Publishing in Taiwan 2011

PUBLISHING IN TAIWAN

By Teri Tan

Mixing originals, translations, print, and digital to create a thriving marketplace

Ask any Chinese readers for their impression of books from Taiwan, and most likely they will cite meticulous editing and beautiful covers while reeling off the names of authors of literary gems, romance titles, and martial art novels. Turn to any American or European publisher, and chances are they will mention outstanding picture books with deceptively simple story lines that captivate kids and adults alike. And both sides are right on the money.

A selection of English titles at Bookmans Taipei bookstore.

aiwan is big on literary works and original picture books. It is also a major rights market, especially for American and European bestsellers. Not surprisingly, frenetic rights selling and buying activities are a prom-

inent feature of the Taipei International Book Exhibition. But this barely scratches the surface. PW turns to insidersfive of the most accomplished publishers in townfor an assessment of the industrys current situation, as well as its challenges and future.
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Taiwans publishing industry is very Kuos sentiments on digital publishing: much value on reading. Books now have much shaped by history, says John Kuo, With cloud computing and applications to compete with electronic gadgets and president of Book Republic. The years making inroads into the book industry, I other things like music or computer lesunder Japanese rule [18951945] and believe the younger generation will be sons for parents money. the subsequent government basically attracted to participate in the search for Although Yuan-Liou is one of the few spelled the death of literature and pubnew ways to publish, market, and sell publishers with the financial resources lishing freedom. Only in the early 1980s books. A new breed of publishers will and operational capabilities to meet the did the first generation of publishing emerge to transform the industry and digital publishing challenge head-on, houses emergenamely Yuan-Liou and take it to new heights. the company finds the going tough, Commonwealthto promote original For Chang, the fact that most Taiwan according to president and CEO Jungworks and kick-start translations. But for publishers own and manage their own wen Wang: Even the most aggressive most publishers of that eramyself companiesaside from playing the role publishers derive less than 5% of their includedpublishing is a passion. We of chief editoris something to be proud revenues from e-books, a figure too insigwere low on capital and expertise. We of. They know the market and the rules nificant to merit much consideration. In pretty much made it up as we went of the game very well, and, as owners, are contrast, online magazines and electronic along. In the current fast-changing totally dedicated to their business, databases have seen substantial growth Internet economy, however, publishing Chang says. But these traditional through steady development. has to be less of a passion and more of a strengths may hamper their ability business proposition. to meet the new challenges of a rapVery roughly, the publishing indusidly changing world. We have to try has probably grown 50% in the past recognize that our publishing decade, Kuo continues, the retail and industry is small compared to Chidistribution channels, 1,000%. This nas. Maybe we should join hands imbalance may be corrected by having with our counterparts across the bigger publishing houses or groups. strait to capitalize on each others Unfortunately, existing ones are not big expertise and face the new era enough or have huge enough capital, to together. Chang now treats the influence the retail and distribution secmuch bigger Chinese-speaking tor. Digital publishing, he says, may marketincluding China, Hong provide the platform for an industry Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Jung-wen Wang, chairman of the Taipei Book Fair Fountransformation and reorganization. other overseas Chinese communi- dation, and chairman/CEO of Yuan-Liou Publishing Co. Everybody starts from ground zero tiesas a single market, working with one of his companys bestselling series Percy Jackson when it comes to creating e-books or to digitize content for different and the Olympians. running e-bookstores. Incidentally, this devices and channels to fit every territory. For Wang, who is also chairman of the change may attract the younger, Internet As a childrens book publisher, Chang Taipei Book Fair Foundation (an generation to the publishing industry. is mindful of the segments many chal18-member committee in charge of the Meanwhile, original lenges. Firstly, the low annual event), the government should works are growing fast birth rate is a big issue, play a bigger role in supporting e-books because, he adds, There but it is not something by promoting digital reading. In the is now pride in being an that publishers can B2B2C educational market, one way author. Before, making a solve. Secondly, it is could be for copyrights to be shared living off writing books hard to nurture homeamong author, publisher, distributor, was considered a deadgrown talents when and digital service provider, and titles end career in any Chinese translated authors and purchased through a government-concommunity. Over the illustrators garner so trolled model with standardized pricnext decade, I fully much attention. It is ing, Wang says. Sadly, such a model expect to see many more also more difficult to has yet to materialize. Much of our unihomegrown authors find a creative title that versities funding is now spent on making it big here and catches my attention imported e-publications, and elementary overseas. nowadays. Lastly, young and high schools have no budget for Executive director parents often do not e-books. Sing-ju Chang of Hsin Sing-ju Chang, executive director of have a habit of reading Adding to the dilemma is that pubYi Foundation shares Hsin Yi Foundation. and therefore do not put lishers, while crucial to the content-mak30 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y S E P T E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 1

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ing process, are not the key players dictating e-book development. Digital technologies have revamped the traditional publishing model, Wang says, and the promise of a global Web-based reading community has turned ICT [information and communications technology] companies into either effective collaborators or formidable competitors. But the more pressing issue, he says, is how to meet the needs of a much larger market. In the past, Taiwan publishers catered to only 23 million people who read traditional Chinese. With China [and simplified Chinese readers] now in the picture, competition for translation rights of foreign titles is intense. Naturally, Taiwan publishers also want to penetrate the mainland market. But a reading population of 1.3 billion requires new types of personnel, funding and organization. So the challenge is multifold: searching for good authors and quality works while plotting entry into China and e-book markets. We have to leave our comfort zone and seek collaboration with ICT companies and even Chinas publishing groups, adds Wang. This will bring new resources to meet the challenge. And we need our governments support. Government-to-government negotiation on cross-strait publishing activities would speed up the creation of a unified Chinese-language publishing market. For publisher and editorial director Linden Lin of Linking Publishing, Taiwan publishers open-mindedness is without equal. We are open to foreign authors, new themes, and different perspectives. Not surprisingly, translations account for nearly 28% of all new titles produced annually, and they include most world languages. Many of the translations make the bestseller list, a testimony to our readers receptivity to different types of works and other cultures. But publishers need to do more to introduce homegrown authors and Taiwanese culture abroad. One way of accomplishing this, I think, is for publishers to seriously start thinking about

