While PublishDrive has an arrangement to make self-published ebooks available to China’s online retailer Dangdang, it may be too early to plan that Beijing book launch
The ebook distributor PublishDrive recently announced a new arrangement to make titles available through Dangdang, one of the largest of China’s online retailers. But sales may be hard to come by if you have no way to surface your book in that market (particularly without translation).
PublishDrive has posted an overview of the Chinese book market; we spoke with CEO Kinga Jentetics to find out how interested authors can market their books in China. Jentetics tells us that, in working with the Chinese national library supplier CNP eReading last year, PublishDrive found that self-help, social sciences, and other nonfiction books received attention. Indeed, on bestseller lists in China, self-help is a strong contender across the board, as is motivational literature, especially among young adult readers. Jentetics found that creating thematic collections of books for libraries was a useful approach.
The Dangdang arrangement is different, though, since it puts titles into the commercial market, and Jentetics is predicting that children’s and YA material will do well there. She advises that good metadata—meaning a compelling description—is a must. Books uploaded to PublishDrive are put through the company’s checks, which include review attention from a team. “If your books are accepted,” she says, “you have a good chance that your books are good to sell in China, too, though you have to wait usually two to three weeks to see that for sure.” That’s because each book must clear the state censors.
Books moving from PublishDrive to Dangdang’s site are displayed in the language in which they were originally produced. So far, most of the books PublishDrive has sold in China are in English; PublishDrive does not offer a translation service.
While we can understand the attraction of reaching this large market, one of the key distributors of Western books into China cautions us that state censor approvals can slow things down enormously. This source—who spoke to us on condition of anonymity so as not to offend Chinese import partners—says that “tens of thousands” of ebook titles from Western publishers are awaiting approval. What’s more, we’re told that Dangdang is primarily moving print books, rather than ebooks—about 2 percent of its book sales are estimated to be digital, and less than .01 percent are foreign titles. There are indeed many English readers in China, and learning English is popular. But we’re also told that the Chinese market’s English speakers still favor books in Chinese because it takes a lot of patience to read in a second language.
Meanwhile, it’s important to remember that China is well ahead of the West in what’s termed online literature—the long-running serials self-published on platforms akin to Wattpad and Radish. Online literature is often quite lucrative and followed by millions of consumers. Variety’s Vivienne Chow, citing research from analysts at China’s iResearch firm, reported in late December that China’s online literature business had “grown to ¥12.8 billion (US$1.96 billion) in 2017, up 32.1 percent from the previous year. The growth is expected to reach ¥18.2 billion (US$2.79 billion) by 2019.”
Bottom line: Major Western publishers, our distribution sources say, have found that exporting ebooks into the Chinese market isn’t, as yet, proving profitable. Most are going into the country in print and through rights sales (i.e., Chinese-language editions produced by Chinese publishers). There are Western successes there, such as Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You; Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner is an enduring favorite. But breaking in without the marketing engine (and translation) of a Chinese publisher remains a long shot and looks to be many times harder for ebooks. There’s nothing wrong with having your ebook listed with Dangdang through PublishDrive’s offer, but these are early days in our understanding of the dynamics that might create real traction in China.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
