Crowds move past eateries in springtime Wuhan, capital of China’s Hubei province, a year ago. Image – iStockphoto: Julien Viry
February Charts: No New Titles
With Italy the new world epicenter of the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak—and World Health Organization specialists saying that New York City is the next likely epicenter (as reported by Adam Bienkov at Business Insider)—it can be difficult at times to remember that for more than two months, businesses have been closed and workers have been displaced in China.
Albert Camus’ ‘The Stranger’
Most physical bookstores—a major feature of China’s book retail system—have had to remain closed. And our associates at Beijing OpenBook tell us that while online retail in books is a robust force, shipping logistics have been disrupted, making the digital alternative to a bookshop trip far less efficient than usual.
“In our February data,” OpenBook’s Rainy Liu tells us, “we’ve also seen the effects of weak marketing campaigns, but we look forward to more new content after we overcome the outbreak.”
Of course, getting out of that outbreak–and moving forward without new waves of contagion–is no easy matter.
In Tuesday’s (March 24) report from Vivian Wang and Sui-Lee Wee at The New York Times, the 60-million-person lockdown of Hubei province is beginning to be lifted after being instigated in January. Hubei’s capital Wuhan, however, remains closed until at least April 8. “The easing of the lockdown is the latest sign that China appears to have successfully tamed the epidemic,” Wang and Wee write, “by placing sweeping restrictions on hundreds of millions of people, while governments elsewhere flounder.”
The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center tracker shows the world caseload today (March 25) at 436,159, the number of cases in China still standing as the highest of the nations’ counts, at 81,661. In deaths, however, China reports 3,163, while Italy has overtaken that figure with 6,820 deaths of its own, its caseload at 69,176.
The United States now is third in the world in terms of coronavirus activity, with 55,238 cases and 802 deaths, 192 of those in New York City.
‘Malice’ by Higashino Keigo
At times, we’re asked at Publishing Perspectives for measures of impact on the books business of the pandemic, but these are of course impossible to come by. The outbreak appears only to be starting its fearful assault in many markets and only anecdotal effects—many unverified and some driven more by rumor than fact—are available. This will be the case for some time to come.
OpenBook’s researchers believe that they’ve seen increased reading time engaging some of the Chinese population during the struggle, but the most striking effect they can detect in February’s analysis is a significant drop in the release of new titles.
No new book entered the overall charts in February, and key sales went to two types of books: classics (including international work such as Albert Camus’ The Stranger but apparently not The Plague), and popular novels which likely were welcome for filling slow time out of work. A heavy contemporary tradition of reading classics in China these days is driven by school assignments, and once those were accomplished, even more popular work seems to have come into play.
Moments We Shared by Zhang Jiajia jumped 21 places in February to the 8th spot on the fiction list, while the always popular Japanese author Higashino Keigo’s books either moving up the list or making a return to it. His titles in play in February include Miracles of the Namiya General Store Journey, Under the Midnight Sun in its 2017 edition, The Devotion of Suspect X, and Malice.
Gabriel García Márquez’s ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’
Titles related to epidemics and plagues also have found new footing on the charts in China, with Gabriel García Márquez ‘s Love in the Time of Cholera at No. 11. Its popularity is in part thanks to promotional schemes around Valentine’s Day, when news media focused on issues of affection amid infection and romance in isolation.
In nonfiction, as in fiction, no new titles appeared on the charts in February, although eight titles made a return. Chen Lei’s hugely popular “30 Minutes” books remain big sellers, with as many as 10 featured on the list in February. 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon is perpetually in the lead among these books from Chen.
Wang Xiaobo’s Silent Majority has found readers during the outbreak, as has the late Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time.
And OpenBook’s team says that self-help topics of interest during the lockdowns have included books on stress-reducing meditation.