Government Intervention at Its Best

From promoting the Taipei International Book Exhibition and digital publishing to exploring overseas markets, the Government Information Office has been hard at work supporting publishers, retailers, and other players in Taiwans book industry. For instance, it is introducing a four-year research program to help publishers adopt digital processes. With an annual budget of $1.2 million, one of its main activities is to implement a digital licensing mechanism. Sample sales contracts for digital rights and digital products are provided, as is training on copyright issues such as the use of orphan works and public domain assets. GIO minister Philip Yang. Then there was the one-year Master in Publishing Management course that ran from 2003 to 2009 to nurture publishing professionals. More than 3,000 people have benefited from it, and last year we started a digital publishing course to ensure that our industry keeps up with the changing publishing proposition, says GIO minister Philip Yang. His office has been organizing workshops such as the International Comic Camp for people wishing to enter the comics industry. We also sponsor the Golden Tripod and Golden Comic awards, with the aim of creating a healthy yet competitive publishing environment and raising industry standards by rewarding outstanding works. To promote the reading habit, the Excellent Reading Material Contest searches for outstanding reading materials that we can produce and distribute to all primary schools and major bookstores, adds Yang, who also worked with the Taipei Book Fair Foundation to create several reading campaigns during TIBE 2011. There was the Taipei Literature Season to promote reading throughout the city, and theme fairs with Taipei Library to introduce different cultures. TIBE also arranged with Taiwan High Speed Rail to provide free transportation for residents in Tainan [300 kilometers to the south of Taipei] to visit the event. Additionally, GIO gave book vouchers for the fair to 35 secondary schools. All these activities are meant to broaden our schoolchildrens reading horizons and cultivate their love for reading. More participation at international book events is also on GIOs to-do list. We want to help our publishers venture overseas and introduce our creative works and homegrown talents to the rest of the world, thereby increasing copyright trading. Last year, for instance, the Taiwan Pavilion at the Bologna Fair saw throngs of fans coming to meet illustrator/author Jimmy Liao. Events like this allow the international community to learn more about Taiwans culture and literature. Next year marks the 20th anniversary of TIBE, and Yang aims to take the event to new heights. From a human perspective, 20 symbolizes the transition into adulthood. When the first TIBE was held, in 1987, the goal was to be the largest book event in Asia. Today, my wish is for TIBE to become a showcase and forum for both Taiwan and overseas publishers, not only for exhibiting the latest ideas and products but also for creating more business opportunities and a space for exchanging ideas. We want to see future TIBEs having an equal number of traditional and digital products, complementing one another to create a vibrant industry. T.T.

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publishing more English titles for foreign readers. We also need to consider expanding the Chinese-reading market within Southeast Asia. The popularity of books from China has caused readers to shift from traditional Chinese to simplified Chinese. Thus, Taiwan publishers should start releasing books in simplified Chinese for export. Presently, most of the books available in Taiwan, adds Lin, are published by small and medium-size publishing houses, which represent the bulk of the industry. They publish more varieties of books, thus enriching the reading experience. Some of these houses are run by the younger generationfrom publishers to editors and designersand they have lots of new ideas to offer in terms of design, format, and marketing strategy. They have made great contributions that enliven the Taiwan publishing industry. But the many new publications need to be put on shelves. The lack of shelf space is not a new problem, says Lin. The bookstore, after all, is not a library, and it is not possible to display every book that has been published. As a publisher, we have to find other sales channels, and online bookstores and wholesale retailers are two good options. Linking publishes about 150 new titles annually and has kept to this figure in the past 20 years. We have no plans to reduce or increase it for the foreseeable future. Taiwans publishing industry, though in better shape now compared to a few years ago, is still at a major transition stage, says owner Rex How of Locus Publishing. Competition between bricksand-mortar and online bookstores has caused not only discount wars but also forced out many independent bookstores. That puts pressure on publishers. Many publishers were also thinking about developing their own e-book readers [for reading Chinese characters] before iPad became so popular. For now, publishers are seeking new markets and business models that would work in mainland China, while our counterparts across the strait have begun to seek opportunities in Taiwan. The cross-strait open policy of 2008 has certainly helped to bring the two communities closer. For How, a bigger market is needed to develop Taiwans digital publishing industry. Talks about digital publishing typically revolve around making products that are different from traditional ones, both in the way they are read and in the way they are enjoyed, he says. I think we need to regard printed books more as art pieces, and digital products as interactive edutainment. If we treat both the same, then we should not be surprised by how much printed books are affected by e-books. The point is not to start a war between print and electronic books, but to create a new future in digital publishing. As for industry challenges, How wittily uses the winter as a metaphor. The first challenge is the rise of e-books and digital publishinga universal and very serious challenge. I look at it as facing the coming winter. The second is to check discount wars between physical and online bookstores, or how to escape winter snowstorms. The third is specific to Taiwan: how to move into and leverage the mainland Chinese market, and that, to me, is searching for fire during winter snowstorms. For more on what is happening in the Taiwan book industry, PW visits the following 13 publishing houses for a quick chat. to offer. Our mission has always been to promote original works, but we have to be realistic: blockbuster translations sell, and they sell well. He names Michael Freemans The Photographers Eye, Zusaks The Book Thief, Hosseinis The Kite Runner, Harold McGees Keys to Good Cooking, Edmondo de Amiciss Cuore, and Kim Edwardss The Lake of Dreams among the companys recent bestsellers. Our originals have been gaining a lot of recognition in the market as well. Our biggest original project thus fara major investment and a bestseller too is the 100-volume Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Geography of Taiwan. It has sold more than one million sets since its launch in August 1991. Another multivolume series, also expected to have 100 volumes, this time on Taiwan history, is being developed from scratch through collaborations with experts in the field. We are targeting April 2012 for its release. A decade after its inception, Book Republic has published nearly 1,600 titles. Another 300 will be added before this year is out. We also added five new imprints in 2009 and another five in 2010, taking our total number of imprints to 17. We have imprints on food, business personalities, lifestyle, health, comics, and so on. The reason behind having these imprints is simple. Firstly, we want to broaden our publishing program to cover popular and important topics in different genres. Secondly, focusing on a specific imprint allows our editors space to grow and develop their

Book Republic

(bookrep.com.tw) Anyone flipping through Book Republics 2011 catalogue would be impressed by the many big-name authors: Jostein Gaarder, Khaled Hosseini, Markus Zusak, Philippe Claudel, Frank Schatzing, Philip Pullman, Bryce Courtenay, and Neil Gaiman, to name a few. A history buff, president John Kuo has definitely chosen wide (and wise) for his target audience. In the past, translations accounted for nearly 70% of our publishing program, but this figure is going to be lower now that we have more originals

John Kuo, president of Book Republic.

