In Shenzhen, customers use their smartphones to pay for goods at a street booth, the sort of cashless payment that Zhao Zizhong spoke about at the 2019 London Book Fair’s Quantum conference in his presentation on ‘paid-for content.’ Image – iStockphoto: Yuelan
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Content for a More Proactive Consumer
While not the material we track with the help of OpenBook’s research staff in Beijing, “paid-for content” is a significant sector of the Chinese market, as was clear from a presentation made at London Book Fair’s Quantum conference earlier this month.
Zhao Zizhong of the Communication University of China said in his address that one of the key factors in the development of the market for this material is that it responds to the shifting dynamics of the country’s highly digital consumer base. Among those elements:
- A change in distribution channels, from television, radio, and traditional online communication to what Zhao defines as “knowledge-sharing platforms” such as Himalaya FM, a streaming audio content platform with 35 million paying users.
- A transition in publicly recognized influencers, from film and television personalities to opinion leaders who build their reputations online: one example is Lou Zhenyu, whose lectures command almost 1.6 million followers on Weibo and some 12 million subscribers on WeChat.
- A deep penetration in Chinese culture of mobile payments over cash apps like Alipay, WeChat Pay and other systems that make buying content faster and easier than before.
- A distinctive switch in the customer base from something recognizable as a typical audience to a more proactive content-selecting consumer.
As an example of what paid-for content might be, Zhao used the Quantum audience itself at the Olympia London conference center, pointing out that the content of the day’s presentations and discussions might be bundled into a salable product and offered to those who attended and those who couldn’t as paid-for content.
Zhao Zizhong of the Communication University of China speaks at the 2019 London Book Fair Quantum conference, March 11. Image: Porter Anderson
“At present,” Zhao said, “China’s paid knowledge industry chain has formed a relatively complete upstream and downstream structure, consisting of upstream content providers, midstream incubators and service providers, as well as downstream paid knowledge-sharing platforms and users.
“China’s paid knowledge-sharing platforms vary in form and are capable of reaching a broad range of distribution and/or information-sharing channels. Despite certain functional overlap, these platforms can be broadly categorized into four types:
- Community (based in selected interests)
- Traffic-based (usually user-generated content)
- Social-based (often led by influencers with large followings)
- Tool-based (professionalized business applications used in corporate settings and with technical support)
“For publishing houses,” Zhao said, “China’s paid knowledge market is an unexcavated gold mine in potential opportunities. On the one hand, this is a market of with 1.2 billion potential consumers; on the other, global capital is promising and pouring in. At present, the scale of content-paying users in China continues to grow, from 48 million in 2015 to 292 million in 2018. The market size is expected to grow from 4.91 billion in 2017 to 23.51 billion in 2020.”
And the money?
“In the capital market,” Zhao said, “Himalayan FM, which is an [Key Opinion Leader] Papi Jiang received an investment of US $1.8 million.”
And in some cases, international partnerships are in place, he said, mentioning specifically one between Penguin Random House and Himalaya FM. The paid-for content providers, he said, are looking for content from Western suppliers.
Movie-Driven Science Fiction Tops China’s Lists in February
Liu Cixin’s ‘The Wandering Earth’
If anything, the rising tide of paid-for content means, as many Publishing Perspectives readers might realize, a new kind of competition to parts of the book industry–not least because, as our monthly charts indicate, China’s traditional bestseller lists change slowly and frequently include older material being cycled back through the charts.
For example, in February, we see Liu Cixin’s The Wandering Earth enter the fiction list at No. 5, and yet accompanying it was Liu’s best-known title, long a presence on many lists, the 2008 publication of The Three Body Problem, this time back up to No. 1 from January’s No. 3. As our associates at OpenBook point out to us, no fewer than six editions of Liu titles are in the Top 30 for February.
And at No. 4, you’ll see Yu Hua’s To Live at No. 4–after 11 consecutive months at No. 1.
The book-to-film track that we follow closely these days in the West is well in play in China, too. The film adaptation of Liu’s The Wandering Earth was released to time with the Chinese New Year holidays, so that it shot to the top with Wu Jing in its starring role and, as of March 5, more than 4.5 billion yuan at the box office, or US$669 million.
In nonfiction, we see that trend toward titles to cycle back onto the charts from before.
We saw in February the return to the lists of:
- Jia Pingwa’s Walk Alone Freely, ranked No. 24
- Kelly McGonigal’s The Willpower Instinct (a new edition), ranked No. 27
- Echo’s The Stories of the Sahara, ranked No. 29
- Chai Jing’s Insight, ranked No. 30
Below, then, are OpenBook’s overall lists from February of bestsellers in fiction and nonfiction, followed by its lists of bestselling fiction and nonfiction in China by authors from outside the country.
At the end of our article, as always, you’ll find notes on how the lists are constructed.
