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 ‘online literature’ category
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Why 99% of online literature in China is rubbish
27/05/2011China’s famous writer Mai Jia said, “If I had the power, I would destroy the Internet. I think that 99.99% of current online literature is rubbish.” The comment is based on his dissatisfaction with the disarray of online literature, which currently lacks a healthy growth mechanism. He added that without a reasonable evaluation mechanism, commercial [...]
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 [...]
Three statements on Internet copyright protection of digital publishing in China
18/05/2011Internet copyright piracy has a big impact on the development of digital publishing. Measures to stop online copyright infringement and piracy were a hot topic at the 7th China International Cultural Industry Fair. The managers of online platforms should set a good example of copyright protection A series of digital copyright infringement cases threatens the [...]
Baidu beaten in landmark copyright case, must compensate Shanda Literature
12/05/2011The article in Global Times reports: “A Shanghai district court has ordered search engine giant Baidu to pay half a million yuan ($75,700) in compensation to Shanda Literature, an original content provider website, in a major copyright lawsuit case.” The reason stated is that Baidu ” did not remove unauthorized literary works from its website [...]
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) [...]
After literature and MP3: Baidu’s encyclopedia accused of copyright infringement in China
04/05/2011Baidu’s open online encyclopedia Baidu baike (“Baidupedia”) was accused of copyright infringement by unofficial members of Chinese Wikipedia recently. The infringement involves quoting and modifying Wikipedia’s content without specifying author or source, sharing not in accordance with Wikipedia’s CC-by-sa-3.0 license, and without permission from Wikipedia. The copyright infringement has not been confirmed by Wikipedia Foundation, but [...]
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 [...]
Going out, down, and up: strategy of Zhejiang Xinhua Bookstore Group (China)
20/04/2011In 2010, Zhejiang Xinhua Bookstore Group achieved rapid progress, realizing sales of 7.67 billion RMB in the province (+5.92% y-o-y). According to its General Manager Wang Zhongyi, the group’s operation objectives in the 12th five-year period are to achieve 7% annual sales growth, reaching 11 billion RMB in the province at the end of 2015, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Copyright negotiations fail: Baidu accuses authors of insincerity, denies requests (China)
26/03/2011As Caixin reports in its article Baidu Caught in Copyright Clash with Writers (in English), negotiations between writer representatives and the company collapsed: “Baidu rejected all requests made by the publishers, …” with Baidu’s vice president Zhu Guang blaming “insincerity” on the side of the representatives. The four demands of the writer representatives as listed [...]
Baidu’s copyright problems: negotiations, threats and an official opinion on “safe harbor” principle abuse
25/03/2011According to the China Written Works Copyright Society, Baidu has responded to the Open Letter by fifty authors’ requesting protection of their copyright with a negotiation invitation. The society held a publishing industry meeting on March 22nd, electing the first four negotiators. A “Publishing Industry Alliance Against Baidu’s Infringement” has been established on Sina Micro-blog [...]
Baidu responds to copyright infringement, offers negotiations with publishing insiders (China)
21/03/2011On March 17th, publisher Shen Haobo revealed on his micro-blog that he and musician Gao Xiaosong have already met in private with Baidu high-level personnel. During the talks, Baidu expressed its positive attitude toward negotiating with publishing industry insiders, but Shen Haobo stated that Baidu must carry out transparent negotiations with the whole industry rather [...]
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. [...]
Chinese authors blame search giant Baidu for copyright infringement – with comment
16/03/2011On the occasion of World Consumer Rights Day, fifty authors accused China’s largest search engine Baidu of participating in copyright violations in an open letter on publisher Shen Haobo’s blog (in Chinese). As the Xinhua.net article “China’s search giant Baidu in wrangle over copyright theft” states, this coincided with a call by China Written Works [...]
