Though this special report covers only four countries, PW had to grapple with one daunting figure: 35,000. That's the total number of registered publishers, and 90% of them have something brewing—big or small—in children's books. So we called on insiders for assistance, and they in turn contacted selected houses, set up appointments, sat in as interpreters and acted as our intermediaries. This report is largely possible through the efforts of Solan Natsume and Yoshikazu Iwasaki of Tuttle-Mori Agency; Henry Shin, Alice Moon, Sue Yang and Eric Yang of Eric Yang Agency; and Bay-wen Chang of Taipei International Book Exhibition.
Hong Kong
In general, the market for children's books in the former island colony is inundated by publications of mainland Chinese and Taiwanese origins. Few Hong Kong houses specialize in picture books or YA titles; the majority provide supplementary and reference materials tailored to the educational curricula, both local and across the border.
But one publisher, Sun Ya Publishing, stands out in the crowd. This is the Chinese-language publisher of Geronimo Stilton, the mouse journalist and amateur sleuth who shot to superstardom in 2002 when Scholastic bought the world English-language rights from its Italian publisher, Edizioni Piemme. Part of the state-owned Sino United Publishing Group, Sun Ya has published 3,000 titles since its 1961 inception and is currently the licensor of Walt Disney and Warner Brothers properties in Hong Kong.
Says newly retired managing director/editor-in-chief Irene Yim, "We favor European bestsellers, which we normally adapt rather than go for verbatim translation. The Moon Is Sick, The Magic Seed, The Insect FootballTeam and The Treasure are among our bestselling picture books. So, too, are Asian originals, such as Rain Rain, Rumble Rumble—it was first published in Japan in 1986 and has since become a children's classic—and The Pig on Diet." As for Geromino Stilton, she says, "We have produced 14 volumes so far, and each has more than 10,000 copies in print. It's a challenging series that has words and phrases set off in varying type designs, fonts and colors. Children love the type effects, and the series is so popular we now have a fan club with over 5,000 members." Translations, however, account for only 40% of Sun Ya's list. The rest are originals and mostly reference titles. Meanwhile, sales from its two main channels are about 50/50. Yim says, "We organize some 600 school book fairs each year and we do bookstore promotions. We also have reading sessions, author talks and special competitions to promote reading and writing. At the same time, parents are encouraged to participate and to learn about childhood education."
Japan
Last year, 73,000 new publications flooded Japan's marketplace; and out of the 3,000 children's titles published, 10% were translations and 1,300 were picture books. And much as the "Hari Pota" phenomenon was credited for invigorating the children's publishing scene and popularizing a genre previously much ignored by children and adults alike, it stopped short of magically producing high-volume sales. Historically, publishers have been responsible for nudging the industry forward, establishing campaigns such as the Reading for 10 Minutes movement, which is now practiced in 13,000 elementary and junior high schools throughout the country. In recent years, however, the government has become more proactive. In 2001, a landmark law promoting children's reading with an annual budget of $110 million to purchase books for school libraries was passed. But only 30% of the allocated monies were used. So, in July 2003, a federation of 200 members was elected to pressure the central and local governments to follow through with the initial plan. This bodes well for all children's publishers, both local and foreign.
So things are a-buzzing at
Asunaro Shobo. "We have three major translations coming out: Vera Williams's ThreeDays on a River in a Red Canoe, Terry Pratchett's The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents and Chris Van Allsburg's The Polar Express. In total, we'll publish 40 new titles this year," says company president Shin Yamaura. He also bought the picture book Anne Frank by Josephine Poole and Angela Barrett for about $6,400 and printed the first run of 8,000 copies with original publisher Hutchinson, part of Random House U.K. Translating titles with high long-run potential has paid off handsomely for this publisher. Last year, Ian Falconer's Olivia was its bestseller, with 100,000 copies in print, followed by Linda Sue Park's A Single Shard, with 80,000. Ralf Isau's trilogy The Circle of Dawn was also very successful in a marketplace still clamoring for more fantasy. "Olivia is very popular because the character is so original and very entertaining. Sony—the new licensee of the property—currently uses Olivia in its PlayStation 2 software, and a series of exhibitions of Falconer's original drawings will also be held in some of our major cities. All this publicity has helped to push our sales." Olivia's fourth outing in Japan is due sometime next year. Presently, among Asunaro's 500 children's titles, 85% are translations with 50% American. Category-wise, 30% are picture books, with the rest being YA titles.
