Book Publishing

[t3rance]

Hey,

Has anyone had any experience publishing a book in China? Chinese or English? I would like to know what is involved and how to get the ball rolling.

Thanks,

-t

[daoyi]

What kind of book?

You might be best off self-publishing to Amazon or something.

I contributed to a portion of a book here - but I was approached about it. From what I can gather, the process here is very different from back home for me (States). I've never done more than some op-eds for papers back home so I don't know the book process there in specifics, but I can't imagine that any publisher in the States would be as controlling as the ones here. They suck all creative life out of it and seemed like they really just wanted to attach a foreign name to a Chinese book as the directions were so specific I was basically just writing what I was told ...

[liuzhou]

Virtually impossible unless you are commissioned by a Chinese publisher, which is very rare. Surprisingly, they prefer to commision books by Chinese people.

Publishing is 99.99% state controlled.

What kind of book did you have in mind? If you were born in the 19th century or are called Jane Austen, you may have a chance, but no royalties.

[jasoninchina]

If you want to self-publish, I think it is relatively simple. In Haikou (I assume it's similar in other cities), there is a whole street which is lined with various printers. If I wanted to print a book, I would walk the street and find the folks with the appropriate-looking machines and ask them about it.

This is one thing I really like about China - similar businesses are often grouped together. If your city is not set up in this way, I would simply search baidu for local printers.

[roddy]

That'd work if you're happy selling it out of a suitcase on a pedestrian overpass. If you actually want to get it into bookshops you need to plug into the distribution network.

[t3rance]

Thanks for all your responses.

@ daoyi: In regards to what kind of book; I was thinking about Chinese/English learning materials on the one hand and experiences of expats on the other.

@liuzhou: Do you think the Chinese audience would appriciate something along the lines of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?

So if publishing is 99.99% state controlled and you self publish and distribute via the interwebs....what would the state do?

[liuzhou]

So if publishing is 99.99% state controlled and you self publish and distribute via the interwebs....what would the state do?

Block the site.

(If they object in any way at all.)

I was thinking about Chinese/English learning materials

Have you ever been inside a Chinese bookshop?

You would be competing in probably the most overcrowded publishing genre in the world. And against some of the world's biggest publishers. Your chances of success in that area are very, very slim.

[daoyi]

Agree with what others are saying. You're better off just starting a blog, and if it gets enough shape, take all that and make it into a book...

[t3rance]

Thanks for the feedback.

[zhwj]

I've known a couple of people who have published books in China. One was in the pre-blogging era, and had a collection of essays privately printed for personal distribution to friends.

The other taught at a local university in Jilin for many years, where he had become fairly well-known in the city's English-language instruction circles, and was asked by his uni to pull together a set of persona experience-type essays to be paired with vocabulary lists and used as a textbook. It ended up being sold at bookstores in the city, but I think the decision to publish was made on the basis of the school's involvement in the project, rather than any push by the author.

[Lu]

So if publishing is 99.99% state controlled and you self publish and distribute via the interwebs....what would the state do?

To legally publish a book in China, you need an ISBN. For this, you need a publishing house: they have control over a certain number of ISBN's that they can put one on your book of, assuming they believe the content is not problematic and they can make some money of it. Only with an ISBN can you sell a book in a book store or on taobao or, I assume, at any other major website. I suppose you could set up your own website, but it will be hard to sell a serious number of books that way. Plus you or your book might get in trouble simply for publishing outside the official framework.

Yah, not easy I'm afraid. I suppose you could try pitching your book idea to publishers and if one bites, write the book. Good luck, in any case.

[t3rance]

@Lu

Lulu.com is a company that publishes books on demand. They provide an ISBN. Would that ISBN be valid in China? Or does China have its own system?

[Lu]

An ISBN tells one, among others, in which country a book was printed. As an (I assume) American company, Lulu.com would probably provide you with an American ISBN. That would make your book a foreign book, and all kinds of rules for importing foreign books to China would start to apply.

[liuzhou]

I think some people need to differentiate "printing" and "publishing".

Printing is easy. Publishing is more than difficult.

[t3rance]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. To clarify, I am interested in publishing. I have been brainstorming recently, because I have been in China for two years and I am trying to figure out the best ways to capitalize on the experience. I guess publishing seemed like low hanging fruit.

[Lu]

It's pretty low-hanging, which is why most of it has been picked already...