At the Apple store in Nanjing East Road, in Shanghai. Image – iStockphoto: Polud Ziber
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
A Scottish Hit Gets Only Bigger in China’
‘Outcasts’
- Ran Freely (2) by Wu Zhe is ranked No. 5
- Outcasts by Claire McFall is at No. 10
- The Cat Emperor and His Friends (4) by Bai Cha is at No. 25
- Douluo Continent Ⅳ (6) by Tang Jia San Shao is at No. 26
- Street Wizards (Full Version) by Feng Jicai, is ranked No. 29
Among three titles returning to the list in May, that interest in classic works from English surfaces again—Jules Verne’s 1870 submarine-and-octopus adventure is back:
- Street Wizards by Feng Jicai is ranked No. 13
- Street Wizards (2) by Feng Jicai is at No. 21
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne is here published in a new edition from the Yilin publishing house is ranked No. 30
‘Ferryman’ Navigates China’s Charts
Our colleagues on our bestseller charts at OpenBook in Beijing point to the Scottish writer Claire McFall’s Ferryman series as a case of a work that has stood the test of time.
‘Ferryman’
The lead book in the series, Ferryman, first entered the fiction list in China in July 2015 and was at No. 1 by October of that year. The book then remained in the Top 10 on the list for three full years, racking up 47 consecutive months on the charts.
The second book, Trespassers, entered the list at No, 7 in September 2017. While not the shooting star the first book had been, it did stay on the charts for 15 months.
Now, the final book of the trilogy, Outcasts, has entered the list, having just been published in May by China’s Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House and going straight to the May bestseller list at No. 10. As happens in other markets, our associate Rainy Liu confirms that this third book can be expected to generate new sales for the first two entries in the series, and she anticipates the strongest gains to go to the first volume, Ferryman.
And even more drive should come into the picture with the cinematic treatment expected from Legendary Entertainment’s film adaptation with Keri Barker and Jennifer Foreman directing. Even as the film deal was being announced in January 2018, Dalya Alberge at The Guardian was writing that McFall’s name “is barely known in Britain but [the] Scottish teacher has become a publishing phenomenon in China where her debut novel for young adults has sold more than 1m copies over the past two years.”
‘The American Trap’ Springs Onto the Nonfiction List
‘The American Trap’
Even as Donald Trump is in Osaka for the G20 meeting—and Roberta Rampton is writing for Reuters for this morning (June 27) about his anticipated talks with the Chinese president, Xi Jingping—a book called The American Trap has popped up on the nonfiction chart, and yes, it’s a business book, of sorts.
As we read in Iris Deng and Celia Chen’s article for Inkstone News, French author Frederic Pierucci, formerly an executive with French rail company Alstom, wrote Le Piège Américain with Matthieu Aron for its January publication, and it was spotted on the desk of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei in photos of a press event.
The book was published in China in April by the major house CITIC, write Deng and Chen, “just as China and the US struggled to reach an agreement to end their trade war. Its Chinese tagline reads: ‘How To Dismantle Other Countries’ Business Giants Through Non-Commercial Means.’ It soon became the top-selling business management book on JD.com and No. 1 new title on Dangdang.com.”
The book is a personal account of what Pierucci says was his struggle with the US Justice Department, as part of what he writes is “more than $14 billion in fines paid by our [French] multinationals in recent years to the US Treasury.”
And it has arrived on the nonfiction list at No. 10. We’ll look to see where it goes on the June charts next month.
