On June 7th, less than three months after the "2023 East China Children's Publishing Joint Marketing Summit" , the "2023 East China Children's Publishing Joint President Annual Meeting" was held with great fanfare in the revolutionary holy land of Jinggangshan, Jiangxi. The theme of the annual meeting was "Building Dreams for Children's Books in the New Era, Remembering Our Original Aspiration and Embarking on a New Long March." At the annual meeting, the "2022 East China Outstanding Children's Book Editors List" and the "2022 East China Children's Book List" were also released.
This was an important meeting for the East China Children's Publishing Joint Body (referred to as "East China Six"), which includes Anhui Children's Publishing House, 21st Century Publishing Group, Fujian Children's Publishing House, Jiangsu Phoenix Children's Publishing House, Tomorrow Publishing House, and Zhejiang Children's Publishing House, under the new situation. This children's publishing joint body, which has been established for 37 years, has gone from an initial distribution joint body to a well-known book industry brand in East China. It once proclaimed the slogan "Half of China's children's books come from East China." In 2022, the children's book market share of East China Six reached 10.51%. However, it still feels the crisis of the market today and has a deeper understanding of the new opportunities hidden in the changes of the times.
From a market perspective, the data for 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 both show a slow recovery pace of the market, and the structure of children's books and the types of topics have begun to change.
The book retail market in 2022 decreased by 11.77% year-on-year, and decreased by 15% compared to 2019. Although children's books grew significantly slower in 2022 due to the pandemic, with a negative growth rate of -10.41%, they still outperformed the market and remained the largest category in the overall market, with a share of 28.62% of the total marked price and 25.25% of the actual sales. Since 2019, popular science for children has joined the game between children's literature and children's picture books, and has become the largest sub-category of children's books due to the influence of short videos.
In the first quarter of 2023, the book retail market decreased by 6.55% compared to the same period in 2022, with a narrower decline compared to the whole of 2022. Due to the overlap of factors such as the pandemic, large-scale layoffs, and a decrease in residents' income in 2022, the market experienced a significant decline throughout the year. Looking at the composition of the total sales of various types of books in the first quarter of this year, the proportion of each category did not change significantly in the overall market, with children's books being the category with the largest share of total sales in marked price at 27.24%. Theme publishing has become an important category, and children's theme publishing is also an important publishing field. In the first quarter of this year, "Proud of China" series, such as "Shining Beidou Shining China" and "Chip Superman's Great Abilities," both made it onto the best-selling children's book list.
From a policy perspective, national and education/publishing regulators have put forward new requirements for children's publishing and reading since the beginning of this year.
In September 2022, the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Popularization of Science and Technology in the New Era," which called for coordinated efforts to establish a concept of popular science, integrate scientific popularization into all aspects of economic and social development, strengthen coordination and resource sharing, and build a collaborative development pattern for socialized science popularization involving government, society, and market.
In February 2023, the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council issued the "Overall Plan for the Construction of Digital China," which proposed to build a confident and prosperous digital culture, vigorously develop online culture, strengthen the supply of high-quality online cultural products, and guide all kinds of platforms and netizens to create positive, healthy, upward, and virtuous online cultural products.
In March 2023, the Ministry of Education and eight other departments issued the "Implementation Plan for the National Reading Campaign for Children and Adolescents," which emphasized the importance of guiding students in primary and secondary schools to strengthen their reading in areas such as history and culture, popular science knowledge, legal common sense, and health. "In places and schools with conditions, according to the relevant regulations such as the 'Measures for the Administration of Extracurricular Reading Materials for Primary and Secondary School Students,' they can enrich students' reading materials based on their regional historical and cultural characteristics." Policy support provides broad space for various publishers to carry out campus activities.
In May 2023, the Ministry of Education and eighteen other departments recently jointly issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Work of Science Education in Primary and Secondary Schools in the New Era," proposing that through 3-5 years of efforts, all measures to improve science education in primary and secondary schools should be fully implemented in the context of "reducing the burden of education and cultivating students' morality and ability," and the primary and secondary school science education system should be further improved.
From the perspective of competitive subjects, the impact and changes brought by new media, new channels, and new technologies, as well as the establishment of other children's publishing alliances, have posed a threat to the existing market share of the East China Six.