OpenBook’s Fiction Bestsellers in China, February 2019
| January 2019 Ranking | February 2019 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Chinese Publisher |
| 3 | 1 | 9787536692930 | 2008-01 | The Three-Body Problem | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 4 | 2 | 9787536693968 | 2008-05 | The Dark Forest | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 5 | 3 | 9787229030933 | 2010-11 | Death’s End | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 1 | 4 | 9787506365437 | 2010-06 | To Live | Yu hua | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 5 | 9787511360809 | 2016-06 | The Wandering Earth | Liu Cixin | China Overseas Chinese Press |
| 2 | 6 | 9787500601593 | 2005-08 | Red Crag | Luo Guangbin,Yang Yiyan | China Youth Press |
| 6 | 7 | 9787208061644 | 2006-04 | The Kite Runner (2018 Edition) | Khaled Hosseini | Shanghai People’s Publishing House |
| 7 | 8 | 9787530216781 | 2017-06 | Ordinary Word (3 Volumns) | Lu Yao | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 11 | 9 | 9787544270878 | 2014-04 | Miracles of the Namiya General Store | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 8 | 10 | 9787539983295 | 2015-10 | Foundation | Isaac Asimov | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 18 | 11 | 9787530215593 | 2017-06 | To Live | Yu hua | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 10 | 12 | 9787020090006 | 2012-07 | Fortress Besieged | Qian Zhongshu | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 13 | 13 | 9787540487645 | 2018-06 | Moments We Shared | Zhang Jiajia | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 9 | 14 | 9787544760874 | 2016-10 | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (New Edition) | Jules Verne | Yilin Press |
| 17 | 15 | 9787541151736 | 2018-12 | Uninhibited | Mo Xiang Tong Xiu | Sichuan Literature & Art Press |
| Not Ranked | 16 | 9787229100605 | 2016-07 | The Three-Body Problem (Collector’s Edition) | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 21 | 17 | 9787544291170 | 2017-08 | One Hundred Years of Solitude (50th Anniversary Edition) | Gabriel García Márquez | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 20 | 18 | 9787544291163 | 2017-08 | Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Version) | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 19 | 19 | 9787550013247 | 2015-05 | Ferryman | Claire McFall | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| 14 | 20 | 9787500680239 | 2009-01 | Pioneering | Liu Qing | China Youth Press |
| Not Ranked | 21 | 9787229100612 | 2016-07 | The Dark Forest (Collector’s Edition) | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 16 | 22 | 9787530216774 | 2017-07 | Ordinary Word | Lu Yao | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 23 | 9787559620187 | 2018-10 | Ran Freely | Wu Zhe | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 25 | 24 | 9787544267618 | 2014-06 | The Devotion of Suspect X | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| Not Ranked | 25 | 9787229100629 | 2016-07 | Death’s End (Collector’s Edition) | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 30 | 26 | 9787544285148 | 2016-10 | Malice | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 12 | 27 | 9787506394864 | 2017-09 | Sophie’s World (New Edition) | Jostein Gaarder | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 29 | 28 | 9787544277617 | 2015-06 | Love in the Time of Cholera | Gabriel García Márquez | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 15 | 29 | 9787540487676 | 2018-07 | Used to be Alone | Rui Xi | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 28 | 30 | 9787020002207 | 1998-07 | Dream of the Red Chamber | Cao Xueqin | People’s Literature Publishing House |
OpenBook’s Nonfiction Bestsellers in China, February 2019
| January 2019 Ranking | February 2019 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Chinese Publisher |
| 4 | 1 | 9787559401007 | 2017-04 | Good Loneliness | Chen Guo | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 19 | 2 | 9787201088945 | 2014-12 | No More Than Skins | Cai Chongda | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 8 | 3 | 9787511553645 | 2018-04 | Good Love: Love Philosophy of Chen Guo | Chen Guo | People Daily Publishing House |
| 3 | 4 | 9787201094014 | 2015-09 | Six Records of a Floating Life | Shen Fu | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 2 | 5 | 9787544771627 | 2018-03 | Fu Lei’s Letters for Home (2018 Edition) | Fu Lei,Fu Min | Yilin Press |
| 1 | 6 | 9787540481551 | 2018-11 | The Emotional Quotient Lesson of Kevin Tsai: Live for Yourself for One Time | Kevin Tsai | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 5 | 7 | 9787510842344 | 2016-03 | All the Lost Will Be Repaid in Another Way | Geng Shuai | Jiuzhou Press |
| 9 | 8 | 9787508689586 | 2018-07 | Economics Lecture Notes | Xue Zhaofeng | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 15 | 9 | 9787108063106 | 2018-06 | We Three (Third Edition) | Yang Jiang | SDX Joint Publishing Company |
