Look out, Harry Potter! In Asia's top billing game, à la Quidditch, several contenders are now hot on your broom. There is Zizou Corder's Charlie Ashanti, who has parlayed the Cat language into an equally huge box-office rival, followed by Jonathan Stroud's 10-year-old boy magician in modern-day London and Eoin Colfer's criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl, with his world-domination plots.
Fantasy, in short, still reigns supreme in this part of the world (as elsewhere), and its crossover appeal makes the genre a hot property and the stuff of rocketing sales. But that doesn't mean children's publishing in Asia is only about out-of-the-world storylines and inch-thick spines. Picture books continue to have a strong presence in Taiwan and Korea, while a slight upturn in this segment has recently been detected in Japan. YA titles—some rooted in the practical and real—like Ann Brashares's The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Carl Hiaasen's Hoot and Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl are also hot.
Amid the hoopla on big-name translations, homegrown titles have been quietly and steadily gathering international accolades. Here are recent examples: from Taiwan, Chih-yuan Chen's On My Way to Buy Eggs was hailed by Newsweek as "among the best to hit bookstores" in fall 2003; from Korea, there is Ho-baek Lee's While We Were Out, which was among the New York Times Best Illustrated Books last year; and, from Japan, names like Taro Gomi, Satoru Sato and Daihachi Ohta all strike a chord with young booklovers.
In this report, PW focuses mainly on Taiwan, Korea and Japan—and to some extent, China and Hong Kong—where translations and rights buying are the most active in the region.
Past Imperfect
In the beginning (or nearly so), there were imports, lots of them. And business was good—too good perhaps, for it resulted in the mother of all publishing nightmares: rampant piracy. Fortunately, publishers and local governments caught on fast, because piracy spelled loss of revenue for them. The Copyright Act was duly adopted or passed into law. For its part, the Association of American Publishers swooped down every once in a while to nail transgressors and send its antipiracy message across loud and clear.
In much of Japan, Korea and Taiwan, children's titles historically were sold door-to-door. Series—mostly based on school curricula, with the odd reading title or picture book thrown in—were popular because multi-volume publications generated higher profit and the customers were a proven market for future publications. Small publishers and distributors were the hallmark of the industry; often they were without specialization or modern management and were family-owned. Then upheaval entered, in the form of the 1997—1998 financial meltdown, which enforced the Darwinian law of survival of the fittest. Consolidations and bankruptcies made headlines of that period. A couple of years down the bumpy recovery road, dot-com bookstores came up fast and furious, and then most went out in a blaze during the 2000—2001 tech bust.
During these periods, locally produced titles were a dime a dozen. Folk tale/fairy tale was the subject du jour, and the publishing philosophy was skewed toward quantity rather than quality. Consequently, the market was bombarded with a slew of me-too titles. In order to achieve significant sales, publishers realized they had to go the extra mile—which was costlier and took longer to balance on their P&L. But that was the way to go, and most houses started cleaning up their acts.
Meanwhile parents, media savvy and armed with a modern education, became more selective in their choice of books for their children. They were willing to pay higher prices for better quality. Taking the cue from this increased investment in early childhood education, Asian publishers specializing in children's titles grew in numbers, much to the delight of their North American/European counterparts waiting to leverage their assets.
Present Scenario
When asked about the state of the children's publishing industry in Asia, "fairly stagnant" or "shrinking" is the response PW gets from the three largest rights agencies: Big Apple Tuttle-Mori in China and Taiwan; Eric Yang Agency (EYA) in Korea; and Tuttle-Mori Agency (TMA) in Japan.
Says Big Apple executive director Luc Kwanten, "In Taiwan, recent consolidations within the industry—due to the unfavorable economic conditions—have resulted in fewer specialists in children's titles. Most players are now subdivisions of larger groups. Over in China, even though there are more children's publishers now than in 1992, their titles are primarily aimed at providing supplementary reading or are tied to the school curriculum."
For EYA, children's publishing is nowhere near as vibrant as it was in 2003. Tremors from the bankruptcies of three major wholesalers earlier this year are still reverberating through the industry. "Generally, publishers are expecting a 40% sales decline, largely attributed to the depressed economy. What it really means is that they're cutting down on new projects," says senior agent Sue Yang. "For the children's market, the boom is clearly over. In the past four years, these publishers have generated over 70% of all children's titles ever produced in Korea. It's a case of too many titles in too short a period in a cooling economy. The result is the present glut."
Senior agent Yoshikazu Iwasaki at TMA paints a similar scenario: "The peak of Japan's publishing industry was in 1996. Since then, it has been shrinking by about 3% annually. Our economic doldrums are one culprit. But the main reason, I think, is because books are losing out to other media, such as the Internet, through which information is more readily available and widespread."
