Shinchosha Publishing Company was founded in 1896 and publishes general literature, fiction, non-fiction, fine arts, philosophy and dictionaries as well as Mangas. Shinchosha has published many books by Nobel Prize winners and candidates including Kobo Abe, Yasunari Kawabata, Kenzaburo Oe, and Haruki Murakami. Roughy 80 Shinchosha titles are translated into foreign languages every year, and the number increases annually. The publisher began to export translations 15 years ago and is gradually expanding its activities into Europe, though it is mainly active in Asia.
Shinchosha sponsors four prizes including the Fantasy Novel award. The prizes are collectively known as the Four Shincho Prizes after Shincho Yonsho. President Takanobu Sato runs the family owned company in its fourth generation.
Analysis & Key Developments
Financial
Over the last five years, revenues at Shinchosha Publishing fell 6.7 billion JPY. Since 2012, sales levelled off at 21.1 billion JPY (2014), after an increase in 2013, when sales were up to 22 billion JPY.
Earlier Developments
Financial
Shinchosha showed a continued revenue decline over the past 5 years. Profits were not reported for 2012.
Digital
In March 2007, the publisher launched Com2, Japan's first monthly digital subscription magazine to be distributed through mobile phones. The monthly subscription fee is 350 JPY. According to Shinchosha, English and Chinese versions of the magazine were planned for the future. The magazine is available for online subscription via eBookJapan.
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