World Book Day
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How long has it been since you opened a book?
In the past, people had to go to the bookstore to buy a book and read a paper book in their hand, but now, as long as they pull out their mobile phones, they can buy books online at any time, and many people watch live broadcasts of reading books and easily understand the content of books in the form of "screen reading". In the era of short videos and live broadcasts, how has the public's reading method and book market been affected?
The enthusiasm for reading that was "planted" by a short video
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"Reindeer roost on moss, shamans dance in the moonlight, people meet in the forest and separate in the forest......" This is a commentary by anchor Dong Yuhui in the live broadcast room to introduce Chi Zijian's novel "The Right Bank of the Ergun River". In the past year and a half, this Mao Dun Literature Award-winning work has become "popular" under the recommendation of Dong Yuhui, with a total print run of more than 6 million copies.
On January 6, the "2023 Annual Report on the Book Retail Market" released by Beijing Open Book Data showed that Shi Tiesheng's "Me and the Temple of Earth (Commemorative Edition)" topped the list of non-fiction among the bestsellers of the year. In 2023, writer Yu Hua talked about Shi Tiesheng in variety shows and Dong Yuhui's live broadcast room, which was recreated into a short video by many netizens, and "The friendship between Yu Hua and Shi Tiesheng" once became a hot spot on major video platforms, awakening readers' nostalgia and reading enthusiasm for Shi Tiesheng.
Classic masterpieces already have long-term value, and driven by the traffic of celebrities and Internet celebrities, they have entered the field of vision of more readers. Whether it is an attractive content interpretation or the personal charm of the anchor, it has aroused the reading interest of potential readers. "I suddenly want to buy all the books he recommends", "I have finished reading 15 books, and I am expected to be able to complete 17 books this year", "I have been following it for half a year, and I have never missed the book list recommended by Dong Yuhui, and the reading atmosphere at home is getting better and better", in the comment area of many short videos of Dong Yuhui's reading, some netizens posted their reading notes and reading progress, and many netizens discussed and shared their reading experiences with each other.
Open short video platforms such as Douyin, short videos such as "3 minutes to read a book" and "5 minutes to read a book" have a high number of clicks, and some reading bloggers speed read classic masterpieces or bestsellers through "output golden sentences", storytelling and other forms.
With the development of the mobile Internet, short videos, live broadcasts and other media forms have broadened the channels for content dissemination, and short videos and live broadcasts with the theme of reading and recommending books have lowered the threshold for the public to obtain knowledge, and their strong visual impact and interactivity have attracted more users' attention, and may also make some people's interest shift from short videos to books. Although watching an Internet celebrity anchor tell a story is not the same thing as reading a book in person, in the fast-paced present, the former can better cater to the psychological needs of the public, and this kind of "knowledge fast food" is also nutritious, promoting national reading with higher efficiency.
On April 17, Douyin e-commerce released the "2024 Douyin E-commerce Q1 Reading Report". According to the report, in the first quarter of 2024, the short video of the platform's book trailer will be played more than 21.6 billion times, the live broadcast of books with goods will be viewed more than 3.9 billion times, and the interconnection of high-quality content and shelf e-commerce will drive the sales of more than 150 million books on the platform, with an average of more than 2 million books sold every day. From the perspective of age, the "post-00" book consumption potential is the greatest, and the number of books purchased increased by 187% year-on-year.
Xu Hong, a post-90s reader, told the Financial Times, "To be honest, after a busy day's work, I prefer to watch brainless videos, which is easier than reading books." The quality of short videos and live broadcasts of reading varies from one to the next, some focus on sales and have less content explanation, but there are also some anchors who love books from the bottom of their hearts and interpret them very seriously, which can inspire me. She believes that watching a live stream of reading is a way to communicate by hearing different discussions and voices and stimulating new perspectives than reading alone.
Yu Jintao, deputy editor-in-chief of Douyin Group, said that the long-term social value project "Douyin National Good Books Project" launched by the platform will continue to link publishing houses, writers, high-quality content creators and other parties through platform policies, in-depth operation activities, traffic support and other measures, and use short videos and live broadcasts to sell new books and recommend good books, so as to bring more new books and good books to readers.
The battle for publisher live streaming
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On March 26, writer Mai Jia appeared in the live broadcast room of "Walking with Hui" with his new novel "Letter in the World", which attracted more than 250,000 people to watch online at the same time, and the book sold a total of 68,000 copies in the live broadcast on the same day.