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knowledge and expertise in a particular area, therefore producing more in-depth and better titles for readers, adds Kuo. However, good editors are hard to come by in Taiwan, so Kuo has embarked on a mission to educate, develop, and train those with potential for the job. An editors job should be more than looking for typos and corresponding with authors, Kuo says. I want editors who can come up with original ideas for books or find the right authors for the target audience. But this nurturing process is tedious, and poaching is a common industry practice. However, someone has to do it.

Bookman

Jerome Su, founder and chairman of Bookman.

(bookman.com.tw) When the founder (and chairman) is an adjunct professor of translation as well as CEO of the Taiwan Association of Translation and Interpretation, talk invariably turns to translations. For Jerome Su, making foreign literary gems available in Chinese is a passion. He and his team have just translated John Banvilles The Book of Evidence, Ghosts, and Athena. We also published his Christine Falls, The Silver Swan, The Lemur, and Elegy for April, written under his pseudonym, Benjamin Black. Mikey Walshs Gypsy Boy and a Korean bestseller, Mr. Hong Who Becomes an English Genius, are in the works. Last year, Su added 60 new titles to the catalogue; 80 are planned for this year. At his three bookstores in Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Taichung, imported books fill the shelves. A bookstore is like a library. Graduate students, professors, and researchers visit our stores to browse through books. Nothing beats having the physical book, even in this Internet age. Each store stocks around 8,000 to 10,000 titles and, unlike other retailers, most remain on the shelves for a very long time. Bestsellers for 2010/2011 are mostly English languagelearning material, including Charlottes Web, which is marketed as a reading text in Taiwan. Demand for childrens books in English is growing as more childrenand

parentsare buying touch-and-feel playbooks, story books, and movie tie-in titles. Twenty years ago, when the focus was on cramming for exams instead of reading for pleasure, few wanted to import childrens books. We were then the first to bring in Eric Carle and, for a mere 500 copies, we had exclusive distributorship. Today, a 5,000-copy order would not be sufficient to earn that kind of privilege. Not surprisingly, Su has established two imprints to tap into these growing markets: Cherry Press for childrens books and Simple Press for self-study books on English languagelearning with Chinese instruction. With more elective courses held in English and teachers referring to English textbooks even when teaching in Chinese, Su says, Bookman is holding its own in the market. Furthermore, since we import key texts in bulk and have reprint rights to some of the more expensive titles, we can offer them at around 50% to 70% of the original price. Thus, we are able to compete with the more affordable pricing of e-books. Another Bookman affiliate, B.K. Norton, is a commission agent for about 40 overseas publishers, two-thirds of which are American houses and university presses. Many of these publishers have seen their sales increase two- or threefold within a couple of years.

(readingtimes.com.tw) The big banner draped over the China Times office buildings facade reveals that Haruki Murakami is huge in Taiwan, and that China Times publishes his latest work, 1Q84. We have sold more than 400,000 copies of the three volumes of 1Q84 since its launch 22 months ago, says president Amy Mo, who also counts Dan Brown among her top authors. More than two million copies of Browns novels have been sold, including 200,000 copies of The Lost Symbol. Other recent bestsellers include Dong-seon Parks Simple Thinking about Blood Type (80,000 copies sold), Steven Levitts Super Freakonomics (35,000 copies), Will Bowens Complaint Free Relationships, and David Liebermans Get Anyone to Do Anything and Never Feel Powerless. Parks book, a cute and entertaining comic about blood types, is very popular back in Korea, where his illustrations now decorate a whole range of iPhone skins, Mo says. That such a book sells so well in Taiwan is really surprising. Zhong-liang Lous debut book, Telling When You Will Fall Sick, is another sleeper hit and has sold above 100,000 copies. Using Chinese astrology to predict when one would fall sick, the author became an overnight sensation when he correctly foretold the health of several local politicians and artists. Sales of two other titlesShi-ying Chus A Story of Unlearning, about the authors charitable trips abroad, and Jong-lang Lius Under-

China Times

Amy Mo, president of China Times

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standing Natural Science at Any Timealso surpassed my wildest expectations. Several new titles are in the pipeline, including Herta Mllers Respiratory Swing, Yoshimoto Bananas The Kingdom IV, Jose Saramagos Abby Chronicle, Laura Hillenbrands Unbroken, and Ha Jins Nanking Requiem. Overall, translations account for nearly half of Mos publishing program. We also have around 300 e-books and 10 mobile apps. But sales of these new products are minuscule because Taiwans B2C e-book market is still not mature. Two years ago, Mo established a new editorial department with the aim of developing more originals: Judging from the success of several titles that I have mentioned, the result has been very satisfactory. Better yet, many of these originals have been sold to mainland Chinese and Thailand publishers. A new R&D division will focus on developing more original book series. You can say that originals are our secret weapons for dealing with the shrinking print book market and emerging e-book platform. Incredibly, Mo has been shrinking her publishing program. Each year, more than 40,000 new titles flood the Taiwan marketfar too many for our small market. So we have become much more selective and focus more effort on maximizing the exposure and sales of each title instead. appreciate it. Interestingly, about 60% of CPLs sales come from direct selling (especially door-todoor and multilevel marketing), the rest via retail. It helps, of course, that we are the exclusive publisher for brands such as Peter Rabbit and Ladybirdclassics and proven products that literally sell themselves. We are focusing on innovative and userRobert Lin, chairman and CEO of Childrens Publication. friendly materials to meet the of the Orchid Island. (The latter has been needs of children in this Internet and sold to Japan and Korea.) iPad era. You can be sure of seeing more Siraya Boy and Little Owl are about digital content alongside traditional nature, and both have sold in excess of publications from CPL in the near 20,000 copies, says chairman and CEO future, adds Lin. Robert Lin. Sirayas illustrator is none other than You-ran Zhang, an award Cit Publishing Group winner at Bologna 2001, who has effec(cite.com.tw) tively transferred his love and appreciaAt Cit, innovative digital products for tion for nature into beautiful illustralearning feature prominently. Take the tions. The Little Owl is illustrated and popular school activity of bird identificawritten by avid birdwatcher Haw-ren tion as an example. Cits team has develHo. Lins team has also published works oped a highly illustrated interactive by other homegrown talents, such as Web-based encyclopedia that will appeal Man-qiu Lin (The Hopeful Seeds, Little to budding and expert ornithologists. To Sparrow in the Gallery) and Ying-fan Chen have a bird identified at NatureSys.com/ (The Secrets of Yu-Gin Mango). bird, users only need to type in simple The coming months will see several details (estimated bird size, beak shape, new titles, including Margaret Wise and spotting place). A similar Web site Browns The Important Book, Susan Medon minerals will be launched in Novemdaughs Martha Blah Blah and Martha ber, says general manager Alex Yeh, Speaks, Joy Cowleys Snake and Lizard, who is targeting NatureSys services at and Alvin Halls Show Me the Money. The the B2L market (specifically, k12 school latter will kick-start Lins program for a libraries). series of books that teach children about More technology-rich interactive money. In todays society, it is important products are coming. Apps developfor kids to start learning about money and investment as early as possible so that they can manage their allowances wisely. We are also working with Pennsylvania-based Sandvik Innovations to copublish a 12-book series for preschoolers, teaching them math, writing, reading, and so on. At the same time, our team is collaborating with a group of local writers and illustrators to produce a six-volume set on southern Taiwan cuisine. Through this series, children will learn about their own culture and get to Alex Yeh, general manager of Cit

