Theoretical physicist Li Miao and sci-fi writer Liu Cixin share some ideas during a forum at the 25th National Book Expo held in Taiyuan recently. (Photo : www.news.xinhuanet.com)
New trends in Chinese publishing were shown at the 25th National Book Expo that came to a close on Sunday, Sept. 27, in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province, the China Daily reported.
According to the report, 250,000 books were displayed and 200 reading activities were held during the three-day expo.
Faced with a reading crisis, publishing companies are looking for ways to gain readers in the Internet Plus era, the report said.
Although the number of books put on display has decreased, publishing companies said that they are working to strengthen their marketing schemes.
"Press companies are becoming much more calculative. If they bring in too many books, they risk losing the book's condition with transportation issues. If the books are damaged they won't attract readers, and they become a waste," Hu Delin, assistant director at Jiangsu People's Publishing Ltd., said.
Other publishing companies, such as SDX Joint Publishing Company and Zhonghua Book Company, have also reduced the number of books on display, putting up only the latest bestsellers or books that have been recently published.
Publishers said that copyright-free public domain books are also no longer competitive, with the emergence of free e-books. Copyright-free public domain books at low price, such as "300 Selected Poems of the Tang Dynasty (618-907)", "Grimm's Fairytales," "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte and "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway, are now rare to find in Chinese book expos.
Song Zhijun, vice director of Zhonghua Book Company, said that companies spend more time planning and designing copyright-free public domain books.
"To publishing companies, it's not a good signal. Although copyright-free public domain books will not disappear from the market, we have to pay more attention on plans and designs. Without innovation or characteristics, we cannot make a profit from these books anymore," Song said.
In this year's expo, most of the copyright-free public domain books on display featured new retranslations. Lu Zhizhou, a senior editor in Yilin Press Ltd., said that some classic translations are outdated for today's reader and must be updated.
"Several publishing companies published classic books like 'The Federalist Papers' and 'Journal of the Federal Convention.' While their translations are fine, the books still have abstruse content. So we invited noted translator Yin Xuan to retranslate the two books. Yin Xuan added annotations in some parts to meet our readers' needs," Lu said.
The report also noted that large-sized luxury books are no longer an attraction in the expo since publishing companies go for simple packaged pocket books to challenge the e-books.
Five publishing companies of China South Publishing and Media Group have recently launched a series of 50 pocket books. The series covers classic works from politics and philosophy to literature and culture.
Zhang Qinghua, vice general manager of China South Publishing, published a series of pocket-size separable books.
"Fragmentation and superficiality are the characteristics of online reading in modern society. It might be convenient for readers, but the content usually lacks selection and editing. Traditional books are too heavy for readers. So there comes the pocket book. The books are light but qualified in content. In the future, it will be a new trend in the field of publishing. It will be an important competitor of online reading as well," Zhang added.