| 12 | 10 | 9787539999883 | 2017-03 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 11 | 11 | 9787544382052 | 2018-05 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (3) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 7 | 12 | 9787508660752 | 2017-02 | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Yuval Noah Harari | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 13 | 13 | 9787544382045 | 2018-05 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (2) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 14 | 14 | 9787559418111 | 201804 | 30 Minutes of World History in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 16 | 15 | 9787540467784 | 2014-06 | The Art of Speaking of Kevin Tsai | Kevin Tsai | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 22 | 16 | 9787559620125 | 2018-05 | Genius on the Left, Lunatic on the Right (Full Version)(New Edition) | Gao Ming | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 10 | 17 | 9787549550173 | 2014-01 | Seeing Off | Long Yingtai | Guangxi Normal University Press |
| 17 | 18 | 9787540468316 | 2014-07 | The Art of Speaking of Kevin Tsai (2) | Kevin Tsai | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 21 | 19 | 9787508698175 | 2018-12 | Variate: Microtrend of China’s Society | He Fan | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 18 | 20 | 9787508684031 | 2017-12 | Principles | Ray Dalio | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 24 | 21 | 9787201088822 | 2014-09 | How to Win Friends & Influence People | Dale Carnegie | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 25 | 22 | 9787540487669 | 2018-05 | You Are Bad | Da Bing | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 30 | 23 | 9787530215401 | 2016-02 | The Most Beautiful Thing in Life is Fresh Delight | Lin Qingxuan | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 24 | 9787535488473 | 2016-05 | Walk Alone Freely | Jia Pingwa | Changjiang Literature & Art Press Co.,Ltd. |
| 26 | 25 | 9787540484880 | 2018-01 | The Gay Genius: The Life and Times of Su Tungpo (Commemorative Edition) | Lin Yutang | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 23 | 26 | 9787535732309 | 2001-11 | A Brief History of Time | Stephen W.Hawking | Hunan Science & Technology Press |
| Not Ranked | 27 | 9787514219203 | 2017-09 | The Willpower Instinct (New Edition) | Kelly McGonigal | Cultural Development Publishing House |
| 6 | 28 | 9787213090721 | 2018-12 | Something to Say | Cui Yongyuan | Zhejiang People’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 29 | 9787530214787 | 2017-04 | The Stories of the Sahara | Echo | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 30 | 9787549529322 | 2012-12 | Insight | Chai Jing | Guangxi Normal University Press |
Foreign Author Fiction Bestsellers in China, February 2019
| January 2019 Ranking | February 2019 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Author nationality | Chinese Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | 9787208061644 | 2018-02 | The Kite Runner (2018 Edition) | Khaled Hosseini | United States of America | Shanghai People’s Publishing House |
| 4 | 2 | 9787544270878 | 2014-04 | Miracles of the Namiya General Store | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 2 | 3 | 9787539983295 | 2015-10 | Foundation | Isaac Asimov | United States of America | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 3 | 4 | 9787544760874 | 2016-10 | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (New Edition) | Jules Verne | France | Yilin Press |
| 8 | 5 | 9787544291170 | 2017-08 | One Hundred Years of Solitude (50th Anniversary Edition) | Gabriel García Márquez | Colombia | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 7 | 6 | 9787544291163 | 2017-08 | Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Version) | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 6 | 7 | 9787550013247 | 2015-05 | Ferryman | Claire McFall | Britain | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| 10 | 8 | 9787544267618 | 2014-06 | The Devotion of Suspect X | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 12 | 9 | 9787544285148 | 2016-10 | Malice | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 5 | 10 | 9787506394864 | 2017-09 | Sophie’s World (New Edition) | Jostein Gaarder | Norway | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 11 | 11 | 9787544277617 | 2015-06 | Love in the Time of Cholera | Gabriel García Márquez | Colombia | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 13 | 12 | 9787544384636 | 2018-09 | The Long Goodbye | Raymond Chandler | United States of America | Hainan Publishing House |
| 18 | 13 | 9787544291224 | 2017-08 | After School (2017 Version) | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 16 | 14 | 9787550024212 | 2017-09 | Trespassers | Claire McFall | Britain | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| 14 | 15 | 9787539971810 | 2015-04 | The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry | Gabrielle Zevin | United States of America | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 19 | 16 | 9787532776771 | 2018-03 | Norwegian Wood (30th Anniversary Edition) | Haruki Murakami | Japan | Shanghai Translation Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 17 | 9787539999166 | 2018-05 | No Longer Human | Dazai Osamu | Japan | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 9 | 18 | 9787544762519 | 2016-12 | How the Steel Was Tempered | Nikolai Alexeevich Ostrovsky | Union of Soviet Socialist Republics | Yilin Press |
| 20 | 19 | 9787544281102 | 2016-01 | Newcomer | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| Not Ranked | 20 | 9787544774635 | 2019-01 | How the Steel Was Tempered (New Edition) | Nikolai Alexeevich Ostrovsky | Union of Soviet Socialist Republics | Yilin Press |