Childrens Publications Co.

(012book.com.tw) Now in its 18th year of operation, Childrens Publications Co. Ltd. has produced more than 1,000 titles, 85% translations. The list includes picture books, pop-up playbooks, games, jigsaw puzzles, plush-and-plastic items, and audiovisual products. Many are multivolume illustrated series geared for children below 12 years of age. Among CPLs recent bestsellers are Peter Rabbit, The Rainbow Fish, the First Discovery series, and the Ladybird series, as well as original works Siraya Boy and The Little Owl

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iPad bookstore platform, launched in December), and NongNong e-magazine (an eye-catching fashion magazine specially designed for iPad). As more people use smartphones such as iPhone and Android to read books, access information, and execute office and personal tasks, publishers must create content that will reach them, says Yeh. At Cit, we will try different publishing ideas to allow Taiwan readers to read e-books and access content anytime, anywhere. As part of Taiwans biggest book and magazine publishing group, Cit has the resources to move boldly in the digital direction. That digital focus does not mean sidelining its traditional publishing segment. Cit is responsible for introducing Kenichi Ohmae and Peter Drucker to Taiwan. It also publishes James Hunters The Servant (more than 200,000 copies sold), Muriel Barberys The Elegance of the Hedgehog (117,000 copies; still the #1 translated French title in Taiwan), Ray Kluuns Love Life, and Harlan Cobens The Woods. In fact, nearly two out of its three new titles are translations. CEO Fei-Peng Ho is among Cits bestselling authors. His four self-help/ career titles average sales of 100,000 copies each, and his newest, Self-Proud V: Be a Noble Gentleman, will be published soon, Yeh says. It emphasizes the importance of integrity and self-learning in any profession. We publish many notable homegrown authors, such as Hiyawu, a bestselling e-novelist whose 14 titles averaged sales of 150,000 copies, and martial arts novelist Cheng Fon, widely regarded as the female version of Louis Cha. Our originals, just like our digital products, are made with great care, and the authors are often highly respected professionals in their fields.

Huashan 1914 Creative Park

Sitting on a 4.5-hectare piece of land valued at US$1.3 billion, Huashan 1914 Creative Park is an oasis in the middle of Taipei. A sake distillery during the Japanese occupation, it was built in 1914 and named after the first Japanese governor-general of Taiwan. Rediscovered in 1997, the abandoned premises have gone through several changes, from a venue for experimental performances and galleries for artists to, today, an arts center filled with artists studios, galleries, bookshops, installation spaces, performance venues, and dining places. Visitors throng through the park to participate in cultural and creative activities as well as to appreciate the Japanese colonial-era industrial architecture. So far, Huashan 1914 has hosted several big events, including Taiwan Designers Week (with participation from more than 350 local designers), Living Arts Festival, Simple Life Music Festival, and BiBo Student Design Expo. The renowned National Palace Museum has also taken up exhibition space for various digital art pieces, appropriately named NPM Digital. The vision is to create a link between creative-cultural activities and publishing, says Jung-wen Wang, publisher and CEO of Yuan-Liou, who successfully bid for a 15-year license to operate the park through his umbrella organization, Taiwan Cultural-Creative Development Co. Ltd., in 2007. Wang describes his vision: Activities held at the parkfor instance, tea-making workshops, furniture design exhibitions, Chinese opera performancescan become the subject matter for publications. You can produce a coffee-table book on the tea-making ceremony or write a novel inspired by an opera performance. At the same time, authors and illustrators can present their works at the park and get new ideas through their interaction with the audience. This park is an incubation center and showcase arena. I firmly believe that Huashan 1914 will expand our culture and creativity beyond its normal spheres. It will enrich every Taiwaneses life directly and indirectly. T.T.

CHEN HUEI-MING/HUASHAN 1914 CREATIVE PARK

ment for different platforms will continue, as will our effort to enhance Cits presence and coverage in the pan-Chinese market, says Yeh. Its current 150 apps (of which 95% are for iOS) will be doubled by year-end, and there have been

many successes. Aside from its Grimm Press apps (see story on page 40), there are travel guides (Tokyo Travel, Taiwan Travel in 72 Hours), an apps portal (to create various special-interest Web colonies), e-Reading Now (Taiwans first

Commonwealth Publishing
(bookzone.com.tw) Commonwealth has been introducing important Western thinkers, economists, and scientists to Taiwan readers

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over the past 29 years. We view promoting progressive ideas as contributing to society, and we started doing it way back in 1982. Handy, Covey, Charan, Peters, Senge, Wilson, Feynman, you name it, says deputy managing editor Daisy Yu, whose team will release Walter Isaacsons Steve Jobs: A Biography, Julian Assanges yetto-be-named book, as well as new Friedman and Ohmae titles in the coming months. Robinsons Out of Our Minds, Charans The Talent Masters, and Feynmans The Feynman Lectures are out recently. Titles such as Getting Organized in the Google Era, Payback Time, and Buy-in are doing well, says rights manager Violet Cheong. We have sold more than 37,000 copies of Getting Organized since its November launch. Also, Battle Hymn
Rights manager Violet Cheong (l.) and deputy managing editor Daisy Yu of Commonwealth, holding Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and You Can Be Different, respectively.

