The Story Of Tencent by Wu Xiaobo became an instant bestseller in China, when it released there last month. The book is a nonfiction narrative history of the country's largest Internet company, the app and game producer Tencent. It now has 500,000 copies in print.
Book title: The book's title, translated into English, is The Story of Tencent: Evolution of Chinese Internet Companies from 1998 to 2016.
First published: In January by Zhejiang University Press (with Chinese publisher China CITIC Press handling foreign rights)
Format: Paperback
Author: Wu Xiaobo is a finance writer and the former publisher of the Chinese house Blue Lion. He is also a professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Jinan University.
How It’s Done: For the two months following publication of the book it was, on JD.com (one of the largest e-commerce sites in China), the #3 overall title and the #1 title in the management category. The book has also been a bestseller on dangdang.com (another major Chinese e-commerce site) for two months.
Why They Think It’s Working: Ding Chuan, who works in the rights department at CITIC, explained that Tencent has become a fascination in China because it's created so many apps which have become "an integral part of the daily life of Chinese people." The book, which offers a rare glimpse into the inner-workings of the company, has therefore been a major hit with readers. He added that the author gained unprecedented access to the company's press-shy senior executives. The book is the only authorized biography of the company currently available.