The story of two field mice, Guri and Gura, finding an egg in the woods plays a big role in
Fukuinkan Shoten's 52-year history. The brainchild of author Rieko Nakagawa and illustrator Yuriko Yamawaki, this series has over 10 million copies in print since its 1967 debut. "But we aren't just about these two mice," says international department director Mariko Ogawa. "We have other picture books—originals and translations—that have sold tremendously well. For example, Miwa Nakaya's A Bed of Broad Bean and Mizumaru Anzai's Chug Chug Train each sold over 100,000 copies. Translations such as The Gloves (State Publishing House, Russia), The RabbitWedding (HarperCollins) and My Father's Dragon (Random) each exceeded the two-million-copy mark." And after a 12-year hiatus, the latest adventure of the two mice is a pure sales magnet, with more than 170,000 copies sold since its December launch. The company's new titles are equally hot. The latest volume of the Flog in Reflection series sold upward of 15,000 copies within two months of its release, while Kiki's Delivery Service IV—also part of a larger series—sold 35,000. Export sales are as brisk. Ogawa adds, "Since this past January, we have sold over 70 titles to countries like Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, China and France, as well as world English-language rights."
And when it comes to rights buying, Ogawa says, "Fukuinkan's priority is always on quality, not origin. We have translations from over 20 countries, but somehow there are more American titles in our catalogue. But it's fair to say that American titles—both picture books and YA—have got more expensive, and it does affect contract renewal. Sometimes we let a title go if the advance is too high." Recently, she purchased a Henry Holt title, Crazy Lady, and two from Houghton Mifflin, Henry Hikes to Fitchburg and The Last Shot.
At
Hyoronsha, whose list is 70% children's books and about 90% translated, the target market is the two-to-18-year-old age group. "Most of our translations come from the U.S. or the U.K.," says president Harunobu Takeshita, whose fascination with children's books began while he was studying in Canada and reading C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Naturally, The Chronicles of Narnia is on Hyoronsha's frontlist, as are titles like Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo and Flour Babies by Anne Fine. "We published 30 titles last year, mainly picture books, with several YA titles thrown in. It's a vastly different editorial program from that at the beginning of Hyoronsha in 1948, with educational texts on philosophy and history as well as reference titles. Now we have over 600 children's titles on our list," he says. Though Takeshita is fascinated by pop-ups and novelty titles, he isn't going into this segment anytime soon. "Such books are easily bent and become misshapen while displayed at bookstores. And with sales mainly on consignment basis, the returns at the end of the day would have spelt only one word: loss. Going into that segment needs more careful planning."
At 90-year-old
Iwanami Shoten, its children's publishing division—which started in 1950—is, comparatively, a young upstart, with a reputation for publishing more translated bestsellers than any other house in Japan. To begin with, this is home to TheLittle Prince (Le Petit Prince from Editions Gallimard)—with six million copies in print—and two other perennial favorites, Winnie the Pooh and Curious George. Last year, it translated 30 titles, including Ursula Le Guin's The Other Wind, Gene Zion's The Summer Snowman and Munro Leaf's Noodle. "Classics such as the paperback editions of Heidi and The Wizard of Oz continue to sell very well," says foreign rights specialist Noa Shimizu. "Le Guin's title was a runaway success: a record 60,000 copies. Combined, her Earthsea series has 820,000 copies in print. Its success is partly due to its crossover appeal and the fact that many readers grew up with the series, which has been around since the mid-'70s."
This year, Iwanami will continue to offer reworked classics, such as Martin Jenkins's Gulliver's Travels and Virginia Lee Burton's The Emperor's New Clothes. "One 10-volume Iwanami original—Folktales in Your Palm—which consists of palm-sized books for readers above three years, was launched this July. We had 10 well-known local illustrators, such as Koshiro Hata, Yuki Sasameyama and Ryoji Arai, working on it," says managing editor Mariko Wakatsuki.
One of the oldest publishing houses around,
Kodansha—established in 1914—is certainly one of the largest as well. However, its children's book division, which started way back in 1936, contributes less than 2% to the company's bottom line. Says editor-in-chief of picture books Eisuke Otake, "Our biggest translations include Marcus Pfister's The Rainbow Fish—which has sold over 500,000 copies since its 1995 release—and Dick Bruna's Miffy titles. With classics getting more popular, especially those out of print back in the U.S., Kodansha is reissuing titles such as Clare Turlay Newberry's Mittens and Barkis, which were published in 1936 and 1938, respectively. We have also translated titles by Margaret Wise Brown, as well as the Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes series." At the same time, Otake says, children's paperbacks are becoming more popular as well. "Mystery and thriller titles in pocket-sized format are the most successful."