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, February 2020
| Jan 2020 Ranking | Feb 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Chinese Publisher |
| 2 | 1 | 9787506365437 | 2010-06 | To Live | Yu hua | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 8 | 2 | 9787536692930 | 2008-01 | The Three-Body Problem | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 11 | 3 | 9787229030933 | 2010-11 | Death’s End | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 10 | 4 | 9787536693968 | 2008-05 | The Dark Forest | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 5 | 5 | 9787530216781 | 2017-06 | Ordinary Word (3 Volumns) | Lu Yao | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 14 | 6 | 9787530219218 | 2019-02 | Life is Like Ocean | Mai Jia | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 7 | 7 | 9787544291170 | 2017-08 | One Hundred Years of Solitude (50th Anniversary Edition) | Gabriel García Márquez | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 29 | 8 | 9787540487645 | 2018-06 | Moments We Shared | Zhang Jiajia | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 1 | 9 | 9787500601593 | 2005-08 | Red Crag | Luo Guangbin,Yang Yiyan | China Youth Press |
| 13 | 10 | 9787208061644 | 2006-04 | The Kite Runner (2018 Edition) | Khaled Hosseini | Shanghai People’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 11 | 9787544277617 | 2015-06 | Love in the Time of Cholera | Gabriel García Márquez | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 12 | 12 | 9787020002207 | 1998-07 | Dream of the Red Chamber | Cao Xueqin | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 3 | 13 | 9787539983295 | 2015-10 | Foundation | Isaac Asimov | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| Not Ranked | 14 | 9787559427434 | 2019-02 | The Outsider | Albert Camus | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 16 | 15 | 9787020090006 | 2012-07 | Fortress Besieged | Qian Zhongshu | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 22 | 16 | 9787544270878 | 2014-04 | Miracles of the Namiya General Store | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 23 | 17 | 9787544291163 | 2017-08 | Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Edition) | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 4 | 18 | 9787506394864 | 2017-09 | Sophie’s World (New Edition) | Jostein Gaarder | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 6 | 19 | 9787500680239 | 2009-01 | Pioneering | Liu Qing | China Youth Press |
| 24 | 20 | 9787020008735 | 1998-07 | Journey to the West | Wu Cheng’en | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 21 | 9787544285148 | 2016-10 | Malice | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 30 | 22 | 9787530211564 | 2012-03 | Life | Lu Yao | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 23 | 9787532776771 | 2018-03 | Norwegian Wood (30th Anniversary Edition) | Haruki Murakami | Shanghai Translation Publishing House |
| 9 | 24 | 9787530216774 | 2017-07 | Ordinary Word | Lu Yao | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 28 | 25 | 9787020008728 | 1998-07 | Romance of the Three Kingdoms | Luo Guanzhong | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 26 | 9787020008742 | 1998-07 | Water Margin | Shi Nai’an,Luo Guanzhong | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 25 | 27 | 9787530215593 | 2017-06 | To Live | Yu hua | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 27 | 28 | 9787559637949 | 2019-11 | Short Stories from Notebook of a Grave Robber Chronicles | Nanpai Sanshu | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| Not Ranked | 29 | 9787544267618 | 2014-06 | The Devotion of Suspect X | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 21 | 30 | 9787559620187 | 2018-10 | Ran Freely | Wu Zhe | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
OpenBook’s Nonfiction Bestsellers, February 2020
| Jan 2020 Ranking | Feb 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Chinese Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | 9787544276986 | 2019-10 | Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 19 | 2 | 9787201088945 | 2014-12 | No More Than Skins | Cai Chongda | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 3 | 3 | 9787544387866 | 2019-09 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (4) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 14 | 4 | 9787508095226 | 2018-09 | Nonviolent Communication | Marshall B.Rosenberg | Huaxia Publishing House |
| 4 | 5 | 9787539999883 | 2017-03 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 6 | 6 | 9787544382052 | 2018-05 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (3) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 7 | 7 | 9787544382045 | 2018-05 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (2) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 10 | 8 | 9787508689586 | 2018-07 | Economics Lecture Notes | Xue Zhaofeng | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 8 | 9 | 9787559418111 | 2018-04 | 30 Minutes of World History in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 9 | 10 | 9787540493691 | 2019-11 | Because This is Your Life | Kevin Tsai | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 26 | 11 | 9787108063106 | 2018-06 | We Three (Third Edition) | Yang Jiang | SDX Joint Publishing Company |
