mainland’s book fairs can learn from those in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Suffering from birth defects While most exhibitors and visitors to mainland book fairs are domestic, book [...]
Mobile bookstore launched by Zhejiang Xinhua and China Mobile
15/08/2011On August 8th, the revised Bookuu Web and Mobile Book Store were launched under a cooperation between Zhejiang Xinhua Book Store Group and China Mobile Zhejiang Branch. On the Mobile Bookstore, Zhejiang Xinhua will offer bibliographic information, China Mobile Zhejiang Branch will offer information query and ordering services and Bookuu Web will distribute the books [...]
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 [...]
How 3 publication distribution groups in China adjust to new challenges
11/08/20112011 is the first year of the 12th Five-year Plan, so development of the press and publication distribution industry this year will profoundly effect the future. Some of the reactions to the many challenges distribution groups are facing were mentioned in interviews of China Press and Publication Journal: Strategy adjustments in the face of bigger [...]
Shanghai Book Fair moved to the third week of August (China)
10/08/2011Beginning this year, the annual Shanghai Book Fair will cooperate with Chinese All and the exhibition time is moved to the third week of August each year. In 2011, the Shanghai Book Fair cum “Chinese All” Shanghai Week will be held on the theme of “I love reading, I love life” and promote national reading [...]
Microblog post starts rumor about high salaries for China’s fashion magazine editors
08/08/2011An entry on a Weibo microblog supposedly uncovered that editors-in-chief at fashion magazines in China enjoy a salary of up to several million RMB, causing intensive commenting. Among others, the post mentioned “VOUGE” magazine editor: annual salary of four million RMB plus monthly housing supplement 30,000 RMB; “GQ” magazine editor: annual salary of one million [...]
Profit model innovation at 21st Century Business Herald (China)
04/08/2011Qiu Kejun, Director of Nanfang Daily and Editor-in-Chief of 21st Century, delivered a speech on July 29th on the profit model innovation at 21st Century Business Herald during the 2nd Chinese Media Leaders Forum. He stated that 21st Century Business Herald expanded its revenue-generating channels from publishing and advertisement to membership and marketing activities, including [...]
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 [...]
Analysis of China’s supplementary teaching material market: Problems and solutions
03/08/2011As briefly mentioned in previous posts (see “Publishing and distribution of educational publications in China – fighting piracy and corruption“), China’s supplementary teaching material market is rife with problems. This article by the Private Book Industry Development Research Center of the Press and Publication Research Institute spotlights problems and solutions. Problems: Compared with the situation in [...]
Half of China’s private bookstores closed down in the past decade
02/08/2011As stated in China Publishing Today’s article “On the spreading bookstore crisis” (in Chinese), “according to China Federation of Industry’s Book Industry Association survey, almost half of private bookstores have closed down in the past 10 years, this trend is accelerating.” A major reason are online bookstores. Also see these previous posts: GAPP to support [...]
GAPP to support physical bookstores in China
02/08/2011Recently, GAPP provided answers on the hot topic of how to support the development of physical bookstores. Will all physical bookstores that experience difficulty with management receive support? Liu Binjie, Director of GAPP, said that GAPP will take the following policy measures to support special and academic bookstores. Implement the “Notice on Strengthening the Rural [...]
Publication point of sales to be part of infrastructure planning in China
01/08/2011The “Notice on Strengthening the Rural and Urban Publication Distribution Networks” was recently published by GAPP, the Central Publicity Department and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. Since demolishing bookstores during urban and rural development has often made it difficult for people to buy books and newspaper, the Notice makes building distribution networks in [...]
Three models for positioning China’s urban party newspapers within mainstream media
27/07/2011In China, party newspapers published in prefecture-level cities account for 90% of all party papers, so keeping a stable position within the mainstream media is important in order to ensure wide dissemination of Party and government information. Three models can be identified to adjust to different local conditions: High-end Model: To avoid fierce competition among [...]
First bonded warehouse for publications established in China
26/07/2011On July 19th, China’s first bonded warehouse for imported publications was founded by China Publication Import and Export Group. It constitutes a new mechanism for the timely provision of publications needed by domestic users and will raise the efficiency of executing orders and facilitate foreign publishing houses’ expansion into the Chinese market. Furthermore, the bonded [...]
Economic Observer: A Truce in Chongqing’s Newspaper Wars – Collusion among Publishers (China)
12/07/2011In its English-edition wrap-up, the Chinese weekly Economic Observer provides brief background on the concerted price increase by four newspapers in Chongqing. More details are provided in “Newspaper War and Collective Price Increase” (in Chinese). Also see this previous post: “Four Chongqing newspapers increase price by 50%”.
New edition of Xinhua Dictionary on sale (China)
08/07/2011After an eight-year revision process, the 11th edition of Xinhua Dictionary entered the market yesterday. The total initial print run of paperback, general and two-color editions reaches 4 million copies. The price ranges from 12 RMB to 24.9 RMB. The revision for the new edition focused on tone changes, an increase in explanations and illustrations, [...]