By the time you read this, the Cat language has been studied in Japan for six months. Yes, Lionboy has arrived, and his second adventure is already raking in big bucks for publisher
PHP. "Lionboy, in a way, is a first for us, as we don't usually translate trilogies, and certainly not one as lengthy. But since the plot is fascinating and unique, we decided to buy the rights," says editor-in-chief Jun-ichi Goto. With Lionboy slated to become a Spielberg/Dreamworks film, PHP is definitely seeing the making of a golden egg. "Fantasy is still the in thing in Japan. Harry Potter must have indirectly expanded the Japanese children's market by 20% since its debut."
On the average, PHP produces 60 children's titles annually, mainly for the under-18 market. Out of these, 80% are picture books, the rest YA titles, and 30% are imported. "In the last decade, Japanese publishers didn't pay much attention to foreign titles and their market potential. We're a bit late in realizing this," Goto admits. But its children's division is working hard to play catch-up, focusing mainly on English-language titles, which are easier to translate.
The Thomas the Tank Engine series is one of the mascots at Poplar. Of it's the 480 titles it published last year, 40 are Thomas titles. "The first Thomas title was published back in 1997, and we have sold about 18.5 million copies so far," says editor-in-chief Tokiko Ohara. "We have translated more titles over the years. However, only 3% to 4% of our titles are translations. Recent ones include Paul Stewart's five-volume Edge Chronicle series—which has sold 100,000 copies—Kai Meyer's 11-volume Sieben Siegal series and Alex Rovira/Fernando Trias de Bes's Good Luck." Poplar is very much a brand name in Japan—so well known that children select their books simply by looking for the company logo. "Our titles sell well to children directly through bookstores and indirectly through school libraries. The latter channel contributes close to 30% of our total sales," adds vice editor-in-chief/foreign rights manager Yumiko Orano.
Djinni Bartimaeus and his master call
Riron-sha home in Japan, and their first adventure (The Amulet of Samarkand) has sold more than 200,000 copies. "It's a lengthy text that took our freelance translator three weeks to complete—but, by all accounts, that's pretty fast work. We also added notes and explanations to make sure nothing was lost in translation. Our version was in the market six months after the original," says chief editor Tamihito Komiyama.
Another big Riron-sha title, Eoin Colfer's The Wish List, was recently launched and has sold out its 30,000-copy printing. Over 80% of Riron-sha's catalogue consists of YA titles. It introduced to Japanese readers Carl Hiaasen's Hoot—80,000 copies sold since April 2003—and Ann Brashares's The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants titles. "Our first YA title was Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl in 2001. In a way, Riron-sha is responsible for popularizing novels targeting teenage girls in Japan. Recently, we published Jacqueline Wilson's Girls series, which targets 12- to 14-year-olds. We also bought Gabrielle Zevin's Elsewhere for our 2005 list. Undoubtedly, we started something when we released Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust and Celia Rees's Witch Child," says Komiyama. "But we do have books for boys, such as the Doomspell series, The Wreckers and The Dark."
Last year, Shufunotomo Co.—literally meaning the housewife's friend, which is also the name of its first magazine, published in 1917—decided to revive its picture book division after a 30-year hiatus. And right now, according to editor-in-chief Sadaaki Hayashi, "80% of the list is made up of originals, while the rest are translations mainly from the U.S. and Europe. Since last October's relaunch, we have already brought out 30 titles and we are planning for more translations in the months ahead." The under-three-years-old category is Shufunotomo's core market, with products ranging from touch-and-feels to boardbooks and pop-ups. President Kunihiko Muramatsu plans to publish 30 titles in 2004 and continue with the same product range, as it has been very successful thus far.
Shufunotomo's 2003 bestsellers included Ana Larranaga's Paws to Hug!—20,000 copies sold—and two original titles, Talking to Baby and Baby's Morning, which each sold more than 13,000 copies. Says Hayashi, "We have several titles under development: the pull-tab Rough 'n' Tough Big Wheels picture book series by Andrew Crowson and the touch-and-feel Playtime, Poppy Cat series by Lara Jones."
Diana Wynne Jones takes center stage at
Tokuma Shoten this year. Says editor-in-chief Kayoko Yoneda, "We'll publish three of her titles—The Tale of Time City, Power of Three and TheMerlin Conspiracy—this year. It's great timing, as the animation feature based on her bestselling Howl's Moving Castle will be out this fall." Last year, Jones's Mixed Magics and Archer's Goon—published in March and December, respectively—were Tokuma's bestsellers, while Howl stands as its all-time YA fantasy blockbuster. With a catalogue that is 90% translations and split 50/50 between picture books and YA titles, Tokuma is busy getting out some 36 titles in 2004. "We started buying rights about 10 years ago, and we mostly went for American, British, French and German titles. Overall, YA fictions are getting expensive, easily three to 10 times more than before. So we're exercising caution in buying such titles," says senior editor Rei Uemura. Recent purchases include Jostein Gaarder's Kabalmysterie, Brian Jacques's Redwall, Robert Westall's Kingdom by the Sea and Marie Hall's Mister Penny.
