2016 Beijing Book Fair

■By Editorial Team, CPMJ

According to relevant public data, the overall scale of publishing industry in China increased over the course of 2014 with the operating revenue of publishing, printing and distribution services up to 1.9 trillion RMB, an increase of 9.4% over 2013, and total profit up to over 156 billion RMB, an increase of 8.6%. In 2015, nearly 230,000 book-selection topics were submitted by over 500 presses in China, a decrease of 0.2% compared with 2014, which marked the initial decline in the otherwise continuous growth of submission of book topics for years. Although the newest data about published books had not been officially issued, the above figures show that the decrease of book-publishing titles may already appear to be the new trend. For years, the publishing titles of Chinese books kept increasing or at least changed at a high level.

It cannot be denied that this decrease is affected by the reduction of traditional book publishing under the impact of digital publishing, online reading and mobile reading. However, it is also caused by the enhanced awareness of quality works and the pursuit of fewer but better quality books. In the future, this trend can be gradually intensified.

Trade publishing: IP assets developed, new Tech employed and children's book market booming

As for trade publishing, the products which combine the functional reading, fragmentation reading, and new media functionality have become the new trends. In addition, the zeal of young people towards TV media extends to online videos, and the resulting emerging bestsellers have pulled along the continued increase of book sales by effective interaction with video programs. This means the fragmented short-story collection has become the new highlight, which can not only richly answer reader demand for quantity, but also receive market affirmation for high-quality works. Apart from the demands of functional reading, personalized reading demands of readers in trade publishing field are gradually becoming clear, which can be properly demonstrated by the publication climax of gourmet books.

The main concern and focus of trade publishing is traditional literature, while the creation of full-length novels has seen breakthroughs in aspects such as depth of thought, artistic standards, theme and narration. As for network literature, a large number of adapted works suddenly heat up the IP market. Toward the end of 2012 and into the start of 2013, the quantity of adaption soared. The Journey of Flower (《花千骨》) and The Legend of Miyue（《芈月传》） published in 2015 have became popular on the TV screen, and IP has become the new "trump card" of trade publishing. Hoping to capitalize on the IP assets, Tencent published The Chuangshi (Chinese), and Baidu Company and Alibaba Group established Baidu Literature and Ali Literature respectively, which tends to divide network literature into three main parts.

As for children's books, publication of children's literature has been the main force in the China's book market in recent years. The original children's books received sound development. In addition to the construction of a series of children's publication brands, the resources of excellent authors of original children's books also increased its vitality, such as the series of Naughty Boy Ma Xiaotiao（“淘气包马小跳”） and Laugh at the Cat （“笑猫日记”）diary by Yang Hongying, Pipilu General Mobilization（“皮皮鲁总动员”） by Zheng Yuanjie and The Straw House （《草房子》）by Cao Wenxuan. All above-mentioned original children's books have become the competitive products of children's publishing houses.

In recent years, various novel-style children's books have become gradually popular mainly due to the introduction of new technology and styles. These include the touch and talk pen reading materials, AR books, video-audio multimedia children's books, multi-dimensional and stereoscopic audible books, stereoscopic activity books and customized children's books. In comparison with traditional slicing and inserting handiwork, technologies such as AR (Augmented Reality) and MPR (Multimedia Print Reader) have been gradually applied. The publishing enterprises such as Zhejiang Children's Publishing House, China Children's Press & Publication Group, and Jieli Publishing House are all trying to apply the AR technology into individual books.

Education publishing: Valued-added platform popular, parenting books dominant

In recent years, along with the changes in education policies, a shift has also occurred in the education publishing industry. The emergence of "Internet+" and the emerging of online education, education apps, and test websites have exerted a strong and evident impact on print teaching material publications. More and more relevant institutions choose the "multimedia-integrated publication" as the entry point of in-depth publication. For instance, the noteworthy feature of education publishing is the influx of professional technical companies. With digital publishing, the presses construct an online platform which provides value-added services related to book products, and this kind of value-added service has been initially developed and adopted by some China's publishing enterprises. For instance, the People's Medical Publishing House relies on the People's Medical Website to construct the value-added service platform focusing on the teaching materials, monograph and reference books. For instance, in a textbook on internal medical clinic, there are only some PPTs or a few videos of the author in the book, but in the process of uploading, the commissioning editor will select the proper medical materials from the database and match them to the original book to enhance the content and provide a richer experience for the reader. This kind of content value-addition has been developing over a long period of time, and has proven very effective at attracting readers within this professional field.

In recent years, the appearance of post-80s parents brings some novel topics for the family education. The education concepts of this new generation have gradually influenced the publication of family education books for the China's publishing market. Particularly in these family education books, the "father effect" has spread along with the popularity of TV program "Daddy, where we go". The publishing industry has also grasped the opporturity, which resulted in the dominant position of "father - son" in the parenting books in 2014.

Professional publising: adapt to social changes and keen on sales capability enhancement

In recent years, the topic of the development of China's professional publishing has been closely concerned with current societal situations which can be demonstrated by the publication of many books that focus on such things as running and fitness, PM2.5, big data and Internet finance. The influence caused by the changes of two-child policy will possibly bring sharp changes in the children's and education book market, which is also another opportunity for the professional publishing enterprises.

Books on economy and administration have become popular along with the Internet thinking, WeChat and Microblog. However, the dilemma their market presents is still a concern. The CPMJ·Shanghai Oriental Data indicates that the market of economy and management books was strapped in the continuous downturn in 2014. In 2014, the annual titles of economy and management books reached up to 17,749, a slight decrease compared to 2013, and there were 468 presses operating the publication of books on economy and management, which was slightly lower compared to 2013. In the atmosphere of an overall flagging market, the competition of books on economy and management has become much fiercer.

As for the professional publishing, the enhancement of the sales capability for publishing houses can be seen in the influence of various professional and academic institutions. In this regard, the professional database has become the principal product used to promote the sales capability for professional presses. For instance, Science Press learned from the experience of overseas publishers to implement the "Digital Science" project and established the cloud-based knowledge service platform, including the contents of science library, periodical publication, medical data, and digital education.

Publishing enters the omnimedia marketing age

CPMJ·Shanghai Oriental Data indicates that the market contributions of top 100 bestsellers sold via Brick-and mortar bookstores accounted for 63.53% in 2015.

The data indicates that China's publishing companies have started to focus on the combination of online and offline platforms as an all-around multi-dimensional marketing. This, combined with changing reading habits and the increasing sales of e-business platform, has stimulated publishing institutions to set up official accounts in WeChat to integrate the network service platform featured with "unique WeChat + official website maintenance + third-party e-business platform" into the current supply chain.

Many popular social community accounts on children's books in WeChat choose to keep the comparatively neutral attitude and stand. After a period of exploration, the WeChat marketing of books became a market place that could not be ignored in 2014. The WeChat trailer has gradually grown as the information gathering place of the information channels and bookstore activities for more and more readers participated in the activities.

(translated by Guan Lijun)