600,000 new media talents needed to fill gap (China)
08/07/2011According to a forecast by experts, 600,000-800,000 talents will be needed in China’s new media industry within the next 3-5 years. Apart from the rapid increase in the need for mobile-media talents, persons engaged in technology development and marketing are also badly needed. There are a number of reasons for the shortage: In addition to [...]
Copyright in China: Writer Press asking online bookstores to stop sales of infringing books
05/07/2011Writer Press is asking big online bookstores like Dangdang, Joyo and 360Buy to stop selling books from Jiuzhou Press using the “Writer Cup” or “The 13th New Concept Writing Contest” name and trademark, since Mengya magazine’s publishing house is the only one that can use the logo of “Writer Cup” according to an authorization agreement [...]
104 “red” classic comic strips published in China
27/06/2011On June 20th, 104 jointly edited “red” classic comic strips in 170 volumes were published in print and digital form by several publishing houses such as China Fine Arts Publishing House and People’s Art Press in order to celebrate the Chinese Communist Party’s 90th anniversary. The “red” comic strips were funded by the government, with [...]
Male fashion magazines in China
23/06/2011ZhiZu GQ Style, a male fashion magazine, was launched in April, attracting attention to the male fashion market in China. Most of China’s male fashion magazines are making efforts to enter the mainstream media market. The success of such magazines as ZhiZu GQ Style and Ruishi Elle Men is prove that men in China have [...]
Digital publishing business opportunities for Taiwan on Mainland (China)
17/06/2011According to the Cross-Strait Press and Publication Industry Development Forum, the digital publishing consumer market increasingly matured during the 11th Five-Year Plan period, with the gross output of digital publishing exceededing 100 billion RMB in 2010. 2011 is the first year of implementation of the ECFA (Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement) for both sides of the [...]
Heilongjiang Publishing Group: Popularizing the brand through book fair (China)
13/06/2011The 21st Book Fair lowered the curtain in Harbin two weeks ago, and its main organizer Heilongjiang Publishing Group attracted people’s attention due to its careful planning and accurate implementation to successfully make its brand more reknown. Li Jiujun, Board Chairman of the group, stated that the group will deepen the system reform and establish [...]
Spotlight on: Tianjin Publishing Foreign Trade Company
10/06/2011Beginning in September, Tianjin Publishing Foreign Trade Company plans to participate in several overseas Chinese book fairs, such as the Malaysia International Chinese Book Fair, Confucius Publishing Cultural American Exhibition, etc. It was awarded the “national cultural export key enterprise” by four departments including GAPP for its significant performance on promoting the “going out” of [...]
A spotlight on how restructuring of newspapers and periodicals changes China’s publishing industry
30/05/2011Shao Mingyi, Vice-Director of Hubei Press and Publication Bureau, stated that the Bureau has so far repositioned 126 kinds of newspapers and periodicals, and 86 of them have been transferred between publishing groups. The reform of newspapers and periodicals in Hubei can be used as a reference for other provinces. Main characteristics: Continuous structural adjustment [...]
China establishes first Culture Publishing Center in Africa
30/05/2011The first Chinese Culture Publishing Center in Africa, co-founded by Zhejiang Publishing United Group and Nairobi University, held its opening ceremony in Nairobi (Kenya) on May 25th. The publishing center is expected to promote the cooperation between Zhejiang Province and East Africa in the publishing industry and expand the former’s business there. Source: First Chinese [...]
People’s Daily: It’s time to tackle “paid papers” in China’s magazines and newspapers
26/05/2011Nowadays in China, there is a big market for publishing of papers. For job title assessment, graduation dissertation, promotion, etc., one needs to publish papers in journals or newspapers. Due to the management system reform, publishing houses operate independently and assume sole responsibility for their profits or losses, so “page business” and paid papers emerged. [...]
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: [...]
Survey on attitudes towards China’s literature awards
25/05/2011Recently, a survey on the attitudes to literature awards was undertaken among postgraduates of People’s University of China: Most interviewees had doubts on the selection of literature awards, and 73% of them thought that a basic common consensus can hardly be formed. National-class awards such as the Maodun Literature Award have high popularity and big [...]
Online bookstores’ price war in China continues
25/05/2011With Children’s Day approaching on June 1st, online bookstores in China begin to discount their children books, leading to complaints from publishers. 24 children publishing houses fought against 360buy.com’s promotion together, stating that the discount of online bookstores is an unfair competition. 360buy.com and Joyo-amazon responded to the issue: Liu Qiangdong, CEO of 360buy.com, expressed [...]
10 measures for China’s publishing distribution industry in the next five years
24/05/2011[Note: This list was published in Jiefang Daily without mention of any specific event.] Deepen the distribution system reform to develop profitable enterprises, focusing on the introduction of strategic investors, listing & financing, M&A etc. Integrate logistics resources to improve operational efficiency, focusing on the cross-regional cooperation of logistics systems, the establishment of logistics centers [...]
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 [...]
New York TV station to promote Chinese books and English publications on China
24/05/2011China National Publication Import and Export Corporation will sign a strategic cooperation agreement with New York’s ICN TV Network on May 25, constituting an important measure to promote the “going out” of Chinese culture. The cooperation will enhance the propaganda and popularization of Chinese culture in the US in the following aspects: Expanding channels for [...]