Foreign Author Nonfiction Bestsellers in China, February 2019
| January 2019 Ranking | February 2019 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Author nationality | Chinese Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | 9787508660752 | 2017-02 | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 2 | 2 | 9787508684031 | 2017-12 | Principles | Ray Dalio | United States of America | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 5 | 3 | 9787201088822 | 2014-09 | How to Win Friends & Influence People | Dale Carnegie | United States of America | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 4 | 4 | 9787535732309 | 2001-11 | A Brief History of Time | Stephen W.Hawking | Britain | Hunan Science & Technology Press |
| 10 | 5 | 9787514219203 | 2017-09 | The Willpower Instinct (New Edition) | Kelly McGonigal | United States of America | Cultural Development Publishing House |
| 8 | 6 | 9787108009821 | 2014-03 | 1587, a Year of No Significance | Ray Huang | United States of America | SDX Joint Publishing Company |
| 6 | 7 | 9787508692098 | 2018-07 | 21 Lessons for the 21st Century | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 7 | 8 | 9787508672069 | 2017-01 | Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 11 | 9 | 9787220102912 | 2017-09 | Rich Dad, Poor Dad | Robert T.Kiyosaki | United States of America | Sichuan People’s Publishing House |
| 9 | 10 | 9787544760850 | 2017-01 | Michelangelo / Tolstoy / Beethoven | Romain Rolland | France | Yilin Press |
| 12 | 11 | 9787301109489 | 2006-10 | A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century (Vol.1) | L. S. Stavrianos | United States of America | Peking University Press |
| 13 | 12 | 9787301110522 | 2006-10 | A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century (Vol.2) | L. S. Stavrianos | United States of America | Peking University Press |
| 20 | 13 | 9787514208788 | 2013-07 | The Willpower Instinct (Hardcover) | Kelly McGonigal | United States of America | Cultural Development Publishing House |
| 15 | 14 | 9787020116133 | 2017-06 | Red Star Over China | Edgar Snow | United States of America | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 14 | 15 | 9787544768511 | 2017-06 | Three Days to See (New Edition) | Helen Keller | United States of America | Yilin Press |
| 17 | 16 | 9787508650890 | 2015-05 | Who Moved My Cheese? | Spencer Johnson | United States of America | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 16 | 17 | 9787535733597 | 2002-02 | The Universe in a Nutshell | Stephen W.Hawking | Britain | Hunan Science & Technology Press |
| 18 | 18 | 9787544762885 | 2016-04 | 84, Charing Cross Road | Helene Hanff | United States of America | Yilin Press |
| Not Ranked | 19 | 9787540489304 | 201901 | Danshari | Yamashita Eiko | Japan | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| Not Ranked | 20 | 9787545544220 | 2018-12 | Becoming | Michelle Obama | United States of America | Heaven & Earth Press |
Notes on the Charts
OpenBook
is a privately owned industry-data research firm based in Beijing. It functions somewhat as Nielsen and NDP do from the West, and Nielsen Book Research International has worked with OpenBook in Asian operations. With authoritative data and information resources, OpenBook is able to deliver consulting service to partners who would like to explore the Chinese book market and identify suitable partners.
Trajectory
, based near Boston, is an importer of Western-language ebooks and audiobooks into China. Trajectory is also helping China’s largest publishers export their books and audiobooks through a proprietary global ebook distribution network that includes hundreds of retailers as well as library and school distributors. Trajectory recently has added copyright services, both for content going into China and for exports from China to the rest of the world.
Up until July 1, 2018, this data has been estimated by OpenBook to represent some 50 percent of the total sales activity in China. OpenBook draws point-of-sale data from more than 6,000 bookstores in China, including a total 3,496 physical bookstores representative of all the provinces in China except Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Retail outlets include:
- Traditional bookstores
- Supermarkets
- Campus bookstores
- “Professional” stores, said to be small stores with a specific industrial or trade focus
- Airport stores
In addition, OpenBook is drawing data from online bookstores of three main types:
- The “Tmall” stores of Alibaba (Tmall is described as a marketplace of companies that create storefronts online to sell products including books)
- The “JingDong” Stores of JD.com (similar to Tmall as a marketplace of both individual companies and bookstores operated by JD.com)
- Ten independent online bookselling retailers
China has some 500 or more publishers in operation today. Most of them, Trajectory CEO James Bryant clarifies, are government-owned. Private publishers are required to generate ISBNs for their titles from a publishing company that is government-owned—which, in other words, creates a system in which all ISBNs are in one way or another registered through government channels. The government approves each book published in China.
More China bestseller reports from Publishing Perspectives are here.