| 11 | 12 | 9787540484880 | 2018-01 | The Gay Genius: The Life and Times of Su Tungpo (Commemorative Edition) | Lin Yutang | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 15 | 13 | 9787540481551 | 2018-11 | The Emotional Quotient Lesson of Kevin Tsai: Live for Yourself for One Time | Kevin Tsai | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 18 | 14 | 9787559620125 | 2018-05 | Genius on the Left, Lunatic on the Right (Full Version)(New Edition) | Gao Ming | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 16 | 15 | 9787559435552 | 2019-09 | 30 Minutes of Tang Poetry in Cartoon (2) | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 2 | 16 | 9787544771627 | 2018-03 | Fu Lei’s Letters for Home (2018 Edition) | Fu Lei,Fu Min | Yilin Press |
| 17 | 17 | 9787559436184 | 2019-05 | 30 Minutes of Tang Poetry in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 25 | 18 | 9787508660752 | 2017-02 | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Yuval Noah Harari | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 21 | 19 | 9787544387873 | 2019-08 | 30 Minutes of Economics in Cartoon: Common Sense of Life | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 20 | 9787540489304 | 2019-01 | Danshari | Yamashita Eiko | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 22 | 21 | 9787544388672 | 2019-09 | 30 Minutes of Economics in Cartoon: Financial Crisis | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 13 | 22 | 9787544389372 | 2019-11 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon: Traditional Chinese Festivals | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 23 | 9787508684031 | 2017-12 | Principles | Ray Dalio | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| Not Ranked | 24 | 9787549529322 | 2012-12 | Insight | Chai Jing | Guangxi Normal University Press |
| Not Ranked | 25 | 9787530216712 | 2017-04 | A Unique Pig | Wang Xiaobo | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 26 | 9787530216590 | 2017-04 | Silent Majority | Wang Xiaobo | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 27 | 9787530214787 | 2017-04 | The Stories of the Sahara | Echo | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 28 | 9787521708554 | 2019-09 | Style | Wu Jun | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| Not Ranked | 29 | 9787535732309 | 2001-11 | A Brief History of Time | Stephen W.Hawking | Hunan Science & Technology Press |
| 24 | 30 | 9787549550173 | 2014-01 | Seeing Off | Long Yingtai | Guangxi Normal University Press |
Foreign Author Fiction Bestsellers, February 2020
| Jan 2020 Ranking | Feb 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Author nationality | Chinese Publisher |
| 3 | 1 | 9787544291170 | 2017-08 | One Hundred Years of Solitude (50th Anniversary Edition) | Gabriel García Márquez | Colombia | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 4 | 2 | 9787208061644 | 2018-02 | The Kite Runner (2018 Edition) | Khaled Hosseini | United States of America | Shanghai People’s Publishing House |
| 10 | 3 | 9787544277617 | 2015-06 | Love in the Time of Cholera | Gabriel García Márquez | Colombia | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 1 | 4 | 9787539983295 | 2015-10 | Foundation | Isaac Asimov | United States of America | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 18 | 5 | 9787559427434 | 2019-02 | The Outsider | Albert Camus | France | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 6 | 6 | 9787544270878 | 2014-04 | Miracles of the Namiya General Store | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 7 | 7 | 9787544291163 | 2017-08 | Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Edition) | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 2 | 8 | 9787506394864 | 2017-09 | Sophie’s World (New Edition) | Jostein Gaarder | Norway | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 11 | 9 | 9787544285148 | 2016-10 | Malice | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 14 | 10 | 9787532776771 | 2018-03 | Norwegian Wood (30th Anniversary Edition) | Haruki Murakami | Japan | Shanghai Translation Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 11 | 9787544280020 | 2019-08 | What Life You Want to Have | Yoshino Genzaburo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 9 | 12 | 9787544267618 | 2014-06 | The Devotion of Suspect X | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 17 | 13 | 9787550013247 | 2015-05 | Ferryman | Claire McFall | United Kingdom | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 14 | 9787539971810 | 2015-04 | The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry | Gabrielle Zevin | United States of America | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 13 | 15 | 9787530217054 | 2017-12 | The Alchemist | Paulo Coelho | Brazil | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 16 | 9787544766500 | 2017-01 | To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | United States of America | Yilin Press |
