The year 2022 is known as the first year of the Metaverse. In January 2022, China’s Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission and other 16 departments jointly announced the national blockchain innovation application pilot list, and the Straits Publishing and Distribution Group was the only publishing media group in China to be selected. Now that a year has passed, Yan Guizhong, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Straits Publishing and Distribution Group, was interviewed by Bookdao to talk about publishing and the Metaverse.

After being selected to the pilot list in the characteristic field of "blockchain + copyright", the SPDG quickly adjusted its layout in the digital economy sector. Through strengthening cooperation and joint development, it has become the earliest publisher incorporating Metaverse business in the publishing industry.

Blockchain and copyright application platforms released online

On March 12, 2022, SPDG’s first digital collectible - “Mazu in the World” (blind box) was officially released online, and 6,000 copies of the digital collectible priced at 19.9 yuan each were sold out within 5 minutes of going online, which also marked the first success for the SPDG in the exploration of the "blockchain + copyright" application.

The Straits Publishing and Distribution Group's first digital collectible - “Mazu in the World”

In July 2022, SPDG and its affiliated units signed strategic cooperation agreements with Himalaya, Quantum Cloud Code Company, and Zhongtu Yunchuang Company respectively, achieving win-win results in traditional cultural tourism, blockchain, and other aspects. At the 5th Digital China Construction Summit, SPGD and China National Publications Import and Export Corporation jointly participated in the exhibition to showcase the unique practical examples of digital publishing under the empowerment of new technologies and innovations.

SPDG and Baiguwang jointly built the Straits Blockchain Copyright Comprehensive Operation Platform, which integrates copyright content application, registration, transfer transaction, cross-authorization, traceability and evidence collection, solid certificate rights protection, pledge financing, and other services. The copyright service workstation registers the work, stores the certificate on the chain, conducts pre-examination by the workstation, and quickly completes the confirmation of rights through the blockchain technology, forming an irreplaceable digital collection, and the “timestamp” function of the blockchain can serve as evidence of when the work was first published and a strong basis for rights protection. On the blockchain, it is possible to clearly view the detailed information and ownership transfer history of each digital work, ensuring the authenticity of the entire chain, thereby realizing the full-process protection of copyright.

Bookdao: SPDG is the only national publishing and media group that has been selected as a pilot unit in the national blockchain innovation application pilot list of the "blockchain + copyright" characteristic field. In your opinion, what preparatory work did the group do to successfully impress the review committee?

Yan Guizhong: There are three main favorable conditions for the group to be selected for the pilot program:

First, the SPDG has always paid close attention to the development of emerging digital technologies such as blockchain, actively explored the application of new technologies in the publishing field, and vigorously promoted the convergent development of traditional publishing and digital publishing.

Second, Fujian province, where SPDG resides, is rich in copyright resources, and there are many copyright-related enterprises. The annual copyright registration volume has always been at the forefront of the country, and the working mechanism for copyright creation, use, management, and protection is relatively sound.

Third, the provincial government (Fujian) attaches great importance to digital copyright work, which provides a strong organizational guarantee for SPDG to do a good job in the national pilot work.

Bookdao: SPDG is actively planning, making serious arrangements, and moving fast in the Metaverse. What is the group's consideration and strategic layout for this?

Yan Guizhong: Innovation is the first driving force for development. The Metaverse is a state in which the real world and the virtual world are mixed through augmented reality technology and virtual reality technology. Now the industry generally believes that it will become the third-generation Internet after the PC Internet and the Mobile Internet. Metaverse is not only an integrated application of new technologies, but also a new life scenario and a new form of digital cultural experience, which will become a new industry facing the future.

At present, the Metaverse is still in its infancy, but with the continuous development of the Metaverse, people's production, life, and reading methods will undergo revolutionary changes, and will also profoundly change the basic mode and pattern of publishing. I would like to face such a window period where opportunities and challenges coexist. In the digital Metaverse world, the importance of copyright will be even more prominent. Through the implementation of "blockchain + copyright" related projects, SPDG will also find an entry point for the group's development of the Metaverse field.

Bookdao: Metaverse is a technological concept, while traditional publishing is a content concept. For the combination of the two, what kind of Metaverse business layout has SPDG made, and what is the current effect? What kind of changes has it brought to the current publishing work?