A few days ago, Douyin e-commerce held a "National Reading in the Live Broadcast Room" event in Beijing. According to Feng Xiaohui, manager of the research department of Beijing Open Book Information Technology Co., Ltd., in the first quarter of 2024, the short video e-commerce channel is still the only channel to achieve year-on-year growth, with an increase of 31.15%. In the first quarter of 2024, 15 of the top 100 short video e-commerce sales are new books, and the proportion of new books is higher than that of other channels.
Short videos and live broadcasts have become important channels for new book sales. "The aroma of wine is also afraid of deep alleys", and many publishing houses are also taking this opportunity to explore the road of transformation, looking for new markets through live streaming and other forms. Douyin e-commerce data shows that in the first quarter of 2024, the sales volume of publishing houses on Douyin Mall increased by 209% year-on-year, the number of self-broadcast publishers increased by 64% year-on-year, the self-broadcast views of publishing houses exceeded 19.25 million times, and the GMV (total merchandise transaction) of publishing houses on the platform increased by 33% year-on-year.
According to Zhang Peng, general manager and director of the distribution department of the Marketing Center of the Social Sciences Academic Press, more than ninety percent of the new books launched by the Social Sciences Academic Press every year are professional books. In order to find a larger market for niche books, the agency officially launched self-broadcasting on Douyin e-commerce in June last year, and achieved a balance of self-broadcasting performance in just half a year, with annual sales increasing by 120% year-on-year.
Talking about the case of the People's Literature Publishing House's book "The Right Bank of the Ergun River" being "out of the circle" due to Dong Yuhui's live broadcast, Zhao Ping, deputy editor-in-chief of the agency, introduced that before being recommended by Dong Yuhui, this book was a bestseller in serious literature, and the readership base was very good. "The live broadcast room is only a part of what is sold, and the undertaking of overflow traffic is an important part of pushing the book to a new height. Dong Yuhui's recommendation made the book quickly appear on various lists, and was recommended by bloggers on various platforms, and the editorial, marketing and distribution team of the agency updated the materials in a timely manner to connect with various platforms to keep up with the hot spots. And the spontaneous promotion among readers has made it form a word-of-mouth effect. Zhao Ping believes that the current competition in the book market is more brutal than before. Classic works have formed a reputation and are more likely to be recommended, while it is more difficult for new authors and new books to break through, requiring not only more wisdom and action, but also change.
For some non-leading publishing houses, it is not easy to gain readers and sales through self-broadcasting, and they face many challenges. In the future, how to find a way to break the situation still needs to be explored.
Xiao Yang (pseudonym), a planning editor who works at a publishing house in Beijing, told the Financial Times, "Short videos and live broadcasts are good things for selling books, but our company currently lacks relevant talents. In the future, we will definitely embrace the trend of live broadcasting, if we want to get more traffic, we need to stick to live streaming at a fixed time every day, and broadcast for a long enough time to form a fan base. ”
"With this contrast, you'll fall in love with reading all over again"
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On April 22, on the eve of World Book Day, writer Mo Yan said in his WeChat public account: "Actually, I also watch short videos, but every time I finish brushing, I will criticize myself, why did I brush it for another hour, and most of the things in this hour are relatively boring." Therefore, short videos are just a phased phenomenon. Or reading, is the most worthwhile and most important thing to do in our spare time!" At the end, he also attached a half-minute short video to share his novel "Life and Death Fatigue". In the era of short video popularity, writer Mo Yan humorously explained his attitude towards reading.
Although short videos and live broadcasts can attract the public's attention and efficiently disseminate knowledge and content, the joy of reading lies not only in acquiring knowledge, but also in the unique experience of reading in person, which cannot be obtained by watching the screen "telling".
Reader Fei Fei told the Financial Times, "Watching reading bloggers talk about books on the Internet, the 'golden sentences' they say often make me feel empowered, and after watching the video, I feel as if I have finished reading the book, but in fact, this is very different from actually reading it myself." The video content of just a few minutes is actually output after reading for a long time by a book blogger. For her, who is busy with work, reading is a process of rebellion against inertia, although it is hard, but there will be moments of enjoyment, and the final result is worth it.
Han Haoyue, a writer and cultural commentator, told the Financial Times, "Short videos have a great impact on people's brains, time concepts and lives. There was a time when I also watched a lot of short videos, and after realizing the underlying logic of it, I stopped being addicted to it, and only regarded it as a pastime during a break, and returned to (traditional) reading in a down-to-earth manner. He believes that reading requires immersion to read the taste of the book, and this in-depth reading experience can not only provide a "refreshing feeling" similar to watching short videos, but also give people a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, "With this contrast, you will fall in love with reading again." ”
Source: Financial Times client
Reporter: Xie Yu
Editor: Liu Nengjing
Email: [email protected]