【Article/Observer Network Columnist Zhang Yu】
The phrase "the publishing industry is a sunset industry" is like a long-planned prophecy, hanging over the heads of practitioners. As a children's book editor, it has been three years since I entered the children's book publishing industry, and three years is enough for other industries to accumulate considerable experience, but for the publishing industry, three years is only the beginning.
Does books have a future? This is a question that many practitioners cannot answer clearly, but in fact, the Italian historian Amberto Echo has answered it very clearly. Echo divides texts into two types: books for reading and books for consultation, and the Internet will undoubtedly make the kind of encyclopedias and manuals available for reading die, but the kind of books for reading "are still indispensable, not only for literature, but also for an environment for us to read carefully, not only to receive news, but also to respond to contemplation." ”
Books are by far the most economical, flexible, and convenient way to transfer information, and at very low cost. From the book industry changing the reading form of books, to the live broadcast industry changing the sales model of books, emerging things have made books have undergone extremely profound changes from the inside out.
Under the premise that "books still have a future", we further discuss children's books. Many practitioners believe that the market share of children's books will be further increased in the future.
In recent years, China's children's book publishing has indeed seen a "blowout" development, creating a miracle of average double-digit growth for 18 consecutive years. During the epidemic, the children's book market around the world has grown to varying degrees. In 2019, the proportion of children's book market in the mass book market was 23.28%.
Image source: Beijing Open Roll
From my own point of view, whether it is data or emotional feelings, I really feel that the children's book industry is developing better and better every year.
I am full of hope for children's books, but also have a lot of worries. The more foreign books are done, the more I can't help but sigh. Foreign books, whether it is popular science books or novels, whether in form or content, are much ahead of the local.
Foreign popular science books have been subdivided to an outrageous degree, and some popular science books can't even believe that they are made for children. When we were still very emotional to show the photos of the Dunhuang Caves for the children, the outer version of the aesthetic education science book has made all aspects of the artwork "extremely beautiful", and began to teach the children how to curate the history of the development of the science museum for the children, such as the popular science book "Art Museum Knows All" that made me extremely stunning.
Image source: Beijing Open Roll
Foreign children's novels are also thriving. Many academic writers devote themselves to writing, writing exclusively for children, and creating high-level children's novels with great market awareness, rationality and skill.
Take the few award-winning novels we've just launched, "When the Sky Falls," "When the World Was Ours," and "The Midnight Guardians," all of which are 2021 novels about World War II, all of which are big-winning titles, and these three stories are completely different — from realistic to magical, with the protagonists from humans to animals to elves, to World War II. The richness of the interpretation of this theme and the convincing degree of the story told make people can't help but feel that the British contemporary children's novel is simply full of flowers. This not only shows that these children's fiction writers are very good, but also shows that the ecology of British children's literature is very healthy and very dynamic.
Every time I look for foreign children's novels, I am very surprised, these novels are either very trendy, such as "Traveling with Hamsters" that combines the topic of family affection with time travel; or the old historical stories are creatively handled, such as the story of the first ascension of the hot air balloon into the adventure novel "The Man Chasing the Sky" featuring children; or face serious social issues, such as "The Language of Battle" that throws the topic of sexual assault to children at a very appropriate scale. Or culminate in extremely detailed brushstrokes, such as "My Name Is Bibi Billy," about how a stuttering boy became a stand-up comedian.
You can see multi-dimensional, informative works in their newly created novels, you can feel the writers' free and abundant willingness to create, you can see the writers' sense of social responsibility, and I believe that children who grow up reading these texts will not hate reading.
There is also a very special problem in the introduction of foreign children's literature - YA novels (Young Adult Fiction), YA novels refer to literary works for 12-18 years old, and this part of the book is not read in China.
According to the definition of children's literature, its target audience should be 0-18 years old, but the novels we introduce daily focus on 7-12 years old, and novels in the age group of 12-18 years old are almost not done, and even if they are done, it is difficult to promote. This is the opposite of European and American countries, whose best-selling ya novels and picture books are small heads.
Is it because Chinese children of this age don't need to read? I think it's more likely that children at this age don't have time to read, or that they're reading texts that parents don't want them to read, like romance novels, fairy tales.
We did two YA novels this year, one is "Challenger Abyss" that discusses depression, and the other is "23 Letters to Lotty" that discusses the topic of death, these two books are very good in text, the theme is very profound, and there are countless awards abroad, but there is no splash after introduction, and it is difficult not to be depressed to do this kind of book.