China’s first online digital publishing website for cartoons goes online
13/03/2011Having received the first license for online digital publishing in the cartoon and animation sector from GAPP, 91AC.com went online on March 9th. The site combines digital journals, electronic books and original contributions. Source: Digital publishing online portal 91AC for Chinese-langauge cartoons goes online (in Chinese) See previous posts: National Cartoon Industry Net Launched on [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
China: Authors need a broker to help solve digital copyright issues
28/01/2011The digital copyright dispute surrounding the novel “Gu Lu” by Jia Pingwa demonstrates that the limits of authority on digital right aren’t definite and that many authors have no knowledge of digital copyright. To solve the problem, some authors have taken action themselves (see previous post “Copyright development in China: writers transferring digital copyright“), but [...]
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)
Copyright development in China: writers transferring digital copyright
18/01/2011During a signing ceremony held on January 10, writers Zhou Guoping and Deng Xian transferred their digital copyright to Zhongnan Media. Zhongnan Media is trying to promote its digital publishing development, therefore cooperating with famous writers and acquiring excellent copyright resources constitute important jobs for the group. Source: Writers authorizing digital copyright for Zhongnan Media [...]
Twittered: China’s mobile phones lead a reading revolution
10/01/2011In two recent posts (“Why digital publishing is successful in China” and “Ten predictions for China’s digital publishing industry in 2011“) the role of mobile reading in China was an important issue. The Irish Times article “China’s mobile phones lead a reading revolution” adds some real-life spice to the rather dry aspects mentioned in the [...]
Baidu began selling e-books to counter piracy allegations
28/12/2010Recently, the Library Bookstore was launched very low-key on Baidu Library’s website, meaning that Baidu officially started its online sale of e-books and attempts to establish cooperative relationships with publishers, thus hoping to counter allegations of piracy. (See previous post “Shanda accuses Baidu of fostering online piracy; will launch own search engine for copyrighted e-books“). [...]
China Publishing Industry: Shell Reading Net awarded “2010 most promising website”
23/12/2010At the 2010 China Publishing Industry’s Websites Annual Meeting, Shell Reading Net (Beike yuedu wang) was selected from 2000 websites and awarded the “2010 most promising website”. Shell Reading Net belongs to Beijing Science and Technology Press and is a popular information website for reading. It was launched in November, 2009. In 2010, the website’s [...]
Hanvon’s CEO on China’s e-book market: content competition and copyright protection
08/12/2010Chairman Liu Yingjian announced that Hanvon (Hanwang) Technology has become the world’s third largest and China’s largest e-book company, with more than one million users. He believes that competition will focus on content and that copyright protection will be the key to whether or not the market will develop healthily. Currently, lacking copyright protection is [...]
Xinhua and Shanda sign strategic cooperation agreement (China)
07/12/2010Xinhua News Agency and Shanda Network signed a strategic framework agreement to use their respective content, information and channel advantages, meaning Xinhua’s text, pictures and video will be distributed using Shanda’s network, video and interactive entertainment channels. Source: Xinhua News Agency and Shanda Network sign strategic agreement (in Chinese)
Liu Binjie met with Bertelsmann CEO (China)
06/12/2010GAPP’s director Liu Binjie recently met with Bertelsman’s CEO Hartmut Ostrowski in Beiing. According to Liu Binjie, China hopes to learn more about international traditional media enterprises’ response to the publishing industry’s diversification and digitalization, their experience and measures taken. China also intends support to strengthen international cooperation, also in the form of personnel exchanges [...]
Baidu Library responds to infringement: plans to share ad profits with copyright holders (China)
26/11/2010Baidu Library is an online document-sharing platform designed for teachers, students, career white-collar workers, etc. to provide courseware, exercises, professional information and other documents. It is occupying 70% of the market and has been blamed for copyright infringement, especially by its rival Shanda Literature. On Baidu Library’s first-year anniversary, Baidu’s Product Director indicated that the [...]
