MCLC: Paper Republic Newsletter, May 2012

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Paper Republic Newsletter <news at paper-republic.org>
Subject: Paper Republic Newsletter, May 2012
****************************************************************

If you would prefer to read this online, click here
<http://paper-republic.org/newsletters/china-publishing-industry-newsletter
-may-2012/q2-a15a575400209e34e17e/>.

The China Publishing Industry Newsletter is a monthly mailing on new
happenings in the Chinese literary and publishing scenes. It is edited by
Eric Abrahamsen, with research and writing by Yang Guang.

FEATURES:

Douban's New Publishing Platform
<http://paper-republic.org/newsletters/tracking/link/china-publishing-indus
try-newsletter-may-2012/q2-a15a575400209e34e17e/254/>

On May 7th, Douban became the newest Chinese web company to launch a
retail platform for ebooks. After more than a year of work on the
technical backend, the Douban Read platform is now live, selling both
full-length ebooks and shorter "works". First impression: the store has
been made with the same attention ...


The Secrets of the London Book Fair
<http://paper-republic.org/newsletters/tracking/link/china-publishing-indus
try-newsletter-may-2012/q2-a15a575400209e34e17e/257/>

So the 2012 London Book Fair, and China's Market Focus presence there, are
far enough behind us that a (very brief) retrospective may be in order.
How did it go? That depends on who you were. If you were of a political
persuasion, it was a rousing success: much money was spent, many fine
speeches were made, and no ...


INDUSTRY NEWS:

OpenBook Bestseller Lists for April
<http://paper-republic.org/newsletters/tracking/link/china-publishing-indus
try-newsletter-may-2012/q2-a15a575400209e34e17e/259/>

Beijing OpenBook, a group specializing in monitoring books retail sales,
released April’s nationwide bestseller list
<http://www.openbook.com.cn/Information/2120/2092_0.html>. Megablogger and
opinion leader Han Han tops the fiction list with Bright and Majestic (光明与
磊
落) (Hunan Literature and Arts Publishing House) his recent return to
fiction, followed by Taiwan author Jiu Badao’s romance Those Girls We Used
to Chase (那些年, 我们一起追的女孩) (Modern Press) and the new Chinese
translation of 
Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude (Nanhai Press). Most of the
other titles on the list are urban romance, officialdom novels and novels
about the ancient imperial court. Han Han's book contains some defense
against fraud-buster Fang Zhouzi’s charges
<http://www.danwei.com/blog-fight-of-the-month-han-han-the-novelist-versus-
fang-zhouzi-the-fraud-buster/> that many of his earlier works were
ghost-written: the book includes fragments of the original manuscript of
his debut novel Triple Door (三重门), along with some unpublished poems and
essays about his reflections of literary creation. Bestseller lists in
China are notoriously unreliable, but OpenBook, which claims to collect
its information directly from bookstores around the country, is as
accurate as they come.


Story Drive China 
<http://paper-republic.org/newsletters/tracking/link/china-publishing-indus
try-newsletter-may-2012/q2-a15a575400209e34e17e/261/>

The Frankfurt Book Fair will bring its all-media platform StoryDrive,
founded in 2010, to Beijing for the first time this year, on May 29 and
30. It will bring together publishers, agents, film producers and games
developers to analyze the latest trends, discuss new business models, and
develop strategies for future success. StoryDrive China Conference and
Exhibition is to be ...


Private Publishing Industry Report
<http://paper-republic.org/newsletters/tracking/link/china-publishing-indus
try-newsletter-may-2012/q2-a15a575400209e34e17e/263/>

The Chinese Academy of Press and Publication released its 2011 China
Private Publishing Industry Development Report in April (Chinese-language
summary here 
<http://cips.chinapublish.com.cn/chinapublish/ky/jj/201204/t20120417_105170
.html>, saying that China’s private publishing industry will show three
major trends in 2012: diversity, transformation and digitalization.
According to the report, more private publishing organizations will
diversify their businesses into magazines, animation, movies, etc, and
even into industries beyond media. Most large-scale private publishing
organizations depend on textbook supplements for their profits, but
enthusiasm for e-readers will stimulate digital publishing for the mass
market. Well before 2011, private publishing organizations began seeking
cooperation with their state-owned counterparts in various ways, and this
trend of cooperation will become more apparent throughout 2012. Statistics
from 2010 indicate that private publishing organizations accounted for
76.1 percent of a total 131,000 press and publication organizations in
China.