Korea
The newly established Paju Book City outside of Seoul is a clear indication of the Korean government's focus on its publishing industry. For publishers relocating to this designated area, tax exemptions are given in the hope of indirectly boosting their businesses. And when you put a group of publishers together, things do start to happen. Like the upcoming Asian Children's Book Fair, for instance, which will definitely go a long way in promoting children's publishing for the region. Last April, the government threw in its financial strength to promote reading among children with its BookStart Campaign, while its culture and tourism ministry started the Books Recommendation Project in the hope of cultivating the reading habit among the young. Presently ranked seventh in the world, Korea's publishing industry is set to get lots of publicity from its Guest of Honor status at the 2005 Frankfurt Book Fair as well as for playing host to the International Publishers Association (IPA) conference in 2008.
With its membership figure approaching the half-million mark,
Bertelsmann Korea's book club has enjoyed much success since its July 1998 inception. On the average, it promotes 100 titles per month, with a quarter of the list dedicated to children's products. "Our translations are mostly from the U.K., the U.S. and Germany. One recent success was the DK Children's Atlas, which has sold 12,000 copies since its October 2003 publication," says editorial manager Young-hee Chae. Other bestsellers include Art Fraud Detective (Kingfisher) and Poppy Cat (Macmillan), which have sold 6,000 and 12,000 copies, respectively. "Our present focus is on reference titles because parents are getting enough of picture books and looking for more educational products for their children, such as encyclopedias on animals or atlases," Chae says.
Part of the Minumsa Publishing Group,
BIR Publishing raked in $10 million in sales last year. Its 1999 launch of the Magic School Bus series, with a current in-print total of 2.5 million copies, has been nothing short of magical. "Before the Magic School Bus, children's science books or reference titles of this sort were structured in a very boring way. This series revamps the presentation to make science principles easy to understand and fun to learn," says president Sang-hee Park. Known for its innovative marketing strategies, BIR, or rather Minumsa, was the first book publisher to promote its titles—the Magic School Bus included—through the home-shopping channel. It was also the first to supply online bookstores, despite widespread industry skepticism of the platform.
Overall, BIR titles are roughly 70% translations—half of which come from the U.S. and the U.K.—and 30% originals. "Two long-time bestsellers are John Burningham's The Boy Who Is Always Late and Hans Magnus Enzensberger's Der Zahlenteufel, which have sold 120,000 and 200,000 copies, respectively.
With 420,000 subscribers and 2003 sales of $250 million, Hansol Gyoyook is sticking to its core competencies in educational programs and children's book publishing. "We're known for our Hansol Learning Programs—consisting of the Korean Learning program, the English Learning program and mathematics—which develop cognitive, affective and language capabilities in children two to 11 years old," says Ju-hee Im, head of international relations. "We also have over 100 franchised study centers, the English Lab School, where primary schoolchildren study by themselves for an hour under the tutelage of qualified instructors three or five times per week. For younger children, we have set up Gymschule and Uber schools with our venture partner." Hansol's reputation has spread far beyond Korean shores. Its Brain School program—in which a variety of teaching materials and techniques are matched to age and ability—was exported to Thailand. And last May, it launched its first branch in China. Export negotiations are currently under way for Singapore and the U.S.
Hansol's publishing activities—involving both imports and originals—are largely based on its learning programs. Last April, for example, it launched a 40-volume Great Historical People series on which 14 illustrators—such as Alex Green, Iris Wolfermann, Maurie Manning, Veronique Sabatier and Stephane Kiehl—worked on titles about Nelson Mandela, Reinhold Messner, Helen Keller, Gandhi and Steve Jobs. "About 7,000 sets have been sold already. We also released another 40-volume series—Stories of Nature: Close Up—targeting primary schoolchildren," Im said.
Part of the Daehan Printing and Publishing Co., four-year-old
I-Seum's children's book division is a newcomer to the scene. Currently, it has 330 titles in its catalogue, 40% of which are translations. "In Korea, we have the biggest share of the educational cartoon/ manga business," says chief editor Hyeun-suk Hwang. "These titles represent only 25% of our full list but contributed over half of our total publishing revenue last year." Its new 10-volume Three Kingdoms cartoon series, by renowned writer Mun-yol Yi and artist Hee-jae Lee, has sold 1.6 million copies. Hwang notes, "Many of our series are selected by the Korean Publishers Association as best titles for children, and this has helped our sales to school libraries." This year, I-Seum will publish 90 titles, including an eight-volume From Head to Tiptoes science series and a three-volume Admiral Lee series on the famous 15th-century Korean admiral.