of the Tiger Mother has sold in excess of 55,000 copies, and local author Stanley Yens You Can Be Different and Education Should Be Different have chalked up sales of more than 74,000 and 130,000 copies respectively. For fiction, new titles such as Nicole Krausss Great House, John Ver-

dons Think of a Number, David Mitchells The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet, and Helen Simonsons Major Pettigrews Last Stand are expected to sell well upon release. Nearly 70% of Commonwealths 2010 list is translated, with more U.S. and Japanese titles slated for this year. Childrens books, around 60 in all, account for onethird of its new catalogue. Kat Falls Dark Life and the Horrible Science series are among the new releases. As for exports, Cheong has been doing

Publishing in Taiwan 2011

brisk business with publishers in Korea and China. She sold My Dear and The Foxs Moneybag to Koreas Random House and BooknBean respectively and to Chinas Qiangtao Publishing, while Stanley Yens two bestsellers went to Shanghai 99 Readers Culture. For now, e-publishing remains on the back burner. Says Yu, We have started investing in the infrastructure while keeping an eye on the marketplace. E-publishing has yet to arrive in Taiwan, and the majority of e-titles available out there are works in the public domain. We have produced only one e-title, for a mobile service provider, which offers it as a free download to its subscribers. The rapidly evolving business environment and the changing habits of the younger generation who have grown up with electronic gadgets, she adds, pose a challenge to the publishing industry in general. We have to find a way to move forward and stay relevant. Demos Chiangs The Path Under the Cliff, Chuan-fen Changs Difficulties in Killing, and Nick Biltons I Live in the Future and Heres How It Works. We were very experimental in our publishing program, but now we want to ensure our business is at least breaking even while continuing to bring meaningful material to readers, says Liao. So Flaneur will continue to publish books on lifestyle and creativity as well as retain our unique program of humanities titles and translations of French classics. Several big titles are due out soon, including Comit Invisibles Linsurrection qui vient, David Lisss A Conspiracy of Paper, and Clay Shirkys Cognitive Surplus. Her team has recently produced a few beautiful boxed sets, including Louis Vuitton: 100 Malles de Lgende and The Manuscripts of Wang Wen-xing. Wangs original manuscripts have been kept by the National Taiwan University Library, and few get to see or even appreciate them, Liao says. We collaborated with the library and Professor Yi-Peng to produce this special edition, which includes Wangs major works, Family Catastrophe and Backed against the Sea, and a collection of seminar papers on the study of his manuscripts. But the most outstanding feature, I think, is the 40-hour recording of Wangs reading of the two novels. For Liao, publishing an authors archival materialsmanuscripts, sketches, audio, etc.provides a novel way of giving them a new lease of life. Over at Fisfisa, its first documentary series, the six-episode The Inspired Island: Series of Eminent Writers from Taiwan (poemmovie. com.tw), made well over $100,000 during its run from April 9 to May 26 at local theaters. With
(l. to r.) Vice CEO Mei-ling Lo, CEO Mei-li Liao and planning editor Allison Lai of Flaneur with the boxed set The Manuscript of Wang Wen-xing 40 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y S E P T E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 1

such episodes as The Man Behind the Book, Toward the Completion of a Poem, and The Untrammeled Traveler, the seriespoignantly and artistically filmeduncovers the stories behind each writers creative thoughts and processes. Says Liao, Moving from print to other media, especially e-books, is inevitable for any publishing house, including us. Even though we have yet to launch any e-books, we are building the necessary groundwork for this new segment. Meanwhile, we endeavor to produce good print books and great documentaries.

Grimm Press

Flaneur

(flaneur.tw) Some major changes have taken place at Flaneur. It now operates as two distinct business units, Flaneur Culture Lab (for books) and Fisfisa (for documentaries). It also has a new CEO, Mei-li Liao, with impressive industry credentials, who has already built up a marketing team to take Flaneur to new heights. Today, its offerings are more broad-based than ever, clearly reflected in Flaneurs recent bestsellers: Yann Arthus-Bertrands Home,

(grimmpress.com.tw) Grimms e-reader Tellybear, selling for $320 and launched in November, has been a success with kids and parents alike. Its ease of use is one major selling point: any three-year-old, which is the target market, can operate it by himself or herself. Then there are our electronic

A screenshot of electronic picture book (ePB) One Pizza, One Penny from Grimm Press

picture books, or ePBs, which are highly animated and visually captivating. Kids can easily use the device for an hour and read about 10 titles, says founder and publisher K.T. Hao, whose Tellybear comes with 100 Grimm titles. I firmly believe that children should have their own electronic reading device, and through the process of creating it we keep one question in mind: how to make it attractive and user-friendly to kids. Meanwhile, sales of Grimm ePBs on Apples App Store (U.S.) have been growing steadily since the first title