Teacher Huang Xiaoyan of Fantasy Country expressed her views on this phenomenon: making books sometimes needs to lead readers, and can be one step faster than readers. Before the reader's reading habits are cultivated, it is indeed necessary for publishers, publishers, and publishers to make more efforts to provide readers with more choices of text, and publishers should show greater determination and courage to face unsatisfactory market feedback.
I also believe that, with the persistence of many parties, children in the future will be able to read texts that are suitable for them freely and selectively at every age.
Compared with foreign books, it is more difficult to make original books, in addition to the profit-seeking behavior of publishing houses and publishers, it has a certain relationship with the limitations of author creation and immature readers.
Compared with foreign countries, it can be clearly seen that whether it is a novel or a popular science book, there are very few authors in China who are specially created for children. Many children's literature writers have transformed from adult book writers, such as Chen Danyan, before creating "My Mother is an Elf", she devoted herself to telling readers about the Shanghai she saw, about a city's wind, snow and moon and human fireworks.
In the field of popular science, it is more difficult to find authors who write specifically for children, most children's popular science books are adult books "changed", delete a little content, with some illustrations, a content expansion into three, because there is no gene created specifically for children, authors and editors are difficult to "crouch down" to consider children's understanding, children's knowledge reserves.
For example, in recent years, "aesthetic education" popular science books are a hot topic, but in the original books, "Impressionism" and "Dadaism", which are obscure terms for children, are everywhere, and the books of popular science artists, artworks, and art genres basically account for the majority of aesthetic education books, accurately extract the biggest characteristics of artists and artworks, and tell very few books in a language that children of this age can understand.
On the whole, the popular science books created for children lack special authors and their organic integration of content, which is difficult to change for a long time, which is not unrelated to the relatively late development of domestic children's literature.
China News Service: Beijing Book Tower launched the "Children's Book Lending" service. Image source: Visual China
However, I also believe that with the rise of the children's book market, more and more authors will invest in this blue ocean, and I hope that authors and editors can actively use their brains to truly create new children's book products from the perspective of children.
For children's books, the purchaser of children's books is the parent, and the parent's choice may directly or indirectly affect the child's reading behavior. As a mature reader, parents should be able to consciously evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of a children's book, know how to choose an age-appropriate reading book for their children, and more importantly, lead by example to help children establish good reading habits.
If it is an immature reader, parents may have no concept of the advantages and disadvantages of a book, compared to the content, more sensitive to the price of the book, will follow the trend to buy some books that are not suitable for children to read, do not know how to help children establish good reading habits, such as forcing children to read books and brushing their mobile phones on the side.
As children's book products become more and more abundant, it will be more and more difficult to choose books, which puts forward higher requirements for parents.
Finally, I have to mention the impact of the rise of live broadcasting and self-media on the children's book industry.
I participated in several live broadcasts during the epidemic and clearly felt the enthusiasm of parents for "just need" (history books, math books). This kind of small live broadcast is very "snobbish", can not tolerate a little feeling, the price needs to be very low, the selling point needs to be very direct, parents will pay.
In the live broadcast room of the race against the clock, a good story can indeed impress parents, provided that the story is not told for too long.
Most parents are more sensitive to age, but this sensitivity I think is superficial, whether a book is suitable for their children to read, parents are generally very vague, it is difficult to make judgments through the explanation and display of the anchor, and the anchor needs to give the precise answer of "this is suitable for your baby to read", in order to be relatively assured to place a single.
When it comes to the self-media book promotion platform, we have to mention the Little Red Book. For Xiaohongshu users, books are not books in the traditional sense, no longer a way to obtain knowledge, books may be a beautiful commodity, a wish list. They approach books in a more laid-back manner, and books really become the icing on the cake or something that shows lifestyle.
Although the publishing industry is also adapting to changes and trying to establish clear rules, but in general it is still a relatively emotional industry, this "sensibility" is not only reflected in "the text may be emotional", such as the text of the novel, but also reflected in the rules and experience of this industry, it is difficult to say, such as where a book is good, why it sells well, many times it is mysterious and mysterious, it is difficult to say thoroughly.
I am full of blessings and hopes for children's books, and I also look forward to such a small group of people who obviously hear that "the publishing industry is a sunset industry" and devote themselves to it to make more and more wonderful books for children.
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