China is to encourage and support the development of private publishing businesses, according to a policy document released on April 7 by the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP).
"The GAPP is to establish a 5-million-yuan publishing fund to support the development of private publishing businesses and small and medium-sized publishing studios to address their financial difficulties," GAPP Minister Liu Binjie told China Central Television on April 19.
The number of private publishing studios in China exceeds 10,000, including 5,000 located in Beijing, according to Caijing, an influential national magazine. Having no legal publishing channels, they have to live on buying and selling book numbers from state-owned publishing institutions.
Book numbers give a business permission to publish books. They are granted by GAPP to various state-owned publishing houses.
Since many private publishing studios need the numbers to stay in business, trading book numbers has become an open secret, though it is illegal.
" Private studios spend 1 billion yuan ($146 million) on book numbers every year," said Li Guoqing, co-president of the online bookseller Dangdang.com and vice president of the Books and Periodicals Publication Association.
According to Liu, book numbers themselves are virtual resources for use in barcodes that demonstrate authenticity, so they have no limit in quantity and are without value. " However, they have evolved into a weird phenomenon throughout China, nursing an unreasonable gray class engaging specially in book number trading," Liu said.
GAPP said in its policy document that private publishing ventures are a key part of the publishing industry and should be taken into account by the country' s industry planning and put under administration and regulation.
The recent policies revealed that China is planning to give legal status to private publishing ventures.
" We take it (the private publishing sector) as a burgeoning cultural productive force, and put it under the umbrella to receive assistance, guidance and support from the government," Liu said.
The document also states that China will " actively explore a channel for non-public publishing studios to take part in the publishing industry."
Liu said the government would adopt three methods to give a firmer foothold to private publishing companies and end their dependence on trading book numbers.
First, private book studios are encouraged to cooperate financially with large state-owned publishers, with the latter having a majority stake.
Second, an institution will be set up to examine and approve book products produced by private book studios, which can then publish approved products legally.
Finally, a copyright trading market will be established. After finishing book preparations such as planning, writing and editing, private book studios may auction the book as a whole product publicly, so as to transfer the book to a publishing house qualified to publish it.
" If some private publishers have gone overseas due to the pessimistic mood about the domestic publishing environment, they are welcome to return to China with their portfolios," Liu was quoted as saying by Caijing magazine.