Publishing in Taiwan 2011

The Rights Stuff

True crime does not sell in Taiwan, says director Wendy King of Big Apple Agency (bigapple1.info). That is one category that may never make a breakthrough here. We have, however, seen some interest in kidnap victim Jaycee Dugards A Stolen Life, which is more of an autobiography than true crime. YA is another difficult genre since Taiwans YA market is not well developed. Often, an American or British YA blockbuster that catches on in other countries will fall flat here. Alyson Noels The Immortals is a good example. In contrast, the success of The Kite Runner and The Last Lecture attests to the popularity of heart-warming fiction and inspiring nonfiction in a market that has a predominantly female readership. Movie adaptation does give a novel a new lease on life. The contract for Sara Gruens Water for Elephants, for instance, was renewed this year. Big Apples business is up by 30% compared to the same period last year. The economy may be in the doldrums, but that has not stopped publishers from buying rights. Big titles may even get higher advances Wendy King and Vincent Lim of Big than in previous years Apple Agency. simply because publishers are trying to outdo one another to grab sure-sell bestsellers, adds rights manager Vincent Lim. But the market is overcrowded with titles on similar topics, which is a headache. Publishers will look for the same kind of book as the bestseller, except that they want a new title that would sell even more. Every publisher, for instance, is searching for the next Stieg Larsson, thus making it difficult to sell other titles from that genre. With most Taiwan editors fluent in English, titles from Englishspeaking territories naturally receive more attention. But in the past couple of years, more editors have tried to bring in some Continental European titles even when they are not available in English yet, says King, whose team recently made deals for Ron Clarks The End of Molasses Classes, Kathleen MacMahons So This Is How It Ends, Ser Prince Halversons The Underside of Joy, Gareth Malones Music for the People, and Leslie McGuires Brush Your Teeth Please. Taiwans publishing industry is growing, but at a slow pace, and that is not because of a lack of new publishing houses. In fact, there are now many small presses, mostly set up by editors who left big houses to go out on their own. They simply want to publish titles that they like. Meanwhile, over the past year, cross-strait publishing activity has revved up, with some mainland Chinese publishers establishing offices or editorial departments in Taiwan. Adds Lim, They will purchase rights for both Taiwan and China for the same title, and this arrangement seems to work out pretty well. This means Taiwan publishers now face increased competition for rights. But whether these Chinese Director Yu-shiuan Chen of Bardon with publishers can bridge her Japan agent, Zeno Chuang both the language (simplified vs. traditional Chinese) and cultural differences remains to be seen. Self-help, lifestyle, and design titles have become more popular, and YA readership is not limited to young adults here in Taiwan but extends to 30-year-olds, says director Yu-shiuan Chen of BardonChinese Media Agency (bardonchinese.com). Chen finds that while the U.K. and U.S. continue to be the main sources for translations (such as YA blockbuster series Twilight and Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which the agency handled), Japanese originals on lifestyle and design get better reception from publishers and readers here. Given Taiwans market size, I think we have way too many new titles out there. Making these titles visible has seen publishers trying ways to attract distributors and retailers. It is fair to say that marketing now consumes a much bigger chunk of the overall publishing budget than before. It is our job as a literary agency to provide publishers with as much information about the international market as possible to help them make the right choice when it comes to rights buying and translation. Speaking of translations, Chen finds that after all these years of exposure to foreign titles, both editors and readers have developed a localized taste for specific types of books. Editors have become expert in adapting foreign titles to suit local readers. Fewer new publishing companies have emerged in the past couple of years, she adds. Small houses can survive through focused publishing programs targeting niche readerships. But publishing alone, even good reads at that, is not sufficient to bring books to readers. Bookselling now requires other mediums, such as the television or movie tie-ins, to find readers. Chen and her team recently handled Thomas Friedmans That Used to Be Us, Orhan Pamuks A Strangeness in My Mind, Brandon Mulls Beyonders and Barack Obamas Of Thee I Sing. Asked to name one big book (among those hyped at the London and BookExpo fairs) that will make it big in Taiwan over the next six months, Chen names Walter Isaacsons iSteve without much hesitation. As for homegrown authors to recommend to overseas publishers, two names immediately come to her mind: Eileen Chang and Jimmy Liao. T.T.

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Publishing in Taiwan 2011

appeared in June 2010. Hsin Yi. Now in Korean and Sales are also picking up in Japanese, this bestseller will mainland China primarily soon be in English (from because our bilingual ChiWalker Books). A touching nese/English ePBs are exactly story about a little girls Chiwhat parents want to get nese New Year reunion with their kids to learn English. her father, who has been away With pricing, we settled on for a whole year to earn a liv$2.99 per ePB, a middle ing in the big city, it is natuground between the U.S. rally very Chinese and yet (where such titles usually go also universal, says execufor $4.95) and China (where tive director Sing-ju Chang. low pricing is necessary to Her six-member team in attract sales). Nanjing, China, helped Yu Hao is planning to sell Liqiong, a young first-time Tellybear, ePBs, and apps on writer, rework the text over both Apple and Android 10 times. The illustrator, stores while increasing our Zhu Chengliang, though brand presence so that more Two award-winners from famous, had limited experiHsin Yi: A New Years consumers know about us. Reunion (top) and Lets Get ence in picture books, and it He also plans to add 100 new Mung Beans, Momma! took us a while to get the ePBs to the existing 250 over pages right. the next 16 months. Now that we are The new Nanjing editorial office has about done with classic fairy tales, we are been looking hard for picture book starting a new series called Short Story authors and illustrators, and their effort Masterpieces, which will include such has netted more than 10 titles so far. stories as Moby-Dick, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. This office also functions as our China Hyde, A Midsummer Nights Dream, and bureau for the Hsin Yi Picture Book The Merchant of Venice. Animation will Award, preparing and localizing awardmake it easy for kids to follow the story winning titles for publication. despite their young age. We are also The Hsin Yi award is now in its 23rd looking into developing interactive year. We have three winners from Taiapplications based on our existing titles. wan this year and two of them have par(Grimm boasts a list of 2,500 titles, ticipated in the competition more than mostly originals.) seven times. This awardthe only one Currently, its bestselling ePB is One in Taiwan in this segmentoffers them Pizza, One PennyGrimms #1 title with not only a benchmark but also a way to domestic sales exceeding 200,000 copies challenge themselves. An animation and six foreign language editions, having category was added two years ago for been downloaded more than 60,000 original works or adaptations of previous times since its launch a year ago. Other award-winning titles, with Hopscotch and top titles include The Steadfast Tin Soldier A Happy Wish grabbing the top prize in (40,000 downloads) and Little Stone Bud2009 and 2010 respectively. Many of dha (39,000). Our ePB sales account for the entries are from relatively young one-third of our total revenue, and it will people, who are great with animation definitely surpass printed books by the tools and techniques but lack good end of next year. knowledge about publishing for children. But Im sure this will improve Hsin Yi Foundation given time. (hsin-yi.org.tw) In 2010/2011, three of Hsin Yis bestA New Years Reunion, winner of the first sellers are winners of the award, namely Feng Zikai Chinese Childrens Picture Lets Get Mung Beans, Momma!; Guji Guji; Book Award, is creating a lot of buzz for and Spit the Seed. Translations such as
44 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y S E P T E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 1

The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? continue to be popular. The same goes for novelty titles for under-three, such as Taro Gomis Where Is the Fish? One of Changs big moves this year is to extend her publishing program to cater for 12-year-oldswith originals by Chinese writers such as I Kept My Dad in the Fish Tank and The Emperor Is a Fish and adding more novelty titles for ages up to three, such as Tullets Un Livre and Yonezus Moving Blocks and Rainbow Chameleon. Declining sales is a hard truth, but our Bookstart project, conducted since 2006, is doing well in Taiwan, and sales of our titles for children under three are increasing every year.