Established in 1994,
Junior Gimm-Young specializes in nonfiction YA/children's titles, such as Aht! (Scholastic/Hodder), Captain Underpants—which has sold more than 10,000 copies—and the Scientist Interviews Series (Luca Novelli & Quipos). Its picture book list is dominated by well-known translations such as Toni Morrison's The Book of Mean People. Says manager of international rights and planning Suk-young Shin,. "We have three major original series coming out this year: I'm a Real Korean, which introduces Korea; Math Fairy Tales, which imparts mathematics skills through stories; and Korean History Through Illustrations."
One of the house's bestsellers—Aha! They Had CelebritiesBack Then Too!—describes Korea's most illustrious historical figures in a comic-book format that effectively combines narration with illustrations, making it both entertaining and educational. This format is prevalent in most of its originals. "We purchased 30 titles from Europe and the U.S. this year. Most of our translations are from the U.K., but in recent years we have included more titles from countries like Italy and the Netherlands," says Shin.
Established in 1970,
KyeLim.com now boasts more than 2,000 titles in its children's catalogue and three subsidiaries: KyeLim Bookschool, publishing children's books; ILB (I Love Books), specializing in educational cartoons; and Applebee, focusing on products for toddlers. One of its bestsellers, the Tank Knights Portriss Sticker/Coloring series, is based on animation characters and targets four- to seven-year-olds. Another title, Vitamin Stories (in the tradition of Chicken Soup), sold about 60,000 copies within six months of its launch. It's a Kyobo Bookstore bestseller, and the rights have been sold to Thailand and Taiwan. "KyeLim.com is also the Korean licensee for Teletubbies and other TV characters like Pokemon," says company president Bu-duck Chun. "We sold about three million copies of our Pokémon titles during the two-year period the cartoon series was aired here. Naturally, the Pokémon AG Sticker/Coloring Book—the AG is an upgraded version of the original series—is also one of our 2003 bestsellers. As for Teletubbies, the series started its rerun this February and will air for the next two years. We have 12 Teletubbies titles, and in the past three months 44,000 copies have been sold; the bestseller is the Teletubbies Sticker/ Coloring Book series."
KyeLim.com originals are just as successful. Managing director Hyoung-seok Oh reports that Horror, It's What I've Been Seeking! sold over 700,000 copies, while What Made Gap-soo Feel Humiliated sold 40,000 copies. "Riding on these successes, in 2002 we started exporting our titles to neighboring countries and sold 180 titles recently. Even our curriculum-based titles are well received."
From meditation books for mothers-to-be to highly illustrated multivolume picture books and curriculum-based materials, publishing giant
Kyowon seems to cover them all. International rights manager Sean Choi says, "This coming October, we'll release The World's Great Stories, a 30-volume series that has 18 of its titles illustrated by foreign artists such as Katalin Szegedi [Hungary], Kozyra Pawlak Ewa [Poland], Ursula Mathers [U.S.], Andreas Fischer [Germany] and Francesca Chessa [Italy]. There is also the adaptation of the higher-level Animal series from DK for our younger readers. The Yellow and Green series from French publisher Nathan is also on its way. We sold 10,000 copies of the first part last year, and we're hoping to repeat the success with the second installment."
Choi is especially proud of the 20-volume Kyowon Novel of the Three Kingdoms, which is supplemented by a two-volume dictionary, a guide to historical relics, a study CD-ROM and even a double-sided board game of Oriental chess and yut (a Korean folk game). He notes, "Within six months of its December release, we sold over 40,000 copies."
Kyowon's Hoya-Toya's Fairy Tales—a set of 50 titles priced at $300 per set—remains a bestseller since its 1999 release. Choi says, "But our bestselling title last year was Ancient Korean History, which sold about 70,000 copies. Two other bestsellers were the Kyowon Animation Picture Book—a Japanese series that was translated and released in 1991—and History of Korea," says Choi. In 2002, the company launched a 16-title series called Prenatal Care, which comes complete with music CDs, guidebooks, storybooks, albums, etc., targeting parents-to-be. It's a success in Korea and was exported to China and Taiwan last year.