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 China Bestsellers, May 2019
| April 2019 Ranking | May 2019 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Chinese Publisher |
| 4 | 1 | 9787506365437 | 2010-06 | To Live | Yu hua | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 1 | 2 | 9787536692930 | 2008-01 | The Three-Body Problem | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 2 | 3 | 9787536693968 | 2008-05 | The Dark Forest | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 3 | 4 | 9787229030933 | 2010-11 | Death’s End | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 5 | 9787221150639 | 2019-02 | Ran Freely (2) | Wu Zhe | Guizhou People’s Publishing House |
| 8 | 6 | 9787208061644 | 2006-04 | The Kite Runner (2018 Edition) | Khaled Hosseini | Shanghai People’s Publishing House |
| 6 | 7 | 9787500601593 | 2005-08 | Red Crag | Luo Guangbin,Yang Yiyan | China Youth Press |
| 5 | 8 | 9787530216781 | 2017-06 | Ordinary Word (3 Volumns) | Lu Yao | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 7 | 9 | 9787544270878 | 2014-04 | Miracles of the Namiya General Store | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| Not Ranked | 10 | 9787550032125 | 2019-02 | Outcasts | Claire McFall | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| 17 | 11 | 9787530215593 | 2017-06 | To Live | Yu hua | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 13 | 12 | 9787550013247 | 2015-05 | Ferryman | Claire McFall | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 13 | 9787506344791 | 2008-12 | Street Wizards | Feng Jicai | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 20 | 14 | 9787559620187 | 2018-10 | Ran Freely | Wu Zhe | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 10 | 15 | 9787544291163 | 2017-08 | Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Version) | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 11 | 16 | 9787540487645 | 2018-06 | Moments We Shared | Zhang Jiajia | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 9 | 17 | 9787544291170 | 2017-08 | One Hundred Years of Solitude (50th Anniversary Edition) | Gabriel García Márquez | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 21 | 18 | 9787530219218 | 2019-02 | Life is Like Ocean | Mai Jia | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 14 | 19 | 9787020090006 | 2012-07 | Fortress Besieged | Qian Zhongshu | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 12 | 20 | 9787511360809 | 2016-06 | The Wandering Earth | Liu Cixin | China Overseas Chinese Press |
| Not Ranked | 21 | 9787506384209 | 2015-11 | Street Wizards (2) | Feng Jicai | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 19 | 22 | 9787559427434 | 2019-02 | The Outsider | Albert Camus | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 18 | 23 | 9787544285148 | 2016-10 | Malice | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 16 | 24 | 9787544267618 | 2014-06 | The Devotion of Suspect X | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| Not Ranked | 25 | 9787020151271 | 2019-02 | The Cat Emperor and His Friends (4) | Bai Cha | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 26 | 9787556244386 | 2019-02 | Douluo Continent Ⅳ (6) | Tang Jia San Shao | Hunan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House |
| 22 | 27 | 9787506365680 | 2012-12 | Chronicle of a Blood Merchant | Yu hua | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 23 | 28 | 9787532776771 | 2018-03 | Norwegian Wood (30th Anniversary Edition) | Haruki Murakami | Shanghai Translation Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 29 | 9787020110933 | 2015-12 | Street Wizards (Full Version) | Feng Jicai | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 30 | 9787544760874 | 2016-10 | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (New Edition) | Jules Verne | Yilin Press |
OpenBook’s Nonfiction China Bestsellers , May 2019
| April 2019 Ranking | May 2019 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Chinese Publisher |
| 4 | 1 | 9787550268517 | 2016-07 | Positive Discipline | Jane Nelsen | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 2 | 2 | 9787503565397 | 2019-02 | Xi Jinping in Zhengding | Party School of the Central Committee of C.P.C | Central Party School Press |
| 1 | 3 | 9787201088945 | 2014-12 | No More Than Skins | Cai Chongda | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 3 | 4 | 9787201094014 | 2015-09 | Six Records of a Floating Life | Shen Fu | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 6 | 5 | 9787559620125 | 2018-05 | Genius on the Left, Lunatic on the Right (Full Version)(New Edition) | Gao Ming | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| Not Ranked | 6 | 9787514365641 | 2017-11 | I Know What I Want, I Know How to Get it, and Do It Now. That’s All | Yang’s Owl | Morden Press |