Linking Publishing
(linkingbooks.com.tw) Publisher and editorial director Linden Lin says introducing foreign writers such as French authors to Taiwan is one of our missions. He has translated Marcel Proust, Claude Lvi-Strauss, Antonin Artaud, Diderot, Marivaux, Samuel Beckett, Marguerite Duras, and Christian Jacq. Jacqs Imhotep and Et lEgypte svilla trilogy will be out soon. In recent months, we have also introduced young French illustrators such as Olivier Tallec, Sandra Poirot Cherif and Nathalie Choux, he says. For his contributions, France awarded Lin the Order of Arts and Literature early this year. Lins team has just launched Tim

Linden Lin, publisher and editorial director of Linking.

Publishing in Taiwan 2011

Books.com.tw: A Retail Powerhouse

With sales of 11.31 million copies of books in 2010, Books.com. tw is now Taiwans biggest book retailer. In fact, its 2009 sales of 10 million copies already exceeded that of Eslite, Taiwans largest chain bookstore, during the same period. Owned by Uni-President Corporation, which also operates about 4,750 7-Eleven convenience stores throughout the island, Books.com piggybacks on that distribution channel. About 70% of its transactions involve pickup from 7-Eleven stores, and the rest, home delivery. (Uni-President also owns the Starbucks Coffee franchise in Taiwan, and Rakuten, Japans largest online shopping mall operator.) Fiction, says marketing manager Joey Tsao, is the most popular segment at Books.com, followed by lifestyle titles. The biggest growth last year, at around 51%, came from the child care/ parenting genre. Its latest statistics show that 61% of Books. com customers are female, and 71% come from the 2039-yearold age group. Books.com has been offering imported titles since July 2006. Between 2007 and 2010, sales of English titles grew 70%, and we are trying to raise demand higher, says Tsao. We work with American wholesalers such as Baker & Taylor and Ingram as well as multinational publishers like Random House, HarperCollins, Penguin, Hachette, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan. Besides English books, we also sell English, Japanese and Korean magazines, he adds. Currently, Books.com does not sell e-books, but a team has been formed to look into this segment. Hailed as Taiwans answer to Amazon, Books. com also sells clothing and accessories, electronics, arts and crafts, appliance, gourmet food and drinks, to name but a few. It recently launched two creative programs to boost sales and increase its online presence. One of the programs offers revenue sharing with bloggers that links their blogs to Books.com, or to those that recommend products sold by Books.com through their blogs. Another program, m.books.com.tw, capitalizes on the popularity of mobile-based Web surfing to enable customers to browse, search, compare prices and purchase any product via mobile phones. Given its strong customer focus, it is no wonder that Taiwan-based Business Next magazine recently ranked Books.com #1 among the islands 50 major online shopping sites.

TOP TEN TRANSLATED BESTSELLERS IN 2010

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The Secret. Rhonda Byrne. Your Own Worst Enemy. Kenneth W. Christian.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest. Stieg Larsson. Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert. The Lost Symbol. Dan Brown.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Stieg Larsson. Breaking Dawn. Stephenie Meyer.

The Girl Who Played with Fire. Stieg Larsson. Eclipse. Stephenie Meyer. New Moon. Stephenie Meyer.

T.T

SOURCE: BOOKS.COM.TW.

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SEPTEMBER 12, 2011

Publishing in Taiwan 2011

Browns Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation, Howard Schultzs Onward, and Vanessa Diffenbaughs The Language of Flowersall Linkings bestsellersand is working on Christopher Paolinis Inheritance. Meanwhile, several originals have traveled abroad, including Beast and a Group of Fish That Look Alike and Gypsy to France, A Taste of Luxury and The Roof to Korea, and several comic titles to Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. We are also doing a copublishing project with Korean childrens publisher Yeowan Media, in which printing is done in Korea and marketing handled by us. Childrens books make up about 20% of Linkings catalogue. One notable project is the fully illustrated Global Kids Economy Village series, which focuses on one particular countrys economic story in each volume. Around 4,000 sets have been sold since its launch in October 2009. Meanwhile, the 12-volume History of the Development of the Republic of China is slated for launch in a few weeks. Covering six subjectslearning and knowledge, politics and the legal system, the economy, society, literature and arts, and education and culturethis is the biggest publishing project to mark Taiwans centennial this year, adds Lin, whose plans for the next 12 months include creating a new team to publish original titles in e-book format and publishing books in English about Taiwan culture, with topics such as style, design, and tea making. As for digital publishing, Lin has obtained digital rights for about half (around 1,100 titles) of Linkings list. About 100 e-books are available, and many more are scheduled, he says. Linkings parent company, United Daily News Group, publisher of one of Taiwans three biggest newspapers, has more digital publishing efforts. On the retail side, its subsidiary United Distribution Company operates six stores, which contribute nearly 10% to Linkings bottom line. One outlet, Shanghai Book Store, specializes in imported books from China. Says Lin, We bring in new titles three times a month, so Taiwan readers get to read these new works quickly.

Locus Publishing

(locuspublishing.com) Illustrator/author Jimmy Liao is Locuss indisputable star, having published 40 of his titles since 2000. His latest, Dont Worry, Be Happy, was out in February. Spains Barbara Fiore Edition has picked it up along with My Little Perfect World and Jimmy Liao: A Collection. He has been published in 12 foreign languages, including English, French, German, Japanese, and Italian, says owner Rex How. Besides Jimmy Liao, Locus boasts

Publishing in Taiwan 2011

Detective series. Another is Chihchung Tsai with his cartoons of ancient Chinese classics. We recently published Tsais ambitious three-volume Eastern Cosmological Physics, which explains fundamental principles of the universe from an Eastern perspective, adds How, whose team also published Chinese medicine expert Weikung Wang, food and lifestyle writer Craig Au Yeung, Tibetan author Woeser (Forbidden Memory, Tibet Remembered) and political novelist Lixiong Wang (Yellow Peril, Sky Burial: The Fate of Tibet). Coming up, Locus will release, among others, Duhiggs The Power of Habit, Allens Idea Man, Brasharess My Name Is Memory, and Harknesss A Discovery of Witches. Translations remain a big part of Locuss publishing program. Recent titles (also among its 2010/2011 bestsellers) include Crisis Economics, The Grand Design, the Hunger Games series, the House of Night series, and The Swan Thieves. Five years ago, the rising popularity of nonfiction works on paranormal phenomena prompted How to start a special imprint, trans+, which has since expanded to include horror fiction, like Palahniuks Haunted, Ketchums The Girl Next Door, and Grahame-Smiths Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. In 2010, Locus established a subsidiary, ChineseCUBES, that offers engaging Chinese language-learning programs that use a never-before-seen four-skills methodology enhanced by augmented reality technology. Also, How set up Locus International in the U.S., which has published six titles, including See You in Frankfurt and Life Before Letters by Peter Weidhaas (former Frankfurt Book Fair director), The Sutra of My Heart by Chisung Hung, and three comic titles illustrated by award-winning manga artist Chen Uen (Legend of Assassins and AbiSword I and II).