Yan Guizhong: SPDG has mainly promoted the implementation of the following tasks:

First, at the top level of the group, take the national "blockchain + copyright" pilot program as the starting point to promote the construction of the "Straits Blockchain Copyright Comprehensive Operation Center" project. Blockchain copyright has the value of basic functions in the Metaverse world, and will play a supporting role in identification, data credibility, and asset confirmation. It can be said to be the "base" of the Metaverse world. Through the promotion of the pilot program, SPDG has continued to expand in terms of technology research and development, platform construction, scenario application, and market promotion. Last year, we released the phased results of the project at the Digital China Summit. At the beginning of this year, we passed the expert defense organized by the National Copyright Administration and completed the mid-term evaluation of the pilot project, and were invited to participate in the 7th China Internet Copyright Protection and Development Conference to participate in the exchange. All the work of the blockchain copyright pilot project is being implemented in accordance with our established goals.

Second, in the publishing sector, relying on the "Publishing IP Transformation Project", one of the top ten projects of SPDG's "14th Five-Year Plan", promote the full copyright operation of Fujian Children's Publishing House's million-level best-selling book Thumb Squad Leader(拇指班长), and build scenario-based reading experience by creating a Thumb Squad Leader IP Metaverse, and realizes the diversified collaboration of books, film and television, and digital industries. At present, the Thumb Squad Leader IP offline experience - "Thumb Space" has been completed, and the online IP Metaverse world is being implemented.

Thumb Squad Leader IP offline experience space - "Thumb Space"

The third is in the field of distribution. Fujian Xinhua Publishing Group, a subsidiary of SPDG, tried to create a Metaverse world in the bookstore in Antai Bookstore, Fuzhou. A brand-new experience of "Technology Changes Reading". Since its opening, the project has attracted many readers and young people to take a look. At the same time, many local reading promoters, teachers, and parents of students hope that our offline reading activities can be arranged in Antai Bookstore.

In terms of changing the current publishing and distribution work, I think that the current business layout of Metaverse is still in the stage of leading development, and all work is also making breakthroughs in "points", and has not yet reached the conditions for full deployment. But judging from the work on these "points", we have deeply felt the new requirements and new challenges, which will become our valuable experience and important wealth for us to promote innovation and development. The integration of the elements of "content + technology + experience" in the Xinhua Bookstore's Metaverse Bookstore, for example, has required a transformation of our bookstore, which is not only a function of "finding good books for readers and good readers for books", but also a place for new reading and new cultural consumption, and the new scenes arising from the new era have given it a new mission, and we need to make it a new value and a new role with new responsibilities.

Bookdao: In addition to the layout of business modules, what are the corresponding changes and breakthroughs in SPDG's budget investment, management system and mechanism?

Yan Guizhong: Funds are the basis for cultivating and promoting the development of the digital industry. In terms of budget input, SPDG has given key support to the development of the digital industry. In the past two years, the group has firmly tilted towards the new economic field in the state-owned capital operation budget arrangement, the declaration of special funds for the cultural industry, and various special reward and support plans, especially injecting large funds into the new business forms represented by blockchain and Metaverse. At the same time, based on our own capital investment, we also actively coordinate multi-party fundraising to ensure investment in key projects, promote implementation, and achieve results.

In terms of system and mechanism, on the one hand, in 2022, SPDG researched and issued a three-year action plan for the digital economy as a special supporting plan for the group's "14th Five-Year Plan" in the field of digital economy construction. On the other hand, at the micro level of business, we adhere to the problem-oriented working principle, analyze specific problems and solve them on a case-by-case basis. For example, to set up all-media technology research & development and operation center via Chuangzhi Alliance to solve the untimely response and low service quality during market-oriented business R&D; another example is to set up a special studio, headed by the assistant president, and coordinate relevant resources and professional operations internally to solve the insufficiency in IP copyright operation of children’s publishing unit.

Bookdao: In the past two years, the publishing industry has vigorously engaged in convergent publishing, which also improves publishing efficiency through the combination of technology and publishing. What are the similarities and differences between Metaverse and Convergent Publishing?