| 19 | 17 | 9787221153159 | 2019-08 | Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 | Cho Nam-Joo | Korea | Guizhou People’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 18 | 9787544291224 | 2017-08 | After School (2017 Edition) | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| Not Ranked | 19 | 9787544281102 | 2016-01 | Newcomer | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| Not Ranked | 20 | 9787550032125 | 2019-02 | Outcasts | Claire McFall | United Kingdom | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
Foreign Author Nonfiction Bestsellers, February 2020
| Jan 2020 Ranking | Feb 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Author nationality | Chinese Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | 9787544276986 | 2019-10 | Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover | United States of America | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 2 | 2 | 9787550268517 | 2016-07 | Positive Discipline | Jane Nelsen | United States of America | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| Not Ranked | 3 | 9787111551287 | 2016-10 | Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise | Anders Ericsson,Robert Pool | United States of America | China Machine Press |
| Not Ranked | 4 | 9787540471194 | 2019-02 | Relationship: Bridge to the Soul | Christoper Moon | Canada | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 3 | 5 | 9787508095226 | 2018-09 | Nonviolent Communication | Marshall B.Rosenberg | United States of America | Huaxia Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 6 | 9787515517377 | 2018-10 | The Mamba Mentality: How I Play | Kobe Bryant, Andrew D. Bernstein | United States of America | Jincheng Press |
| Not Ranked | 7 | 9787508687216 | 2018-08 | Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty | Abhijit V.Banerjee, Esther Duflo | United States of America | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| Not Ranked | 8 | 9787547734315 | 2019-09 | Life is Worth Living | Nakamura Tsuneko | Japan | Beijing daily publishing house |
| 4 | 9 | 9787508660752 | 2017-02 | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 5 | 10 | 9787108009821 | 2014-03 | 1587, a Year of No Significance | Ray Huang | United States of America | SDX Joint Publishing Company |
| 10 | 11 | 9787201088822 | 2014-09 | How to Win Friends & Influence People | Dale Carnegie | United States of America | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 12 | 12 | 9787514219203 | 2017-09 | The Willpower Instinct (New Edition) | Kelly McGonigal | United States of America | Cultural Development Publishing House |
| 11 | 13 | 9787540489304 | 2019-01 | Danshari | Yamashita Eiko | Japan | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 9 | 14 | 9787508684031 | 2017-12 | Principles | Ray Dalio | United States of America | CITIC Publishing House Co., Ltd |
| 6 | 15 | 9787301109489 | 2006-10 | A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century (Vol.1) | L. S. Stavrianos | United States of America | Peking University Press |
| 7 | 16 | 9787301110522 | 2006-10 | A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century (Vol.2) | L. S. Stavrianos | United States of America | Peking University Press |
| 8 | 17 | 9787535732309 | 2001-11 | A Brief History of Time | Stephen W.Hawking | United Kingdom | Hunan Science & Technology Press |
| 15 | 18 | 9787514208788 | 2013-07 | The Willpower Instinct (Hardcover) | Kelly McGonigal | United States of America | Cultural Development Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 19 | 9787101054491 | 2017-12 | 1587, a Year of No Significance | Ray Huang | United States of America | Zhonghua Book Company |
| 19 | 20 | 9787508672069 | 2017-01 | Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
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.
Jiang Boyan LLC advises authors and right’s holders on global intellectual property and investment opportunities.
As of July 1, this data is estimated by OpenBook to represent some 60 percent of the total sales activity in China. OpenBook draws point-of-sale data from more than 7,000 bookstores in China, including a total 4,151 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 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. More from Publishing Perspectives the coronavirus outbreak is here.
In our Spring 2020 Magazine, Publishing Perspectives has interviewed publishers, industry experts, entrepreneurs, and authors to present a look at the book business for the coming year. Inside this issue of Publishing Perspectives Magazine, you’ll find articles and resources including:
- Publishing and the coronavirus
- Richard Charkin’s view of key industry challenges
- China’s growing comic book market
- Brussels Book Fair debuts its rights center
- Eksmo CEO Evgeny Kapyev on Russia’s book market
- Matchmaking for publishers and producers in Latin America
- Book market data
- A world tour of copyright developments
- Translation sales resulting from Norway’s Frankfurter Buchmesse guest of honor program
- An AI startup creating interactive stories
- An interview with author Andrew Keen
Download ‘Publishing in Times of Crisis’ free of charge here.