A look back at the major trends that led the Chinese publishing industry in 2015
The year of 2015 was seen as a ground-breaking year for various emerging cultural products, especially those highly dependent on the proliferation of the Internet. Perhaps overwhelmed by the myriad online TV and film productions this year, the public has been picking up more books over the past year, leading to several hit books sweeping the country and a number of new trends that caught publishers off guard. Here the Global Times takes a closer look at the most eye-catching events that happened in the publishing industry over the past year.
No.1: 'The Three-Body Problem'
While it has long had a dedicated following in the country, sci-fi has been an often ignored genre in China. That is until this year when Chinese writer Liu Cixin's 2015 Hugo Award win for The Three-Body Problem launched the sci-fi genre into the mainstream consciousness.
With the numerous adaptations of several of Liu's short stories and novels currently in the works, many are calling 2015 a banner year for Chinese sci-fi. The ripple effect of Liu's Hugo win is comparable to 2012, when Mo Yan won the Nobel Literature Prize, an event that secured top spots on the best-seller list for many of the authors representative works for quite some time. Since the Hugo Awards were announced in August, Liu's trilogy has been at the top of the best-seller list. This position at the top is expected to continue through December and into the new year, according to Openbook, a leading domestic publishing industry research institute.
On October 27, Entgroup, a leading domestic entertainment industry research institute, released a list of the most valuable IPs that could be adapted into popular derivative products. Liu's Three-Body trilogy was listed as the most valuable IP out of all traditional publications.
No.2: 'The Secret Garden'
The biggest dark horse for books this year wasn't actually meant to be read, but colored in. A coloring book aimed at adults, The Secret Garden series by famous British illustrator Johanna Basford prevailed not just in her country, but also all the way across the globe in China. Basford's two coloring books The Secret Garden and Secret Garden 2: Enchanted Forest have been on Openbook's list of best-selling books since July. Additionally, according to the 2015 best-seller list for the Chinese market released by Amazon on December 10, The Secret Garden ranks right at the top.
First gaining popularity in Europe and the US at the beginning of the year, the coloring books took the Chinese market by storm after they were introduced in the middle of the year. Aiming to help relieve pressure from life and work, many people experienced something they had never experienced from reading. However, the jury is still out on whether these books can truly relieve pressure or are just addictive.
What is not in doubt is that the success of this coloring books series has kicked off a new trend as domestic illustrators and publishers have geared up production of their own coloring books. And it seems to be the right move. Domestic illustrator Amily Shen's Fantasy became a best-selling non-fiction book soon after it was published in July.
No.3: Resuscitated by adaptations
The effect of TV and film adaptations on the publishing industry was fairly obvious this year. From The Ordinary World and The Journey of Flower to the recent The Legend of Mi Yue, TV shows adapted from books have given their originals books a brand new lease on life. According to statistics from Amazon, Chinese mainland sales of The Journey of Flower have increased by a factor of 10 since the TV series hit the airwaves, while Nirvana in Fire saw 33 times more sales than before its TV series debuted.
However, just like how hot topics on social media increased sales of related books in 2014, the TV and film adaptation bump only lasts a short time. Most of these books only reached the top of the book list for two months at most.
No.4: Celebrity biographies
Since Steve Jobs: A Biography became a hit in the Chinese market in 2011 (the year was even called the Year of Jobs in Chinese publishing circles), celebrity biographies have ushered in a new era. This new era has seen an increase in not just the number of celebrities, even those that are still young, joining in to write about their career and life experiences, but also fan acceptance of this genre.
Bai Yansong's biography Bai Talks held the most appeal among the numerous celebrity biographies published this year. The book ranked at the top of half of this year's monthly top-seller lists, and Bai has also appeared more frequently at book meets in different cities than on his TV show on China Central Television (CCTV). Other biographies from celebrities such as Jing Yidan and Chai Jing, also both CCTV program hosts, and 24-year-old actor Zhang Yixing also saw great sales.
No.5: Reading is inspirational
Although the realm of popular fiction didn't see many new works by Chinese writers this year, the non-fiction genre was undulated by a constant stream of new works. Inspirational works, mostly books featuring relaxing true stories of love or courage, showed off their great vitality in the market this year, especially when those books were written by celebrities.
Amitabha, To You Who Are Single and Guai, Momotou are just three examples of the multitude of similar books published this year. The beginning of this trend can be traced back to last year's king, Zhang Jiajia's I Belonged to You, which remained at the top of best-seller lists throughout the entire year. Although the book was a work of fiction, its inspirational nature kicked off a trend toward Chicken-Soup-for-the-Soul-like books.
Domestic readers have not just embraced inspirational works by domestic writers. The Miracle in the Grocery Store by Japanese writer Higashino Keigo and The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by US writer Gabrielle Zevin, have strong fan bases here in China, despite the controversial discussion about the latter's value as a work of literature.