But it's not totally doom-and-gloom in Asia. All three agencies offer this observation: translations are increasing all the time, and titles which wouldn't sell previously are now fair game. Everybody is pushing beyond fantasy and trendy offerings from the likes of Madonna and Jerry Seinfeld. Classics are being revived—centenarian Peter Rabbit is as popular as ever—and the search for translations has gone far beyond American and British shores. Continental Europe is proving to be a popular (and bountiful) hunting ground for new authors/illustrators and refreshing storylines. Imports and exports within the Asian region are also on the rise, largely due to cultural similarities and geographical proximity.
For Johann Hasreiter of rights agency Red Ears Media, Taiwan is still a rights market: "Domestic publishers look on foreign titles—especially those by award-winners—as an easier avenue to build up their portfolio and bottom line. But over the last few years, we're seeing an improvement in local originals, no doubt as a result of increased exposure to foreign imports and international exhibitions."
Distribution channels are also shifting. Owner Hsin-hua Liu of Taipei-based agency Jia-xi Books says, "Publishers are going independent, choosing their own channels or even starting their own bookstores and online storefronts. It makes for a more intense industry, but that's healthy competition. In a roundabout way, this has raised the quality of publications we now see in the marketplace."
Future Dynamics
According to senior manager Shu-chiung Chang of Eslite Bookstores—one of Taiwan's largest chains and the most active in promoting children's products—publishers are now striking a balance in their publishing program by developing more originals while buying up well-chosen foreign titles for translation or adaptation. "We view this as part and parcel of the maturing process: imports are crucial to 'upgrading' local works. The consensus among industry watchers is that improvement has been significant in the quality of illustrations and storylines of originals. We now have established names like Chih-yuan Chen, Chin-lun Lee and Jimmy Liao, and their works are going to countries known for producing high-quality picture books. Our originals will only get better as time goes by."
For Big Apple, more consolidations, with bigger conglomerates squeezing out smaller houses, are par for the course in the foreseeable future. Kwanten says, "For a children's book to have an impact in China, it requires a 100,000-copy print run. But this won't happen until nationwide distribution channels are properly established, which will take five to six years. At the same time, a substantial rise in income levels will allow sales of high-quality children's publications. Chinese publishers also need to be privatized to escape certain strictures—which aren't all government-imposed but arise from the lack of competition and of effort to do better. In Taiwan, a strong economy will provide impetus for growth. Meanwhile, its political stance brings forth another issue: if it chooses the independence route, there's cause for concern. But if it comes to terms with China, its expertise will make a difference in the mainland and its growth will provide further momentum."
Looking at Korea, Sue Yang of EYA says, "In the next three to four years, our children's market will stabilize and mature. Publishers will exercise prudence in their publishing program—whether for imports or originals. But translations will continue to dominate the market. For most Korean editors, foreign titles are considered 'proven' in their domestic markets, and this perspective heavily influences their rights-buying activities. Originals, on the other hand, will take time to propagate, as Korean publishers are basically starting from ground zero."
Recent months have seen licensing and manga/anime rights taking on a higher profile in Asia. TMA, for example, has some 80 licensees for Moomins (owned by the estate of Finnish illustrator Tove Jansson) across the region. "This 1989 deal brought in $4.5 million last year. We're also expecting significant increase in our manga business—which now accounts for 14% of our total revenue—thanks to its popularity in Europe and North America. One particular series, Dragon Ball Z, is our biggest money-earner," says Iwasaki. And across the Japan Sea, Teletubbies licensing and anime/manga deals are also fast becoming an integral part of EYA's business.
Large advances no longer raise eyebrows, especially since cash-rich adult publishers are jumping en masse onto the children's books wagon. Says Iwasaki, "The average fee is about $3,000 for a picture book. But there's intense competition for titles with high sales potential or proven track records. Chris Van Allsburg's The Polar Express, for example, fetched $15,000 recently." Big titles like The Amulet of Samarkand invariably demand upward of $50,000, and the price scale isn't showing any foreseeable dip anytime soon. Nor are there going to be fewer buyers, for that matter.
PW's conclusion? The children's market in Asia still shines bright. In Japan, fiction targeted at teenagers, especially girls (aka YA chick lit), has barely started. Korea's relatively small stable of local authors/illustrators demands more translations and imports. In Taiwan, translations feed a growing originals list. As for China, recent demographics point to an under-18 population exceeding 700 million—more than the combined population of North America, Russia and Australia—and this age group makes up some 40% of its conservatively estimated (and largely untapped) $3.33-billion book market. Such figures no doubt fuel many publishing dreams. All things considered, it's a huge children's market out there—and definitely not a fantasy one!
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