In the past three years of the pandemic, new online channels have risen rapidly, and discounts are still a tool for achieving rapid growth. Influenced by this, the public's book-buying habits have further shifted online. Looking at the online channels, platform e-commerce fell by 13.42% year-on-year, while vertical and other e-commerce fell by 5.34%. Douyin e-commerce has released a series of data showing that in the past year, Douyin e-commerce has sold 250 million books, and more and more people are learning about and buying books through short videos and live streams. Wang Fang, a Douyin e-commerce book knowledge expert, sold more than 60 million copies of children's books in 2022 and is a favorite in the book market.
It is in this context of big background and big changes that the existing book publishing and marketing models have gradually fallen behind market demand and the changes of the times. How to innovate, how to break through, and how to further enhance the brand and market of the East China Six? They have determined the theme of this annual meeting as "Building Dreams for Children's Books in the New Era, Remembering Our Original Aspiration and Embarking on a New Long March," and the leaders of the six publishing houses have made speeches and reflections on this. Below are the highlights of the speeches of the six publishing house leaders in the order of their speeches.
Synergistic Development: Several Thoughts on Actively Responding to New Situations, New Opportunities, and New Challenges
Zhang Kun, Vice President and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Time Publishing & Media Co., Ltd. and President of Anhui Children's Publishing House
Since the beginning of the new era, the continuously changing landscape has brought more challenges to the publishing industry, especially in the children's publishing sector. How to continue to leverage the advantages of the "East China Six Children publishing alliance" and gain more internal momentum is a problem that the Six Children Publishers face and urgently need to consider.
To thrive in the current publishing market, building a multi-dimensional sales channel is essential. The East China Publishing Alliance has rich experience in sales channel construction and should plan to leverage marketing collaboration, collaborate on new media channels, and promote the establishment of Alliance Brand Halls.
In addition, the East China Publishing Alliance should plan to hold an author conference, establish an alliance children's book ranking list, and launch an exhibition of key authors' works.
Finally, to improve the last mile of the supply chain, the East China Publishing Alliance should collaborate on various campus activities, develop reading activities inside and outside of schools, and precisely position and promote high-quality products to meet readers' needs.
In conclusion, the East China Publishing Alliance has many opportunities for further collaboration in editing, marketing, and other areas. By working together, the alliance will make a significant impact in the market competition. It is believed that the alliance will continue to strengthen its cooperation, act more frequently, and achieve greater results in the future.
Promoting the Spirit of the 20th National Congress and Improving the Approach, Methods, and Promotion of Theme Publishing
Wang Yongbo, President of Jiangsu Phoenix Children's Publishing House
Jiangsu Phoenix Children's Publishing House President, Wang Yongbo, spoke about the challenges facing children's publishers in promoting the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. In his speech, he emphasized the need for innovative thinking in theme publishing to make Congress theme books appealing and widely available to children.
Wang Yongbo proposed three approaches to achieve this goal. Firstly, he suggested adopting the work methods summarized in the Congress report, which have important guiding significance for children's theme publishing practices. Secondly, he emphasized the importance of presenting the relevant spirit contained in the Congress report, and skillfully editing and packaging it into theme books that will appeal to young readers.
Thirdly, Wang Yongbo stressed the need for effective content editing and marketing to promote the spirit of the Congress. By combining content editing and marketing, he believes that the main theme of the Congress can be widely propagated, nourishing the minds of young readers and spreading positive energy far and wide.
In conclusion, Wang Yongbo urged children's publishers to continuously innovate and update their thinking to ensure that Congress theme books take root in the hearts of children, nourishing their souls and promoting intellectual growth.
Issues in Telling the Stories of the East China Six in the New Digital Era
Li Wenbo, President of Tomorrow Publishing House
The East China Six Publishing Alliance, a unique and prominent marketing brand in China's children's book market, is facing the challenge of innovating its marketing strategies to reshape its value and competitiveness in the new digital era. To address this, the East China Six will need to focus on key areas, including identifying market demand and providing value to sales channels, leveraging our expertise in producing high-quality content, and rebranding to enhance our influence. Other issues to consider include how to make the most of our diverse resources, improve our professional services, and adapt to new trends in book marketing and distribution.
