European publishers eye China lit

Jergen Boos, president of the Frankfurt Book Fair

Boos says that at the book fair people were very surprised about how much information they received from Chinese publishers. "Years ago it was very difficult. Probably it was the same the other way around."

Boos says Asia's publishing industries are drawing more international attention. Representatives from China, South Korea and Indonesia, for example, are busy at book exhibitions, and the number of Asian attendees has increased.

This year, organizers upgraded the annual StoryDrive China event, which was first held in 2012, and made it StoryDrive Asia, because they expected more exchanges across the region.

"We want to establish a platform in Beijing similar to the Frankfurt Book Fair. For example, if publishers from South Korea are interested in trading copyrights here, they don't need to go to Frankfurt but could just do it at the new platform here," Boos says.

He adds that they will also develop similar meeting opportunities in key countries as well as in prominent cities, such as Shanghai.

Boos says the potential is great for cross-border deals. There are several kinds of books in China that would be popular in the West, he says, such as ones about China's history and traditional culture.

Also, because of China's tremendous changes, books about the country's social transformation and modern politics and economics would also draw a lot of attention. Travel books, children's books and cookbooks also are a lot easier to publish internationally.