| 18 | 7 | 9787539999883 | 2017-03 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| Not Ranked | 8 | 9787550025998 | 2018-02 | Dong Qing: Be a Brilliant Lady | Qiao Ruiling | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| 15 | 9 | 9787544382045 | 2018-05 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (2) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 28 | 10 | 9787549550173 | 2014-01 | Seeing Off | Long Yingtai | Guangxi Normal University Press |
| 17 | 11 | 9787544382052 | 2018-05 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (3) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 16 | 12 | 9787559418111 | 2018-04 | 30 Minutes of World History in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 19 | 13 | 9787201088822 | 2014-09 | How to Win Friends & Influence People | Dale Carnegie | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 14 | 14 | 9787508095226 | 2018-09 | Nonviolent Communication | Marshall B.Rosenberg | Huaxia Publishing House |
| 21 | 15 | 9787535488473 | 2016-05 | Walk Alone Freely | Jia Pingwa | Changjiang Literature & Art Press Co.,Ltd. |
| 11 | 16 | 9787559401007 | 2017-04 | Good Loneliness | Chen Guo | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 9 | 17 | 9787508684031 | 2017-12 | Principles | Ray Dalio | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| Not Ranked | 18 | 9787503561634 | 2017-08 | Xi Jinping’s Seven Years as an Educated Youth | Party School of the Central Committee of C.P.C | Central Party School Press |
| Not Ranked | 19 | 9787521702415 | 2019-02 | The American Trap | Frederic Pierucci,Matthieu Aron | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 24 | 20 | 9787540481551 | 2018-11 | The Emotional Quotient Lesson of Kevin Tsai: Live for Yourself for One Time | Kevin Tsai | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| Not Ranked | 21 | 9787549550159 | 2014-01 | My Child, Just Take Your Time | Long Yingtai | Guangxi Normal University Press |
| 5 | 22 | 9787508660752 | 2017-02 | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Yuval Noah Harari | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 22 | 23 | 9787511553645 | 2018-04 | Good Love: Love Philosophy of Chen Guo | Chen Guo | People Daily Publishing House |
| 8 | 24 | 9787508689586 | 2018-07 | Economics Lecture Notes | Xue Zhaofeng | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 13 | 25 | 9787535732309 | 2001-11 | A Brief History of Time | Stephen W.Hawking | Hunan Science & Technology Press |
| 23 | 26 | 9787220102912 | 2017-09 | Rich Dad, Poor Dad | Robert T.Kiyosaki | Sichuan People’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 27 | 9787540467784 | 2014-06 | The Art of Speaking of Kevin Tsai | Kevin Tsai | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| Not Ranked | 28 | 9787549564125 | 2015-04 | Dear Andrea | Long Yingtai,Andreas Walther | Guangxi Normal University Press |
| Not Ranked | 29 | 9787514219203 | 2017-09 | The Willpower Instinct (New Edition) | Kelly McGonigal | Cultural Development Publishing House |
| 10 | 30 | 9787108063106 | 2018-06 | We Three (Third Edition) | Yang Jiang | SDX Joint Publishing Company |
Foreign Author Fiction China Bestsellers, May 2019
| April 2019 Ranking | May 2019 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Author nationality | Chinese Publisher |
| 2 | 1 | 9787208061644 | 2018-02 | The Kite Runner (2018 Edition) | Khaled Hosseini | United States of America | Shanghai People’s Publishing House |
| 1 | 2 | 9787544270878 | 2014-04 | Miracles of the Namiya General Store | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 14 | 3 | 9787550032125 | 2019-02 | Outcasts | Claire McFall | Britain | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| 5 | 4 | 9787550013247 | 2015-05 | Ferryman | Claire McFall | Britain | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| 4 | 5 | 9787544291163 | 2017-08 | Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Version) | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 3 | 6 | 9787544291170 | 2017-08 | One Hundred Years of Solitude (50th Anniversary Edition) | Gabriel García Márquez | Colombia | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 9 | 7 | 9787559427434 | 2019-02 | The Outsider | Albert Camus | France | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 8 | 8 | 9787544285148 | 2016-10 | Malice | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 7 | 9 | 9787544267618 | 2014-06 | The Devotion of Suspect X | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 10 | 10 | 9787532776771 | 2018-03 | Norwegian Wood (30th Anniversary Edition) | Haruki Murakami | Japan | Shanghai Translation Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 11 | 9787544760874 | 2016-10 | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (New Edition) | Jules Verne | France | Yilin Press |
