The Prospect of Chinese Picture Books in Taiwan and China
2-4 pm, Saturday 6 February 2010
6F, Eslite Xin-Yi Bookstore
Speakers: Ming-Jing Zheng, Jun-Yen Tsao, Su-Jen Feng, and Chih-Yin Yu
This is more important than any other reading that I have.
In order to make this into a future investigation, I would note everything in English just in case I am too busy to do that in the near future.
This is a talk held by FZK PB Foundation with the speakers come from different parts that contribute to the field of children's literature now in Taiwan. They are a writer, an illustrator/editor, an editor/reviewer, and an editor. Zheng first discussed the illustrations by the FZK award winner. He said the painting for children should be 45 degrees. He also exemplified what Mitsumasa Anno have applied in his Anno's Journey Books in order to let us know how Mr. Ju can improve for children.
Actually this part would be a bit difficult for me, as I don't know the terms of illustration techniques.
Then, It is Mr. Tsao who spoke on the philosophy and the importance of Taiwan-published books. In Taiwan, it remains the trend that translate works sell. The importance of translating works from other countries is:
1. to experience the classic
2. to develop a world view
3. to see if kids in other parts of the world may face the same problem from the multiple views of the countries with advanced views on children's books, and
4. that there is definitely a market to the books that are already awarded or sold well in other markets.
However, this means only 1/4 of the TW-published books are in the market place! Editors should be conscious about how TW kids would associate themselves from their own experiences. In addition, the making and publishing of TW books is an accumulation of culture. The cultural workers should have the vision for the future rather than the mere profits that are presented in front. Lastly, the definition of a good PB should involve the benchmark on:
life
art
modern life
ethnic/ cultural feature
While the features will not limit the perception of the books. And so we shall walk through the boundaries of the publishing.
Ms. Feng is a renowned and even popular children's book writer in both Taiwan and China. She knows well how to self-promote and publish, which should be a very good example for future writers and illustrators. She first starts as an editor in a company irrelevant to children's books. But then she starts writing after marriage. Once she got a chance to go to Bologna, very likely in 1991. She promoted herself as a translator on site and then start to engage in translation! After that, she keeps writing, promoting, and translating for children's literature. Even though she does not translate anymore, her works are more than 80, which is just amazing!!!
There are several things to learn from her if anyone would be interested in publishing in Taiwan and China:
1. Not afraid of self-promotion
2. Networking in every way you can: she even has a blog in sina, the largest (?) website in China so she can write to the fans and people
3. once there is a possibility to work with an illustrator, she would write 10-12 stories for the illustrator to pick.
4. willing to support a new illustrator, and wait for them to finish the draft -- which made her a nickname called the mother of newbies "新人之母"!
Next, it is my favorite and the most important one: Ms. Yu!!
Yu directly told us that TW market is shrinking due to the low birth rate -- only 191K kids are born in 2009! In addition, schools are closed, class size shrunk, parents less willing to purchase books for children due to the financial crisis and lower income. Without further ado, TW market will go into extinct in 5 years!!
Yet there are ways to change -- one of them is to follow Korea's steps. KR started to encourage PB publishing since the 1980s. They buy rights, and more aggressively sell rights in Frankfurt, Bologna, Mexico, Indonesia, and other parts of the world. Even if the publisher only has a dummy copy, an electric file, or just one copy in hand, they actively sell copyrights. TW is working on this, but not hard enough. To books published from TW, the markets are first Taiwan, then International, USA, and then China.
In China, there are
16980K kids born in 2008
14000K kids born in 2009, and it is estimated that
20000K kids born in 2010 (due to the World Exhibit in Shanghai this year)
Chinese market is rising, as their cultural consumption and level is rising, and there are more and more publishers selling books for children. An evident proof comes from Dangdangwang.
In conclusion, Yu reminds editors needs to enlarge their vision, and sell rights whenever possible. We have several star illustrators, but we need more than promotion and squeezing for more books. We need to have different strategies to encourage reading as well as sell rights.
I love TW picture books and hope our market won't shrink that easily. I will introduce several nice books soon and look forward to having your feedback.
Shanti shanti.