Beijing based OpenBook shares June 2026 book sales across fiction, nonfiction, and children’s titles, with insight into what books by foreign authors are also selling well.

By Erin L. Cox, Publisher | @erinlcox

In June, the top-selling books were those being read by primary and secondary school students for their summer reading. Red Crag returned to the top spot as well as three books by Liu Cixin entering the top 10.

Fantasy and comic sales were also strong, with a number of books in the Dragon Raja and Demon Slayer series, selling well. A revised edition of Dragon Raja was recently released, bringing all five volumes entering the top 30.

For nonfiction, the categories of wellness and personal growth are seeing huge interest, with a couple in the top 10 and many more in the extended list, including The Courage to Be Disliked, Change Your Destiny: Reversing the Wheel of Fate, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This trend is in relation to reports that the public generally feels an urgent need to break free from current life predicaments and be pro-active about changing their situations.

The Treasure Hunting franchise in the children’s category launched a new City Series with the first book, Treasure Hunting in Quanzhou, which came out in May and reached number one on the June bestseller list. The launch of the City Series further deepens the connection to readers with a focus on particular cities. Popular geography books are evolving from “broad regional awareness” to “in depth city exploration.”

See the top ten of each list below:

Fiction Bestsellers

Nonfiction Bestsellers

Children’s Bestsellers

Fiction Bestsellers by an International Author

Nonfiction Bestsellers by an International Author

Note 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.

At last report, OpenBook monitored more than 26,000 online and off-line bookstores.

The online channel includes digital retailers such as large self-operated online stores, platform stores, and small- and medium-sized stores.

The off-line channels include more than 5,100 bookstores. Coverage includes most of the state-owned and influential privately owned bookstores in 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions. Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Tibet are not included in OpenBook’s system. In 2024, OpenBook tracked around 82.66 billion RMB in sales (US$11.39 billion). Retail outlets include:

• Traditional bookstores;
• Supermarkets;
• Campus bookstores;
• “Professional” stores, said to be small stores with a specific industrial or trade focus; and
• 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

Mainland China has 500 or more publishers in operation today. Most of them 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 registered through government channels. The government approves each book published in China.