Rex How, owner of Locus Publishing.

quite a long roster of well-known local authors. Chinlun Lee, a London Royal College of Art graduate, for instance, has produced works such as No. 39 Animal Surgery and Paw in the Surgery. Her newest, Every Day Is a Good Day, was published two months ago. Then there is Miaoju Chang with her humorous and intuitive observations in Fax Diaries, My Life in Seattle, and the Du-ji Private

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Publishing in Taiwan 2011

Hows current big project is Classics 3.0 for Children. The first 100-title series of selected Chinese classics is set for launch at the end of the year. This is also aimed at the overseas market, where interest in Chinese language and culture has picked up in recent years. kept in Japan for Kyoto University, says chairman Felix Chu. His team also collaborated with Tokyo-based Yumani Bookstore to convert more than 340 rolls of microfilm of Taiwan Nichinichi Sinpou (18981945), the most widely circulated newspaper in Taiwan during the Japanese occupation. The digital version, containing three million records, has been sold to Hong Kong, China, the U.S., and many organizations in Taiwan. One landmark project is the Taoist Canon, widely regarded as the Taoism encyclopedia and compiled in 1445 during the reign of Emperor Zhengtong. This resource is a must-read for anyone interested in the East and Taoism. Chus team also collaborated with CommonWealth Magazine, a publication recognized for its authoritative coverage of both global and regional economic and political developments. It is a storehouse of information on Taiwans cul-

Transmission Books and Microinfo Co.

(tbmc.com.tw) Guided by the motto learning has no Felix Chu, chairman of Transmission Books and boundary, technology has no limits, Microinfo Co. TBMC has been specializing in online databases and digital resources since its Chinese online edition with 1.4 million inception in 1981. Subscribers to its entries. 50-odd products include Princeton, Japan is currently TMBCs biggest George Washington University, and overseas market, and it has had various University of London. Over the past collaborations with Japanese institudecade, it has also subscribed to raw data tions and organizations on unique projfrom the U.S. National Archives, and ects. For instance, we produced a dataPublishers Weekly_200x136mm_ol.pdf 1 2011/8/17 05:31:05 from ERIC (Educational Resources base on Chinese classics for Tokyo UniInformation Center), for producing a versity and another on old Chinese books

Publishing in Taiwan 2011

ture, economy, and politics. We supply all the issuesfrom 1981 to the present dayin e-journal format. More than 100 educational and government organizations subscribe to it. Another major project is the CD-ROM version of Kangxi Dictionary, which was the standard Chinese dictionary of the 18th and 19th centuries and has more than 47,000 characters. The biggest challenges to companies in this segment, says Chu, are the availability of free and easily downloadable resources on the Internet as well as the release of large amounts of archival data by governments worldwide. At the same time, recruitment is tough. Aside from having an in-depth understanding of different content types and readers needs, senior staff must be expert in digital platforms, devices and technologies. TBMC is focusing on developing and marketing e-books while aggressively expanding its subscription base in the region. At the Asian Online Conference and Exhibition in Hong Kong several months ago, Chu says, we signed an e-book project with Hong Kong University Press, with the products to be launched over the next few months. Several other big e-projects, including one on a spatiotemporal comparison database, are also in the works. Yuan-Lious catalogue, which boasts such blockbuster authors as John Grisham, Michael Crichton, Stephen King, Agatha Christie, and Patricia Highsmith. We translated bestsellers Hannah Pakulas The Last Empress and Rebecca Skloots The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks last year, says Lin, who has obtained the rights to the latest in the Bond series, Carte Blanche. With 22 in-house editors (in four divisions) and a pool of reputable translators, the company adds about 180 to 200 new titles every year. For original works, two are currently flying high. One is Seediq Bale (real man in the Seediq language), which depicts the tribes trials and tribulations during the Japanese occupation. Half of this six-volume series has been published, and Fortissimo is due to premiere the film soon. The other title, Circling the Mount, is also being turned into a movie. This story, about the 20-something authors cycling tour to Tibet, has sold more than 100,000 copies, says general manager Chuan-li Lee, whose roster of bestselling homegrown authors includes Jin Yong (aka Louis Cha, the renowned martial arts novelist), Hong Lan (psychologist and author of eight parenting titles), Jiang Xun (an aesthetics and lifestyle writer), Shiang-hui Wu, Ke-xian Liu, and Lin Xi. Adds Lee, We have collaborated with manufacturer ViewSonic and technology company Koobe Inc. to digitize Jin Yongs 15 novels and load them on an e-book reader. This bundle sells for about $500. Meanwhile, 16 childrens titlesfour English language titles and the Chinese Childrens Illustrated Folktales serieshave been turned into iPhone apps. In total, our e-publishing program has about 2,000 titles, and more are coming.
Max Lin (l.) and Chuan-li Lee of Yuan-Liou. 50 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y S E P T E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 1

Yuan-Liou

Find and Be Found on

www.PubMatch.com

The FIRST Comprehensive International Rights Network For the Publishing Industry

(ylib.com) This is the home of Percy Jackson (and Carter and Sadie Kane) in Taiwan. So popular is Rick Riordans mythical world that five Percy Jackson and the Olympians titles, with sales totaling 460,000 copies, are among Yuan-Lious 2010/2011 bestsellers. The first title of the sequel series, the Heroes of Olympus, released in July, has already sold more than 42,000 copies. Also on the bestseller list is Tina Seeligs What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20. We are working on Porters The Price of Everything, Bakers Final Jeopardy, Bolaos Savage Detectives, and Jacobsons Finkler Question, says Max Lin, director of research, development and rights. Speedand, of course, qualitycounts a lot in this business. For instance, for Jim Rogers A Gift to My Children, we managed to get our edition out ahead of the English original and have sold 100,000 copies of it. So it should not come as a surprise that translations take up about half of