BOOK CRAZE: The 2010 Guangzhou Book Fair attracts around 700,000 visitors and records sales of more than 30 million yuan ($4.4 million) during its one-week span(XINHUA)

A book fair wouldn't be a book fair without books. And while the number of book fairs in China has increased in recent years, the Guangzhou Book Fair has been helping to redefine the very nature of hard and softbound publications by promoting digital works and reading technology. This year, the fair again set up an exclusive digital reading experience exhibition hall to showcase the host province's latest achievements in the field.

The fair, held in the Pazhou Convention Center in Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong Province in southern China, attracted around 700,000 visitors and recorded sales of more than 30 million yuan ($4.4 million) during its one-week span. More than 200 themed activities were held, from book sales, exhibitions, and lectures on publishing, to cultural promotions by the country's other southern provinces.

Since its debut in 2007, the book fair has become a popular cultural event among readers in China.

Quick to embrace

The 432-square-meter "Digital Reading Zone" at the 2010 Guangzhou Book Fair featured new technologies, new products and new experiences. Some 20 leading companies in digital publishing--books, music, online gaming, cartoons and comics --with businesses in Guangdong showcased their latest products and technologies.

"We can't ignore the market that has been created by new media, and we certainly can't afford to lose the chance to take advantages of all these new technologies out there to transform and empower ourselves for the digital future," said Huang Haihui, General Manager of Digital Publishing Ltd. under the Guangdong Provincial Publishing Group, a reform pioneer of the country's publishing industry.

With more than 1 billion potential readers of digital publications, China is not only one of the biggest digital reading markets in the world, but also one of the fastest developing ones. In 2009, China's digital industry grew more than 40 percent, with about 100 million Chinese, most under 25 years old, reading digital books. Predictions hold that it will continue to grow at an annual rate of about 50 percent in the next few years. As it stands, more than 90 percent of Chinese publishing houses are engaged in digital publishing.

According to the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), the annual output value of digital publications in China reached nearly 80 billion yuan ($12 billion) in 2009, surpassing traditional publications for the first time. However, the figure also included online gaming, advertising and other sectors. Digital books represented only 1 percent of the output value.

Statistics also show that most people, more than 100 million, read digital books on mobile phones. The reason is simple. It is cheap and most mobile phone users are young and have lower incomes. Only 1 percent of readers actually use e-reading devices. In comparison to the huge number of readers, sales of electronic e-reading devices are rather small: about 500,000 in 2009. It is estimated to reach 3 million this year.

The majority of the Chinese digital readers said they are used to the free contents they find on the Internet or the free books provided by the authorized digital business operators, but they are unwilling to pay.

Incompatibility creates another barrier for the Chinese e-reading market, which doesn't exist in the U.S or Europe. In China, a standard e-book format has yet to be agreed upon, causing problems both for readers and digital publishers. Currently, there are about 20 different formats. Publishers have to guess which software or format will be the most successful to apply to their products. And consumers have found it extremely difficult to decide which devices they should buy.

Looking for a mode

Though the concept of digital publishing has been welcomed in China, and many traditional publishers are more than willing to jump on the digital bandwagon, the digital publishing industry is progressing slower than expected.

"I don't consider what most of the traditional publishers are doing now to be real digital publishing. They are just converting what they have published into digital format and building a minimal digital infrastructure," Huang said.

In January 2009, the Guangdong Provincial Publishing Group set up the Digital Publishing Ltd. to produce educational material in digital formats. Huang said after one year, his company had managed to break even with sales reaching 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) and was expected to make a profit next year.

"What we need now is a new business mode that will fit the new media era. For now, we'll keep looking for this mode and follow the rules of the market economy," Huang said, adding that the new-tech industry has helped Guangdong enjoy certain advantage in spearheading development of the digital publishing business.