At a tea room in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, among China’s most populous urban centers. Image – iStockphoto: Plej

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

Market Boosts from Theater, Public Domain

‘The Long Goodbye’

Today, there’s an interesting look at how a book entering the public domain is doing in another market. Raymond Chandler’s 1953 The Long Goodbye is a hit in China. Published there in September by Hainan Publishing House, it’s now at No. 23 on the OpenBook fiction bestseller list for March, This, despite the fact that there are 10 editions of the book on the market, thanks to its status in the public domain in China.

Hainan, we’re told by Rainy Liu at OpenBook in Beijing, has marketed its edition of the book as a classic, rather than as a private-eye (Philip Marlowe) mystery, and is using the slogan, “No wonder Haruki Murakami has read it 12 times!” to impress readers—a tactic that may indeed be working, as the Hainan edition has sold more copies than the other nine editions on the Chinese market. None of those others has moved onto the charts.

Otherwise, the main fiction list in China once more proves to be a slow moving one, with the Top 10 titles little changed except for the rise of Claire McFall’s Ferryman by 11 points to arrive at No. 8.

Another interesting trend shows up in a rise in recent years among young Chinese readers in live stage performance. Theater there, like film in China and other markets, offers a development direction for publishers that can add up to increased sales.

‘Newcomer’

An example of this is found in the books of the major-favorite Japanese author in China, Higashino Keigo, whose titles are monthly fixtures on our charts.

Since last year, OpenBook is pointing out, a number of Keigo’s works have been adapted for the stage, including Journey Under the Midnight Sun and Miracles of the Namiya General Store. 

And this month, you might notice a newcomer titled Newcomer on the list at No. 30. That’s a new Keigo. And the Japanese stage play adapted from the book has led to a Chinese adaptation for theater.

Meanwhile, in nonfiction in March, we see three books on the list for the first time:

• Xi Jinping in Zhengding at No. 7
• Nonviolent Communication at No. 22
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad, No. 25

There are also three books returning to the nonfiction list:

• Positive Discipline at No. 8
• My Child, Just Take Your Time ranked No. 28
• I Won’t at No. 30

Below, then, are OpenBook’s overall lists from (month) 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, China, March 2019

OpenBook’s Nonfiction Bestsellers, China, March 2019

Foreign Author Fiction Bestsellers, China, March 2019

Foreign Author Nonfiction Bestsellers, China, March 2019

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.