Publishers commemorate 70 years of WWII victory

A little girl is interested with the picture-story books of the War of Resistance Against Japan. [Photo/CNTV]

The Second World War commemoration is front and center this year, with just a week to go before Beijing stages its large-scale commemorations. Publishing companies from Hebei, Liaoning, and Beijing have all released new series of books about the era, including novels, historical studies, and declassified archives. The Russian delegations at this year's fair also echo the theme.

The international book fair in Beijing has long been an academic and educational show, but in recent years, its identity has evolved into a platform for foreign companies to pave a way in the Chinese market, an event that trade publishers cannot miss.

For example, Routledge, the British publisher famous for its academic books and journals, has launched a partnership with China's Commercial Press. Together, they will launch a new series on Chinese linguistics to be published globally.

Such collaborations are commonly seen at the book fair, but they are not always easy.

"The biggest challenge that we have is around translation content. We have to ensure, especially in the humanities and social science, that the content is well translated, and is readable for our audience outside," said Ben Denne, editorial director of Humanities and Media Books, Routledge.

Penguin Random House, the world's leading English-language publisher, are also looking to bridge continental divides.

"What we do here is to find potential partners that are willing to translate, publish and promote our original, English-language books into the Chinese market. In terms of the content, we're facing the same challenge just as the private publishing companies in China, so the game is fair to us," said Wang Zhen, general manager of Penguin Random House China.

Meanwhile, the printing industry is thinking about how to stay competitive in this era of e-books.

"Publishers' concern on the print run is that if they print too many copies at one time, and if the sales fail to meet the expectation, it'll be harder to make ends meet. But now we can further reduce the cost by introducing a new digital printing service, so the publishers can print a smaller amount of copies to test the market first," said Guo Jianhong, manager of CNPIEC Digital Printing.

The five-day Book Fair is open only to agents, publishers and distributors in the first three days, after which the general public will be admitted at the weekend.