Monday, March 23, 2015

Mobile Reading in China, Book Sales Trends for 2015, and Upcoming Release by Nick Wilford


The Literary Platform had an interesting article about mobile reading in China. As of last December, there were 557 million mobile Internet users, and there’s been a surge in mobile reading. In 2012, total revenue was 6.89 billion. The predominant form is serialized fiction, and some of the leading companies include Shanda, Cloudary, and TenCent.

"In the past ten years, these Online Literature sites have grown substantially: a parallel publishing system operating seemingly outside of the traditional Chinese publishing industry.

"Chinese online literature platforms have also managed, to the envy of Western online platforms, to monetise the selling of this reading content, in seamlessly integrated, payment mechanisms."

Wouldn’t you like to tap into that market?

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Publishers Weekly posted its weekly update of book sales last Friday. It’s always interesting to see the trends. This year, Trade Paperbacks are up 6%, Mass Market Paperbacks are down 12%, and Audio Books are down 18%. The latter two have been in rapid decline over the past three years.

Unfortunately, they don’t have data for Ebooks. Wish they did!

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Coming May 25th 2015:

A Change of Mind and Other Stories by Nick Wilford
Contemporary speculative fiction
Cover Design: Rebekah Romani
Preorder: Amazon US / Amazon UK
Add on Goodreads

A Change of Mind and Other Stories consists of a novella, four short stories and one flash fiction piece. This collection puts the extremes of human behaviour under the microscope with the help of lashings of dark humour, and includes four pieces previously published in Writer’s Muse magazine.

In A Change of Mind, Reuben is an office worker so meek and mild he puts up with daily bullying from his boorish male colleagues as if it’s just a normal part of his day. But when a stranger points him in the direction of a surgeon offering a revolutionary new procedure, he can’t pass up the chance to turn his life around.

But this isn’t your average surgeon. For a start, he operates alone in a small room above a mechanic’s. And he promises to alter his patients’ personality so they can be anything they want to be…

In Marissa, a man who is determined to find evidence of his girlfriend’s infidelity ends up wondering if he should have left well alone.

The Dog God finds a chink in the armour of a man with a megalomaniacal desire to take over the world.

In The Insomniac, a man who leads an obsessively regimented lifestyle on one hour’s sleep a night finds a disruption to his routine doesn’t work for him.

Hole In One sees a dedicated golfer achieving a lifelong ambition.

The Loner ends the collection on a note of hope as two family members try to rebuild their lives after they are torn apart by jealousy.

42 comments:

Natalie Aguirre said...

So interesting about China and mobile reading. Yes, it would be awesome to tap into that market.

Congrats to Nick on his cover.

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

I wonder if the trade paperback surge is a result of the POD books on the market?

I'm trying to break into the Chinese market now! Think it's going to take a while.

nashvillecats2 said...

It's great to learn about another place, you captured this with China.

nashvillecats2 said...

It's great to learn about another place, you captured this with China.

Mason Canyon said...

Sad to hear about the Mass Market Paperbacks and Audio Books in decline. Since Audio Books can be listened to on smartphones, wonder if they were included in the count or would be classified differently? Congrats to Nick and his upcoming release.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Diane .. my god-daughter is off to China for an internship and then some travel .. I must add to her list of to do things to check out their way of reading and searching on the net .. fascinating post.

Good luck to Nick too - cheers Hilary

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Elizabeth, please keep me posted on your progress.

Mason, I think they count those.

H. R. Sinclair said...

Elizabeth, I had read that other were also speculating that the self-publishing is making trade size more popular. It's rather interesting.

Congrats Nick!

Chrys Fey said...

Poor paperback books. :( Although I publish ebooks and buy quite a few ebooks, I still love paperbacks. It makes me sad seeing those number go down.

Congratulations, Nick! His stories sound really good!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Congratulations to Nick.
And yes, I would like to be part of that China market.

Jay Noel said...

Why yes, I'd like to tap that. Sorry...had to do it.

I find it interesting that trade paperback sales have increased. Recently, I've gone on a trade paperback buying binge, forgoing ebooks. I still own mass paperbacks, but I tend to buy those used and give them away when I'm done reading them.

I think ebooks replaced mass paperbacks.