Strengthen Collaboration and Communication between Editors
Shao Ruoyu, President of Zhejiang Children's Publishing House
In the current situation, where author resources are scarce and competition is increasingly disorderly, how can the East China Six strengthen collaboration and communication between editors under the guidance of a spirit of seeking truth from facts and daring to explore new paths? I believe there are two aspects to consider. Firstly, we need to deeply understand and face the current social development and publishing requirements to discuss this issue. Secondly, we need to explore the possibility of synergistic cultivation and incubation of resources through specific cases. This requires coordinating division of labor, rational exploration of existing resources, synergistic cultivation and incubation of new resources, and jointly managing author resources to create high-quality sources.
To strengthen collaboration and communication between editors within the East China Six, we can take several steps. Firstly, we can utilize major theme publishing projects to drive inter-provincial collaboration for large-scale book series. Secondly, we can cultivate and facilitate the development of new multifunctional editors through training and business exchange programs. Thirdly, we can explore joint operations for digital publishing on integrated platforms. Additionally, we can leverage our industry influence to work together on campus theme activities, public welfare projects, author library construction, and other initiatives with a public interest focus to expand our network and reach our target audience. These efforts will help us to coordinate division of labor, tap into existing resources, and jointly manage author resources to create high-quality sources.
Exploring Innovative Development in Convergent Publishing
Lin Xin, Vice President of Fujian Children's Publishing House
In order to leverage the advantages of the alliance, fully tap into the value of traditional channels, explore new models and pathways for convergent publishing, and jointly promote innovative development in integrated publishing, the following recommendations are proposed:
The East China Six should establish a cooperative mechanism in new media channels to strengthen communication and collaboration among members.
1. We should explore the value of traditional channels by promoting theme publications, recommended catalogs, and other types of literature that still have unique advantages in traditional publishing channels.
2. We should explore new models for convergent publishing.
3. We should focus on digital transformation, improve the application level of digital technology, and adapt to changes in market demand.
4. We should enhance talent development and jointly invite industry elites to conduct training for relevant personnel, and organize teams to complete certain projects.
5. In summary, the East China Six should strengthen cooperation, explore new models and pathways for convergent publishing, and promote innovative development in the publishing industry to meet the demands of the new media era.
Scaling Up with Small Teams: The Starting Point and Value of the East China Six
Liu Kaijun, President of 21st Century Publishing Group
The East China Children's Publishing Alliance has become a shining brand in China's children's publishing industry after 37 years of hard work. However, as an industry brand, its influence is still limited to the publishing industry. We recognize that in the face of market turbulence, the East China Six should work together to create their own book market brand - the East China Children's Book Ranking - to win readers and market share.
According to OpenBook data, in 2022, the market share of the East China Six' books still reached 10.51%. In the same year, they won 67 important awards, including the top three national awards, excellent theme publishing, and annual Chinese books. The quality and excellence of their products have won unanimous recognition from experts and readers, making them an important benchmark in today's children's book market. In 2022, the East China Children's Book Ranking declared: "For all children's books, look to East China." When this market brand becomes synonymous with high-quality children's books recognized by readers, the East China Children's Publishing Alliance will have achieved its goal of empowering high-quality development of each publishing house.
A market brand relies on products and requires unified product quality standards to maintain it. Therefore, communication and collaboration among the book producers - the editors of the East China Six - are especially important. The release of the East China Excellent Children's Book Editors List is not only aimed at creating brand editors but also at establishing production quality standards for East China children's books. A market brand also requires unified marketing support. The East China Six previously established brand pavilions in retail stores and will now set up a live broadcast room for East China Children's Books in the era of new media to invite national experts to live stream and promote the brand.
In recent years, market development has become increasingly uncertain. Facing this challenge, we all feel the pressure and realize that we are falling behind the development pace of the market. We must figure out how to use new media, new channels, and new technologies to improve our market revenue and share. This is a difficult problem that we need to solve together.
During the President's Conference, in order to earnestly implement the important deployment of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China to deepen the nationwide reading campaign, inspire primary and secondary school students to love, read, and comprehend good books, cultivate their patriotic and socialist values, and enhance their historical and cultural awareness and confidence, on June 7th, 2023, the opening ceremony of the Jinggangshan Children's Red Book Exhibition and Book Donation Ceremony jointly organized by the "East China Six" was held at the Jinggangshan Red Bookstore. The presidents of the East China Children's Publishing Alliance donated books and awarded reading practice bases to school representatives.
Original article in Chinese: https://www.bookdao.com/article/433680/