At
Yearimdang, originals take up 80% of its children's catalogue. "We'll publish about 150 titles this year, mostly single-volume picture books," says chief editor Yu-jun Yeon. Exports are brisk at Yearimdang. Its first batch of exports—some 50 titles—was sent to five countries back in 1990. And at the recent Taiwan International Book Exhibition, at least 30 titles were negotiated, with most already signed on the dotted line. In total, more than 500 titles from its catalogue have been exported, mainly to Taiwan and China. This year, Yearimdang will release four major publications; among them are two series—The World's Children Masterpieces and The Most Memorable Korean Children's Stories—and Poems for Children. The children's publishing industry in Korea, says Yeon, is still not customer-driven. "There are many associations, libraries and clubs pushing for reading campaigns, selecting titles and recommending them to the public. Such titles tend to sell very well and dominate the bestseller lists. So there's a very clear line dividing those titles that bring in lots of money—i.e., those recommended or touted by these organizations—and those that don't. But on the positive side, children are reading and parents are buying more books. And we're happy to see that."
Taiwan
"It was a vastly different publishing landscape 15 years ago," says senior manager Shu-chiung Chang of Eslite Bookstores. "Then, bookshelves were populated by Chinese literature and arts titles. Genre-weariness soon set in and, almost simultaneously, publishers turned to children's titles—especially picture books—to fill the gap. But they soon discovered that local works were few and the development costs too high to effectively compete with imported titles. That's when translations and adaptations came in. And such activities went on until 1996, when grooming of local talents began to gain ground." Now publishers like Grimm Press, Heryin, Hsin Yi, Ta Chien and Taiwan Mac are delivering export quality and attracting an international audience, giving Taiwan's children's publishing industry a major shot in the arm.
At
3&3 International Education Institute, its 300 kindergarten franchises reflect the company's focus on early childhood education. Its publications—the majority being picture books—are aimed at developing problem-solving skills and language capabilities for children under 12 years old. Translations like Dad's Scarf (Japan) and Diner Pantome (France) are among its bestsellers, each averaging 10,000 copies in sales. Chief editor Megan Lin says, "Established titles, authors or illustrators do make for an easier sell. But that's not to say that we are sidelining local talents. We often hold special seminars and theme-based talks with top authors/illustrators to help them produce titles with educational values. For 3&3, picture books mustn't be just about pictures—beautiful to look at and utterly forgettable; they must convey more than that."
The slightly oversized TwigDeer series—Spring Butterfly, Summer Rain, Autumn Leaf and Winter Snow—by
Candy Tree Culture publisher/illustrator Che-ming Chang "started as just one picture book about a deer made of twigs," according to Chang. A prolific illustrator who insists that he's an illustrator first and a publisher second, Chang recounts that many people requested a series featuring the four seasons, after seeing the first book at Bologna in 2003. "Given a choice, I would prefer not to spend so much time managing a company," Chang says. "But there are so many talented people out there whose works need to be published and promoted. And that's how Candy Tree and its affiliate division, the Picture Shop, came to be, in 1997. With Candy Tree, I hope new talents will have a platform to launch their works."
Differing from other publishers that deal mainly in the print medium, Candy Tree's 12 major series—such as The Hidden Insect, Babu Bear and Bear Family—are available on CD and VCD (video CD-ROM). "Children are attracted to motion and sound. By animating the story for the CD or VCD, we increase its intrinsic value and create another product line using essentially the same material."
Crown Culture has been Harry Potter's home in Taiwan since 1999. So far, his adventures have sold four million copies and counting. But the 50-year-old family-owned house isn't a one-trick pony; it has other highly successful series, namely the Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan and the Blue Day Book. "The first volume of Darren Shan sold over 80,000 copies, and the series' total sales have exceeded 400,000," says rights director Emily Chuang, who launched the ninth volume last June. "Fantasy became very popular after these two series hit the stores. So you can say that we introduced the genre to Taiwan. The Blue Day Book series [Andrews McMeel] is more of a gift book with its funny animal photos and small format, thus creating a new product line. So far, this six-volume series has sold over 100,000 copies."
About 35% of Crown's current catalogue of 4,000 are translations. For Chuang, rights buying is a three-step process. "First, we consider the content: as long as it's interesting and appealing, the author's fame becomes secondary. That's how we ended up being the first Taiwanese publisher interested in the Potter and Darren Shan series. Then, we look at the fit and salability of the title in our market. Rights fees and page-count issues are also important, but these aren't our deciding factors."