Audio books down too? I know a lot of authors jumping on that bandwagon lately.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I'm excited for Nick. Would love to get a piece of that Chinese market. I think one of the reasons mass market paperback sales are down is because publishers are releasing only trade sized for their most popular authors.

J.L. Campbell said...

Congrats to Nick. Serialized fiction is not my thing at all, but kudos to those who read and write it.

DL Hammons said...

Love watching the trends! Although, I'm usually the one swimming against the current. :)

Ella said...

Oh, that is sad~ I use to love audio books!

Congrats, to Nick!

Thanks, Diane for always keeping us in up with the current trends~

Ella said...

Diane,
Hugs! I am so sorry for your loss~
I still am struggling with losing my hound in January.
He knew he was special and your pride and joy!

Hobbes and Spunky are together now-playfully reunited!!

Karen Lange said...

An interesting market, for sure. Yes, I would like to tap into it.

Stephen Tremp said...

Makes me consider translating my books into Chinese. I'm working through translating the Breakthrough series into Japanese. We'll see if that goes anywhere.

cleemckenzie said...

China is one huge population and they're only at the beginning of tuning in. I visited a "village" of 3 million to be told only half the population was connected. Oh poo.

Great information, Diane. And very interesting.

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

I wonder why audio books are declining. Do you think this is because ebook sales are increasing, Diane? Just wondering.

All the best to Nick on his newest book launch.

Nick Wilford said...

Sounds like China have got something good going on. If people are reading - that's the main thing. I hadn't realised audiobooks were in decline, I've seen quite a few bloggers release them. And thanks for helping me out today!

Donna McDine said...

Fascinating synopsis'. I'd be interested in the e-book percentages too!

Sandra Cox said...

Wanting to tap into the market...You bet!

shelly said...

Mobile reading? Hmmm... I read articles from my phone.

Anyway, congrats to Nick yet again!

Jemi Fraser said...

Yay for Nick! :)

I'm not a fan of reading serials, but it's sure a growing market!

Elizabeth Seckman said...

I would love to break into that market!

I like audio books, but the price is just too high. I can listen to my Kindle robot its way through the story for free.

Dean K Miller said...

wonderful looking book coming from Nick. Congrats to him. Breaking into any China market would be a boon. Finding the right one is one thing, breaking open the locked doors is another...but what a market awaits!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

wow, that is interesting about that growing market.

And congrats to Nick!

Peaches D. Ledwidge said...

A market that helps with sales is something to consider.

Vanessa Morgan said...

I love these new ways for finding a market. So interesting. Have a great week.

Anonymous said...

I pre-ordered Nick's book.

That's interesting about the book stats. I'm not big on serial books, but I remember buying one from Amazon awhile ago.

Sandra Cox said...

Who'd a thought it on the trade paperbacks, Huh?

Arlee Bird said...

Oh dear, I'll bet Chairman Mao is turning over in his grave. So much for the Communist revolutionary dream. Capitalism is going to be difficult to abolish anywhere I think.

Arlee Bird
A to Z Challenge Co-host
Wrote By Rote

Joylene Nowell Butler said...

Best of success, Nick!

That's interesting numbers, Diane. Wish they knew how many ebooks sales there are. I'd love to know, tho I have to say I'll never give up the hard covers.

Joylene Nowell Butler said...

Best of success, Nick!

That's interesting numbers, Diane. Wish they knew how many ebooks sales there are. I'd love to know, tho I have to say I'll never give up the hard covers.

M Pax said...

Makes me wish I could write in Chinese. It's great to learn the current trends.

Maurice Mitchell said...

I've seen Nick's book everywhere! Considering how well Cloudary is doing I'm surprised it's not being publicly traded even though they announced it in 2012. Must still be working on it.

Cherie Reich said...

It'd be awesome to tap into that market. As for massmarket and trade paperbacks, I wonder if one's down and the other's up because they are publishing more trade paperbacks and less places are selling massmarket, so they're not creating as many massmarket books. Plus, the massmarket crowd is more likely to be an ebook crowd now.

Congrats to Nick!

Sandra Cox said...

Nice cover.

Anonymous said...

I've been meaning to learn how to write in Chinese -- now I have motivation. And way to support a fellow writer, Diane!

Nas said...

Congrats to Nick!

Sounds great for ibook authors to tap into that Chinese market.

Kelly Steel said...

Congratulations to Nick. Interesting about the Chinese market.