Complete list of enterprises which received e-book licenses (China)
06/11/2010As mentioned in the post “E-books in China: first licenses issued; regulations for foreign products coming“, thirty enterprises were awarded four different kinds of e-book licenses. Below is a complete list as stated on the GAPP website (in Chinese), some of the lesser-known companys’ names might not be translated correctly 100%, for some I added [...]
E-books in China: first licenses issued; regulations for foreign products coming
05/11/2010The altogether thirty licenses issued to 21 companies yesterday fall into four categories: e-book publishing: 4 licenses, among them for China Publishing Group, e-book reproduction: 13 licenses, among them for Hanvon Technology and Shanda Literature, e-book distribution: 8 licenses, e-book import and export: 5 licenses, among them for China Import and Export Group. GAPP’s vice [...]
Shanda Literature’s CEO on confronting Baidu with own search engine (China)
02/11/2010After getting involved in the online shopping search business, Shanda Literature announced that it had started developing its vertical search engine for novels. Hou Xiaoqiang, CEO of Shanda Literature, talked about the strategy in an interview: Shanda was forced to enter the search business because of widespread piracy, especially by Baidu’s search. Shanda’s Cloud Search [...]
Shanda accuses Baidu of fostering online piracy; will launch own search engine for copyrighted e-books
28/10/2010At the product launch of its e-book reader “Bambook”, Shanda’s CEO Hou Xiaoqiang talked about the topic of online literature copyright protection. He believed that Baidu fosters online piracy, obstructing the digital publishing industry. For example, he said, 95% of the novels on Shengda Literature’s website have pirated copies in Baidu Library. There will be [...]
Copyright disputes mediation mechanism to be set up by China Writers Association and Beijing High Court
28/10/2010On October 26th, the Copyright Disputes Mediation Committee, a cooperation project between China Writers Association and Beijing High Peoples Court, was set up. Members include famous writers, publishers and editors, copyright management experts, intellectual property experts and lawyers. The cooperation agreement intends to establish: a consultative mechanism for professional copyright questions, a copyright disputes mediation [...]
Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Open Access Platform for Sci-Tech Journals launched
27/10/2010The Sci-Tech Journals Open Access Platform of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was officially launched on October 25th. This bridge for Chinese sci-tech journals to go out to the world currently includes 435,000 articles of 103 periodicals, providing data statistics such as citations / full text data analysis, number of downloads, etc., based on a [...]
5th Lu Xun Literature Prize: awards for 30 works (China)
27/10/2010For the 5th Lu Xun Literature Prize, awards were presented to thirty works in the categories novella, short story, reportage, poem, essay and literature theory review. According to the revised regulations, all works published in China within the specified period of time were eligible, largely expanding the range of participating authors. Online literature was included [...]
Shanda Literature CEO warns Kindle will fail in China
27/10/2010As China Daily‘s article “Rival warns Kindle will fail in China” states, Shanda Literature’s CEO “Hou Xiaoqiang said rampant piracy, fierce competition from copycat products and the lack of support from domestic publishers will hamper the success of Amazon’s e-book reader”. The article mentions further comments by Hou on the importance of content.
Interpreting GAPP “Opinions” on the e-book industry’s development: the discussion continues (China)
26/10/2010Recently, GAPP published the “Opinions of the General Administration of Press and Publication on the Development of the E-book Industry“ (see post “Twenty suggestions on developing China’s e-book industry – GAPP’s “Opinions”“). Now, further discussions about the “Opinions” are being carried out. To regulate the market or to support the “magnates”？ Large e-book enterprises show [...]
Shanda Literature: e-books trapped in ISBN grey zone (China)
25/10/2010The recently published “Opinions of the General Administration of Press and Publication on the Development of the E-book Industry” require that all contents pre-installed or downloaded onto e-book readers / devices must be official publications, meaning they must have an ISBN. Shanda Literature, the world’s biggest online literature platform, falls into an ISBN grey zone: [...]
