From an accidental e-book marketer comes this observation: “China is going to become the largest English-speaking nation on the face of the planet.”
John Edwards, who recently announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination, didn’t have e-books in mind when he spoke to the New Republic (subscribers only).
But I couldn’t help but notice his comments in an e-book context as well as others, such as international trade in general.
Reading vs. speaking
So what does this mean?
Will the Chinese—a big enough percentage of the 1.3 billion—end up buying e-books in English if the plots and characters are universal enough? Or will the operative word be “spoken,” so that the Chinese are not interested in reading English? Also, what genres will be most populars? Romances? Thillers?
Piracy threat or biz opp?
Needless to say, there are also intellectual property issues here. Many U.S. publishers, and perhaps those in other English-speaking countries, seem to see China as one big piracy threat. I myself see it as one big opportunity if the right business models can be found.
From a U.S. perspective, a huge trade deficit exists with China. Might purchases of U.S. books be one way to help whittle it down?
The censorship issue
Yes, there are tricky censorship issues and the potential of cultural conflicts. Most books, however, carry not the slightest political message or pose a cultural threat, and I hope that the Association of American Publishers and equivalents elsewhere will pursue these possibilities with e-books as well as p-books. From the Chinese perspective, this would be one way to build goodwill here in the States and elsewhere.
One of the glories of e-books is that they can go anywhere without worrying about shipping—hence their potential globally, whether for private buyers or schools and libraries. Are any TeleBlog readers selling e- or p-books to the Chinese right now, and if so, what’s the experience been? Just what kinds of titles most be in biggest demand there? And how to market e-books directly to Chinese distributors and institutions and also deal with the intellectual property issues?
A challenge? Of course. But if Google and Yahoo are up to it, maybe some forward-looking publishers can be as well.
One negative of going after the Chinese market: The quality of American movies has declined partly because of globalization. If e-books catch on internationally, will U.S. and other Western publishers water down their products to avoid cultural complications? Since books are cheaper to produce than movies, I’d hope this wouldn’t be as much of a problem.
Related: PSP annual conference announcement mentioning the Chinese book market and, in other contexts, digital media. Also see other China-related items on the AAP site, including the group’s thoughts on the piracy issue. The group says, “AAP members reported $52 million in losses in China in 2005.” With a China campaign, the losses might be higher, but guess what—net revenue would most likely be as well.
All youl base ale belong to us? – Make youl time. – Forgive the bad pun, but currently, I am not sure if China is about to become English. Why would the Chinese will prefer reading ‘decadent’ and whittled down American pulp instead of a new generation of Chinese authors? It is not as if China, especially after its industrialization, would be too small to sustain an independent culture, and it is certainly proud enough.
It is true that the trade deficit of the US with respect to China is a threat to our economies. But this does not make exports from the US to China more likely. Instead, it just makes it more probable that the US become marginalized with respect to China.
China has had its own culture, Joscha–for THOUSANDS of years. China was cultured while Europeans, including the future American colonists, were more or less barbarians.
But the country is so vast that reaching just a tiny percentage of Chinese with Western e-books could be helpful to publishing industries in the U.S. and Europe.
China does go for Hollywood dreck, and I suspect that U.S. and other Western books, including textbooks, could find readers.
Meanwhile thanks for your Euro perspective.
David
Hi David,
I think you have a point. I’m surprised at how many of my eBooks have sold to Indian customers. The thing about eBookos is that it really doesn’t matter where the customer is–as long as they have access to eMoney (i.e., PayPal).
Will the Chinese be interested in American books? Sure, why not? They’re interested in American movies. People are people and the major themes are universal.
It would be ironic if, in the increasingly post-literate world, the Chinese started reading American books just as Americans stopped reading at all.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com
From a US perspective there are no piracy issues. China is its own country and will do as it pretty damn pleases. China especially will do as it pretty damn pleases, which is going to be a problem, because, as Robert Newman paraphrases the US’ position on China, “We owe you 149 billion dollars, keep buying those dollars, no problem here at all officer,” and what pleases China is not always (or ever) in the best interest of this planet.
(If you are a big old lefty like me, or if you just don’t like to be lied to about why the West is bombing the Middle East back to the stone age, or if you just would want to watch same at a better quality, Google Video hosts the entire show.)
A former student of mine works for a Chinese publisher. She is scouring European and American publications for things that would work on the Chinese market. Whenever she hits upon something, the item will be produced – at very little cost, and tailored to the local preferences – in China. I sure hope that the original authors and rights holders are going to see some licensing fee, but the business is going to be made within China.
Similar mechanisms apply not only to German publishing, but also to German industrial goods. Big hopes for profits to be made on the hungry Chinese market have turned into dread when it was realized that the Chinese find ways of not only keeping their profits to themselves, but also to scour the technology on the way.
With respect to movies, please have a look at this excellent piece in Slate: There is currently very little money made by Hollywood in China, because
– DVD distribution prefers bootlegged material
– Movie theatres do not flourish
– Foreign movies are limited by harsh quotas
In fact, the Chinese are going for the American market, while keeping the Americans out of their own.
I suppose, the current distribution of powers in the world might be related to the fact that China only just started its industrialization. It needs you and me as consumers to finance it, and thats why they will support the Dollar as long as they see fit. However, there is nothing that will prevent them from pulling the plug and sinking our economies, as soon as they perceive it as being in their best interest.
You are right: China will be an important factor in the ePublishing business. I just have my doubts that this factor is going to be good news for most American and European publishers.
> You are right: China will be an important factor in the ePublishing business. I just have my doubts that this factor is going to be good news for most American and European publishers.
That’s why Western publishers need to play hardball with the Chinese–with help from the publishers’ governments. The Chinese need to be reasonable. In the other direction, Westerners need to work with the Chinese to come up with appropriate business models. It could be that for books and films alike, a library model with payments based on accesses or uses will be better than a traditional one. Gigantic profits expected for publishers? No. Fairness? Hopefully, if the content providers meet local needs. The send-’em-our-dreck approach just won’t cut it.
Meanwhile, Joscha, I hope you’ll ask your former student to keep us up to date on the experiences of the publishers who deal with the Chinese. And any info you have on the Chinese market for various kinds of books will be greatly appreciated.
In a related vein, it will be interesting to see how technical standards influence the market for books of different nationalities. We’ve seen the Chinese try to play games with WiFi, etc., and I wonder what will happen on the e-book standards front in time.
Thanks,
David
P.S. Needless to say, I’m eager to get the Chinese perspective–either in public or privately.