Going Digital

　　With the future of print books uncertain,many Chinese publishers have made their movesinto the digital publishing business. In 2011, theNew World Press, a leading state-owned press ofpopular publications with a history of over 60 years,established NWP.CN, a digital publishing platformfocusing on digital editions of print products and webliterature.

　　“It’s not an idea that came in a flash,” said ZhengHao, head of the Digital Publishing Department atNew World Press. “Since so many readers prefer tospend their reading time on digital media, there’s noreason for us not to pursue digital publishing.”

　　Everyone’s an author

　　“Want to have your book published? Join the NWP.CN,” says an advertising banner on the platform’swebsite. All that aspiring writers need to dois to sign up on NWP.CN and publish their stories inserial form. If their work can attract a large groupof readers, the press will buy the digital copyrightsand distribute the books to different online readingplatforms, where people pay to read it on their iPador mobile devices.

　　This is how Ren Ran, a school teacher and writingenthusiast, had her first book digitally publishedand won her first fans. For the past two years, NWP.CN has helped hundreds of people, like Ren, realizetheir writing dreams.

　　“In the past, once the book was refused by thepress, there was no way to have it read by others,but digital publishing helped lower the thresholdof publication and provided more opportunitiesfor the general public to read and write,”Zheng said.

　　China’s web literature boom dates back to1998 when a young man named Cai Zhihengrose to fame when his novel, The FirstIntimacy, was published on the Internet.

　　His success marked the beginning of thee-book business in China. Many companiesbegan to invest in self-publishingwebsites, where readers paid for popularauthors’ latest installments. Among those,Shanda Literature has achieved spectacularsuccess. It now owns five literaturewebsites and holds the copyrights to over3 million digital books.

　　But Zheng believes that in this changing world ofpublishing, there must still be some role for traditionalpublishing houses. Some web authors can produceas many as 6,000 to 10,000 characters per day; inthat case, most self-publishing websites cannot keepthe quality of such a vast amount of information to asatisfactory level.

　　According to him, at New World Press, works publishedas e-books and paperbacks go through thesame editing process. “Many authors trust traditionalpress more than others for its professionalism andreputation. I think that’s our advantage against ourpowerful competitors,” Zheng said.

　　“In the digital context, everyone could be an author,but not everyone is qualified as a writer whoseworks can be shelved in book stores,” said Ren, whoplans to stick by her dream of becoming a popularauthor.

　　“Maybe one day I can publish my print work.It’s a dream for all the web authors,” Ren said.

　　On the road

　　China’s digital publishing industry had anannual output of 193.5 billion yuan ($31.2billion) in 2012, an increase of 40 percent.

　　The surge in revenue was mostly generatedby online ads and mobile games; ebooksand newspapers accounted for only2 percent. But it seems likely that this 2percent is bound to determine the futureof the entire publishing industry.

　　“The publishing industry is like a paci-fied lake, and digital publishing is tossed into it asa stone, it fell [first] into the American market but[spread] ripples fast and wide,” commented ChenZhiyu, who represents a digital publishing company.

　　The leading online book retailer Amazon reportedthat its sales proportion of e-books to printbooks was 105:100 in 2012. Maybe it’s time fortraditional publishers to embrace digital publishing,but in Chinese publishing circles a realistic questionis: what’s the new profit model for the press in thedigital context?

　　In 2007, Amazon.com launched its e-bookreader, Kindle, and achieved unprecedented success.Shanda Literature soon followed the exampleand launched a related product called a Bambookin China, which enables users to download e-booksfrom Shanda’s online bookstore. Many additionalpresses see a light from the new mode but arestopped by the extremely high cost of research,production and copyright purchase.

　　Some Chinese companies often look for a shortcutto success by following models set by the West,but it’s never a perfect fit, especially in the culturalindustry. One area that must be addressed in theChinese context is piracy, which has long plaguedthe country. The situation could become especiallybad for digital books, which are harder to overseeand protect from copyright infringement. If piracydoes occur, it will hurt domestic e-book providers,as well as become an impediment for Amazon’sexpansion into China.

　　“In this time, there’s no example to follow, and wehave to figure it out by ourselves,” Zheng said. “Allwe can do now is to focus on what we can and aregood at.” So far, New World Press has digitalized allof its books and keeps hunting for new talents. It’salso expanding into additional fields by planning todigitalize its educational resources and develop itsmobile applications. Alongside the New World Pressare more than 500 Chinese publishers trying to finda new growth point in the digital era.

　　The General Administration of Press and Publication,Radio, Film and Television, an agency incharge of China’s press and publication industry,has highlighted in its development plan that digitalpublishing output should account for 25 percent ofthe whole publishing industry by the end of thecountry’s 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-15). Italso encourages the traditional press to furtherexplore the area.