Publishers unite to rescue industry

Booklovers at the 16th Beijing International Book Fair. Photo: Xinhua

By Du Guodong

As a highlight of the 16th Beijing International Book Fair that wraps up today, a special forum was held Tuesday for publishers and officials in an effort to help rescue the industry that took a heavy blow from the global fi nancial crisis.

Publishing Policies and Global Crisis saw CEOs from world-leading publishing houses join together to work on strategies to boost the industryas a whole during the current tough economic times.

Representatives from major firms including Reed Elsevier, Harper Collins and Cambridge University Press, along with Chinese government officials, attended a series of discussions on methods and solutions to mitigate the financial crisis that hit the publishing industry hard. Many of the world's leading publishing houses have suffered a major setback as a result of the economic situation.

A survey of UK consumption revealed that in the fi rst half of the year, publishing revenue was around 700 million pounds ($1.45 billion), a decrease of over 7 million pounds ($11.45 million) compared with the same period last year. Exports of Chinese books saw a 20 percent decline in 2008 with sales falling by 3.59 percent. China has since seen the situation improve with this year's overall book sales volume increasing by 20 percent.

"Because the Chinese economy is very good, the Chinese publishing industry is still growing, especially in areas such as cartoons and digital publishing including text books. In these areas growth is around 20 percent compared to last year," said Li Pengyi, vice president of China Publishing Group, the country's largest publishing house.

"Some of that increase is a natural rising of the water level. I think people in China know that in the new economy, being better prepared intellectually and educationally is good for their job prospects and I think that's terrifi c. Also, the Chinese government has emphasized reading by implementing various programs," added Youngsuk Chi, vice chairman of Elsevier.

The Chinese government has taken an active role in boosting the domestic publishing industry to help tide over the fi nancial crisis. The Rural Bookstore Program will see local libraries built in 640,000 villages, with 600 million yuan ($87.84 million) earmarked for the project.

The financial crisis has also resulted in more people turning to the Internet to access reading material. While the trend has cut into book sales, it has provided new online opportunities.

"As of the end of 2008, among the 579 publishing houses in China, 90 percent of them had released online publications and issued a total of 500,000 books, an increase of 25 percent compared with 2007. The total volume of circulation in 2008 exceeded 30 million ($4.39 million) with revenue at 300 million yuan ($43.9 million), an increase of 50 percent against last year," said Wu Shulin, vice president of the General Administration of Press and Publication of China.

"The Chinese market is growing fast domestically. It has also become more accustomed to working internationally and selling to the international market. I think that this momentum will continue with more innovation in the Chinese market. I think that the Chinese have become very familiar with digital development. Right now, I think that the most important thing that everybody should be doing is preparing for the digital age," emphasized Stephen Borne, chief executive of Cambridge University Press, speaking at the forum.

"Globally, all publishers are faced with consumer demand issues as well as the rising cost of transforming from the traditional way of publishing to digital and new-technology ways of publishing. It came [the financial crisis] at a very bad time but it is also an opportunity for publishing industries in general to select and prioritize what investments to make. So you can see that as an opportunity as well," said Youngsuk Chi.

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