Yan Guizhong: Convergent publishing is a new publishing form that integrates publishing business with emerging technologies and management innovation. Starting in 2021, the National Press and Publication Administration officially launched the convergent publishing development project. In 2022, the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the CPC issued a document, clearly proposing to "strengthen the content construction of convergent publishing development" and "full play to the role of technical support". From the perspective of development goals, Metaverse, and convergent publishing do not conflict. I think it can be understood that Metaverse provides a higher-level and more concrete long-term goal for convergent publishing, and convergent publishing may become a source of better and more valuable content for Metaverse.

If we want to talk about the differences between the two, I think there are several aspects: First, in terms of perspective, convergent publishing starts from the perspective of the publishing industry, and builds a new type of publishing in the digital age based on content construction, advanced technology, and innovation management; while Metaverse involves more industries and fields, and its application and scenario construction alone can cover the entire content industry, which is a perspective with richer connotations and a more market-oriented perspective. Second, in terms of technology, the current convergent publishing technology mainly relies on traditional Internet and mobile Internet technologies, while Metaverse has a strong demand for emerging technologies such as blockchain, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. There is a difference in the complexity and convergence of technologies. Third, in terms of experience, the current dissemination of convergent publishing mainly relies on social networks to obtain content, while in the Metaverse, individuals need to use various new technologies of perception to enhance immersive content and experience, and users have a stronger sense of participation and better interactivity. The business scenario is more prominent and the degree of integration is higher.

Bookdao: After nearly a year of business layout, what do you think is the core of Metaverse? What should the publishing industry do to grasp the core for quick deployment?

Yan Guizhong: From a technical perspective, the core of Metaverse should be virtual reality and blockchain technology. Virtual reality can provide a complete immersive experience, and blockchain technology can ensure data security and traceability. The combination of these technologies can provide users with a more open, secure, and diversified experience. But from the perspective of the publishing industry we are in, I think the key to the Metaverse should have two aspects. One is content and copyright, which is based on our position and functions in the industrial division of labor. I think we can become a supplier and operator of high-quality content in the Metaverse world by using blockchain copyright to grasp the key content, and it is also the advantage and value of the publishing industry in the Metaverse industrial system. The second is openness and integration capabilities. Metaverse's highly integrated industrial attributes require our work to be promoted at a high level and coordinated efficiently. On the basis of giving full play to our value advantages, we need to integrate internal resources to form a synergistic effect, and at the same time seek external cooperation to complement each other's advantages and form a joint development force, so that we can seize opportunities, quickly deploy, and achieve breakthroughs.

Bookdao: In the short term, what are your expectations for Metaverse in terms of business innovation and revenue? What does your ideal publishing Metaverse look like in the long run?

Yan Guizhong: In the middle of last month, Yang Fang, deputy director of the Publishing Bureau of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the CPC, said in a speech at the China Game Industry Annual Conference that this year the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the CPC will implement the "Network Publishing Technology Innovation and Development Plan" to promote Metaverse, digital twins, cloud games and other new formats to expand applications. This is undoubtedly good news. We also expect that in the short term, through the SPDG's layout and pilot work, we will be able to integrate into the Metaverse industry system as soon as possible, dig out the value of copyright through business innovation, improve the efficiency of publishing and distribution, and integrate the publishing and distribution business with Metaverse more deeply. The scope of industrial value output has been expanded. In terms of revenue, we can further expand more valuable commercial realization channels based on last year's profit from digital collection distribution, and realize a sustainable business model that has been verified by the market.

In the long run, I think the publishing Metaverse is in a fully integrated state, reaching a very high level in terms of breadth and depth of integration. Core technologies such as big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, algorithms, and digital humans are highly integrated. As a result, the publishing industry model, product form, marketing service, and publishing process have all changed, and a new publishing ecology has been born. At the same time, based on Metaverse technology, deep mining of copyright resources, the visualization, interactivity, and experience of books will become standard configurations. At the same time, the content will also cross-media and channels, presenting the characteristics of film and gamification, with a sense of immersion and experience. The brand new content form has become the mainstream of communication. Metaverse will become a platform for the integration of multiple industries, information, technology, talents, and capital. The publishing industry will shape a new image of publishers in the Metaverse, reshape the publishing process, and give birth to the world of Metaverse, including Smart Reading, knowledge sharing, experience exchanging, real-time training, and other new Metaverse business ecology.