On target for 20% growth for 2004, publisher K.T. Hao of Grimm Press has plenty of reasons to smile beyond the fact that three of his publications—The Rhinegold, The Three Kingdoms and Ugly Duckling—were nominated for the illustrator's award at the recent Bologna Fair. Grimm Press has a tradition: pairing local writers (such as Hao himself, who has penned more than 20 titles) with foreign illustrators such as Giuliano Ferri, Robert Ingpen and Dusan Kállay. "We want to bridge the world using our titles, and what better way than having Taiwanese authors collaborate with European, Australian or American illustrators?" And it's a magic sales formula, too: last year, One Pizza One Penny—written by Hao and illustrated by Ferri—sold 46,000 copies locally and was exported to the U.S., Korea, France and Germany. Another title, Separate Ways by Taiwan favorite author/illustrator Jimmy Liao, sold 350,000 copies and was exported to China, Korea, Japan, the U.S., France, Greece, Denmark, Germany, Thailand and Poland.
Presently, only 30% of Grimm's titles are imported. Channel-wise, 70% of its titles are sold door-to-door, with the rest through library sales. "We have about 25 staff handling marketing and editorial activities, while translators are hired on a project basis and some of the management and back-office functions are shared with our parent company, Cite," says Hao. This year, his biggest undertaking will be a collaboration with De Agnostini and a Japanese publisher on a 100-volume Chinese historical series. To Hao, China represents a big market, but it is riddled with problems. "Of the worst, I see two: low selling price and lack of interest in picture books. But we can't really complain. Our author Jimmy has sold more than one million copies over there."
Last year, five-year-old
Heryin's The Day I Got Up Early won the Golden Tripod award—Taiwan's only book award for original titles—the first children's title to win it. But this isn't the only feather in Heryin's cap: since 2000, its titles have consistently appeared among the annual five best children's books selected by China Times and United Daily News. One original—Mom, It'sSunny Outdoors—was recently cited by United Daily News for outstanding plot and illustrations. But translations still make up a major portion of Heryin's catalogue; only four out of its 18 publications for 2003 were originals. "This year, we plan 15 titles, with less than 60% translations," says owner and publisher Yih-fen Chou. Its 2003 bestsellers include the American favorite Love You Forever (which has sold 58,000 copies since its 1999 launch), Greenaway Award—winner Pumpkin and a Heryin original, The Monster of Palapala Mountain. "The humorous Monster is sold in a package which includes both Chinese and English language editions and a bilingual CD," Chou notes.
With a promise to "safeguard the child's only childhood,"
Hsin Yi Publications—owned by Hsin Yi Foundation, which in turn is supported by Taiwan's major paper manufacturer, Y.F.Y. Group—has been devoting itself to providing teachers, parents and students with quality publications and promoting early literacy. "The establishment of the Hsin Yi Picture Book Award was geared toward raising the profile of local authors/illustrators, as well as promoting good reading habits in children," says executive director Sing-ju Chang. In 2002, the winning title, On My Way to Buy Eggs, topped the bestseller list and was duly sold to Kane/Miller in the U.S. To date, Hsin Yi has sold over 20 titles to Korea, Japan, Spain, Portugal, France and the U.S. Chen's third title, Guji Guji, for example, has already been sold to Korea and the U.S. (Kane/Miller).
Translations, which take up half of Hsin Yi's catalogue, are equally successful. "Our longstanding bestsellers include Sam McBratney's and Anita Jeram's Guess How Much I Love You, Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Taro Gomi's Rakugami and Mathew Price's Peepbo series. But we don't limit ourselves to just publishing pursuits; we are equally active in holding workshops and storytelling sessions to promote early childhood education. We also have a parenting Web site for sharing educational tips which, in turn, acts as a research tool for our publishing program."
In 2002, Hsin Yi established a joint venture to produce early childhood learning materials with Nanjing University—the leading authority in early childhood education, with an extensive network of kindergartens, teachers, parents and children. "We also formed a partnership with Shanghai Juvenile and Children's Publishing House to develop picture books," Chang adds. At
Little Soldier Publishing, things march to a different beat. Founded and owned by a self-published author, Chou-ching Ko, it produces YA titles on social awareness and values. "I didn't start writing until one shocking incident pushed me into putting my thoughts down and sharing them with others," says Ko. "It dawned upon me then that this society is becoming unsafe for young and impressionable kids who have neither the strength nor street smarts to protect themselves. The result was I Have Smart Tricks, a compilation of 25 short stories." This 1992 publication basically launched Little Soldier: it shot right up the bestseller list, sold more than 100,000 copies and remains a bestselling title. A second compilation, I Have More Smart Tricks, soon followed, and the series later won the 1993 Golden Tripod award. "We tackle issues like single parenthood, divorce and teenage crush/love—the realities of today's society—positively and in a way that doesn't inhibit a child's development. For instance, in May Has Two Families, I suggest that children should think positive: the acquisition of another loving set of parents or new brothers or sisters is not a bad thing. Children need to know and learn how to deal with the vagaries of life," says Ko, who has published 52 titles and accumulated more than 100 awards from various associations, newspapers and magazines.
