China Book Fair Begins to Lure American Players

by Jim Milliot and Steven Zeitchik -- Publishers Weekly, 8/29/2005

The years of hype about China as the next big market gets some validation this week with the kickoff of the Beijing Book Fair, though at the moment it's a lot more about scoping than selling.

American publishers are not exhibiting in any great numbers yet, but several executives are making the trip. Most notably, Peter Olson is headed to the show (Random of course has divisions on parts of the continent--though not in China). He'll be offering a keynote about the future of the book biz, a future, which, in a nice little feedback loop, is one that pubs hope China is a part of. Olson's speech? It's titled The Bright Future for Books: Facing and Overcoming Challenges in Book Publishing.

Newly anointed RH Asia prez Eric Yang will also be there, along with officials from RH's Korean and Japanese operations. Harper's Brian Murray is also shipping out.

On the small-press side, more than 150 publishers are being represented at the American Collective Stand (look for president Jon Malinowski's blog on our site this week). American Collective allows publishers to pool their resources for a book-fair presence; MBI and Thomas Nelson are among the houses who've signed up for Beijing.

American powerhouses like Reader's Digest have launched Chinese operations within the last few years, hopeful that a large swath of readers and rising spending power in Chinese cities will make for a strong market.

The fair opens Thursday and continues through the weekend. It's a sizable one for the Asian community, and U.K. houses have been going in some form for a few years now, though restrictions on publishing in China are thought to have dampened growth slightly.