National Reading Survey
<http://paper-republic.org/newsletters/tracking/link/china-publishing-indus
try-newsletter-may-2012/q2-a15a575400209e34e17e/264/>

The Chinese Academy of Press and Publication released results of their
latest national reading survey in April (executive summary in Chinese here
<http://www.chinanews.com/cul/2012/04-19/3832813.shtml>. The survey
comprises 18,881 participants aged 18 to 70. It shows that in 2011, the
percentage of those surveyed who read on digital devices (including
online, mobile phones and electronic readers) increased to 38.6 percent,
up 5.8 percent from that of 2010. 41.8 percent of participants said they'd
be willing to pay to download books. The average acceptable price for an
e-book was 3.5 RMB. 88.2 percent said they would not buy a paper copy of a
book they'd already read as an e-book. Statistics from 2010 give the
number of e-readers in China as 121 million.


NEW BOOKS: 

The Book of Life 
<http://paper-republic.org/newsletters/tracking/link/china-publishing-indus
try-newsletter-may-2012/q2-a15a575400209e34e17e/265/>

Henan writer Li Peifu portrays China’s half-a-century transformation in
his novel The Book of Life (生命册), the finale of his “Plains Trilogy”,
following 1999's Gate of the Lamb (羊的门) and 2003's Lights of the City (城
的灯
). Orphan Wu Zhipeng finds it impossible to escape the poverty of his
native village, even after he becomes a college teacher in the provincial
capital. He quits the job and ventures to Beijing and Shanghai, in search
of greater wealth… He Jianming, writer and deputy chairperson of Chinese
Writers’ Association, has cited the book for the potential to win the
prestigious Mao Dun Literature Prize.

Xin Shu 
<http://paper-republic.org/newsletters/tracking/link/china-publishing-indus
try-newsletter-may-2012/q2-a15a575400209e34e17e/266/>

Liu Liu 六六 (penname of Zhang Xin, 张辛) went undercover at several
hospitals 
in Shanghai for half a year, and came up with Xin Shu , a novel that tells
the stories of three young doctors, and probes China’s controversial
doctor-patient relationship. Liu Liu began publishing short stories online
in 1999; she is known for her insight into topical issues, and her ability
to turn them into witty, readable fiction. Many of her works have been
adapted into popular TV series, including Wang Gui and Anna(王贵与安娜)
about 
married life, Double-Sided Tape (双面胶) about the relationship between
mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law, and probably best known Cramped
Dwelling (蜗居) on soaring housing prices and the difficulties of making a
life in Chinese cities. Operations, her most recent work to be turned into
a TV serial, was originally published in 2010. This new edition is being
published to coincide with the television show.

Ox Demons, Snake Spirits
<http://paper-republic.org/newsletters/tracking/link/china-publishing-indus
try-newsletter-may-2012/q2-a15a575400209e34e17e/267/>

Avant-garde writer Ma Yuan returns to the literary scene with the
300,000-word bildungsroman Ox Demons, Snake Spirits , after having “sealed
his pen” for 20 years. Dayuan, a Red Guard from Shenyang, met Li Desheng,
a mountain villager from Hainan province, during the Cultural Revolution.
The two keep up a correspondence over the next 40 years, as Dayuan moves
to Tibet after graduating from college and Li Dengsheng goes through ups
and downs in life in Hainan. They are curious about the other’s world and
find themselves in their different lifestyle. Ma was one of the first
contemporary Chinese writers who dared to experiment with literary forms
and narrative strategies, and he is known for the labyrinthian
construction of his works.