Santa Publishing produced only 15 picture books between 1999 and 2003, but according to foreign rights manager Clio Jen, "only one of these is not an award-winning title. Our current catalogue has 38 titles, out of which half are originals." And discovering local talents, as Jen found out, can be just a matter of luck. "A while back, four raw illustrations arrived in the mail and they were really good. The artist's storyline revolved around one imaginative question: What if there are people living in our noses? And we found ourselves involved in a journey of tiny creatures who love human hairs!" Men in Nose is the title, and its 3,000-copy first printing was sold out within weeks. Another Santa original, The LittleLama Who Loves Apples, also has eye-catching illustrations and a unique storyline. Same goes for The Little Can, which had its illustrations selected for the Illustrator's Exhibition at Bologna 2001 and was duly sold to European and other Asian publishers.
Founded in 1969,
Ta Chien Publishing has grown to include editorial studios in Italy and Beijing as well as an overseas subsidiary, Pinguino Press, in Canada. "Last year, we published over 150 original titles," says editor-in-chief May Cheng. "We did two picture book series—New Animal Fables and Fantastic Animal Stories—with Italian illustrators. Another series, Illustrated Fairy Tales, features award-winning Bologna illustrators."
For Cheng, adapting to market demands is crucial. "Right now, even though the market is supposedly huge—just look at Asia's demographics—the truth is there's limited consumption of children's books. Nowadays, kids go for comics or computer games, while parents pick up picture books only during fairs or on sale. There are also far too many self-published authors/illustrators in the marketplace. So we're exploring new opportunities, such as selling through convenience stores like 7-Eleven, which has an extensive network in Taiwan and Hong Kong. And we're repurposing illustrations from our series to create a new product line: greeting cards." Ta Chien's exports are growing fast, selling to Korea (30 titles), Italy (10 titles), the U.S. (about 12 titles to Star Bright Books and indirectly to McGraw-Hill Children Publishing), China and Southeast Asia.
Taiwan Mac Educational now boasts 500 staff, sales of $18 million and a growth forecast of 30% for 2004. "Our biggest strength lies in producing series unique to this market. Our series Picture Books of World-Famous Dramas, for instance, includes audio CDs on famous operas, ballets and musicals. Since no other publishers offer such titles, ours become exclusive. We have just added 10 new volumes, and preorders came in long before they were released," says president Thomas Huang.
One of the house's most successful series is Classic Picture Books, which contains 72 classic stories by Shakespeare, Twain, Kafka and the likes. Huang explains, "We contracted famous local authors to translate and adapt the stories to our market demands and got renowned illustrators such as Christophe Durual and Gary Kelley to do the artwork." Another bestselling series—the 50-volume Selected Picture Books—contains titles by illustrators/authors such as Anthony Browne, David Shannon and André Dahan.
Last year, the company published 33 titles, and its ambitious 2004 plan calls for 80. Children's products now account for 70% of its bottom line. Two years ago, the company launched its first Mac Kids bookstore, selling only English titles, products ranging from educational materials to storybooks, fiction to nonfiction.
Part of the Yuan-Liou Information Bank Group,
Yuan-Liou Publishing delivers on its founder's vision for "schools without walls." Its multifaceted divisions—which include edutainment production company Meta Media and e-publishing arm Wordpedia.com—offer books, audiocassettes, CD-ROMs as well as Web-based learning technologies. Says foreign rights director Jennifer Wang, "The crowning jewel in our children's division is the 30-volume Chinese Children's Illustrated Folktales series, which features titles like The Mouse Bride (Best Picture Book at Catalonia 1991), Seven Magic Brothers and The Story of the Chinese Zodiac. This series is now available in at least 10 languages."
Translations, which make up 70% of Yuan-Liou's catalogue, include bestsellers such as I Like You (Houghton Mifflin)—a tiny gift book that sold over 158,000 copies; I Have a Sister, My Sister Is Deaf (HarperCollins); and The Trouble with Mum (Egmont). One series featuring Caldecott Award winners was launched recently, as was the Magic School Bus from Scholastic. Wang adds, "We're always looking for titles that can be successfully adapted to reflect local flavors and cultural concerns and which contain special messages."
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Lynn calls the overall quality of work from Japan—and to a large extent, from Korea and Taiwan—"phenomenal," adding, "They've been publishing the same sorts of high-quality picture books for a long time. The books we have seen haven't changed very much over the years. What has changed is the world in which we are publishing them. As we become increasingly 'global,' things that once seemed too foreign are now almost run-of-the-mill familiar."Return to the Special Report: Children's Book Publishing in Asia Main Page