| Not Ranked | 12 | 9787539983295 | 2015-10 | Foundation | Isaac Asimov | United States of America | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 6 | 13 | 9787544277617 | 2015-06 | Love in the Time of Cholera | Gabriel García Márquez | Colombia | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 11 | 14 | 9787544291224 | 2017-08 | After School (2017 Version) | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 15 | 15 | 9787550024212 | 2017-09 | Trespassers | Claire McFall | Britain | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| 12 | 16 | 9787544384636 | 2018-09 | The Long Goodbye | Raymond Chandler | United States of America | Hainan Publishing House |
| 17 | 17 | 9787539971810 | 2015-04 | The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry | Gabrielle Zevin | United States of America | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 20 | 18 | 9787539982830 | 2015-06 | Everything I Never Told You | Celeste Ng | United States of America | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 16 | 19 | 9787544281102 | 2016-01 | Newcomer | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 18 | 20 | 9787201116693 | 2017-05 | My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry | Fredrik Backman | Sweden | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
Foreign Author Nonfiction China Bestsellers, May 2019
| April 2019 Ranking | May 2019 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Author nationality | Chinese Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | 9787550268517 | 2016-07 | Positive Discipline | Jane Nelsen | United States of America | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 6 | 2 | 9787201088822 | 2014-09 | How to Win Friends & Influence People | Dale Carnegie | United States of America | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 5 | 3 | 9787508095226 | 2018-09 | Nonviolent Communication | Marshall B.Rosenberg | United States of America | Huaxia Publishing House |
| 3 | 4 | 9787508684031 | 2017-12 | Principles | Ray Dalio | United States of America | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 2 | 5 | 9787508660752 | 2017-02 | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 4 | 6 | 9787535732309 | 2001-11 | A Brief History of Time | Stephen W.Hawking | Britain | Hunan Science & Technology Press |
| 8 | 7 | 9787220102912 | 2017-09 | Rich Dad, Poor Dad | Robert T.Kiyosaki | United States of America | Sichuan People’s Publishing House |
| 10 | 8 | 9787514219203 | 2017-09 | The Willpower Instinct (New Edition) | Kelly McGonigal | United States of America | Cultural Development Publishing House |
| 9 | 9 | 9787108009821 | 2014-03 | 1587, a Year of No Significance | Ray Huang | United States of America | SDX Joint Publishing Company |
| 7 | 10 | 9787508672069 | 2017-01 | Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 14 | 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 |
| 17 | 12 | 9787020116133 | 2017-06 | Red Star Over China | Edgar Snow | United States of America | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 15 | 13 | 9787301110522 | 2006-10 | A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century (Vol.2) | L. S. Stavrianos | United States of America | Peking University Press |
| 11 | 14 | 9787508692098 | 2018-07 | 21 Lessons for the 21st Century | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 12 | 15 | 9787508650890 | 2015-05 | Who Moved My Cheese? | Spencer Johnson | United States of America | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| Not Ranked | 16 | 9787521702415 | 201902 | The American Trap | Frederic Pierucci,Matthieu Aron | France | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| Not Ranked | 17 | 9787514208788 | 201307 | The Willpower Instinct (Hardcover) | Kelly McGonigal | United States of America | Cultural Development Publishing House |
| 13 | 18 | 9787535796943 | 2019-02 | Brief Answers to the Big Questions | Stephen W.Hawking | Britain | Hunan Science & Technology Press |
| Not Ranked | 19 | 9787544760850 | 2017-01 | Michelangelo / Tolstoy / Beethoven | Romain Rolland | France | Yilin Press |
| 20 | 20 | 9787540489304 | 2019-01 | Danshari | Yamashita Eiko | Japan | Hunan Literature & Art 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, 2019, 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.