media - The jungle called book publishing

A great story about the jungle called the book publishing business in China by Mike Meyer in the New York Times (pointed by Danwei). Since I have a few friends in this business, so the story is not new for me, but might be telling for others.
The market produced officially in 2003 190,000 new titles, only six percent translated works. Dominating are increasingly the private publishing houses who buy 'book numbers' or licences from the official publishing houses, making the playing field muddy and very competitive.

''Doing business here is like playing ice hockey without referees,'' says Toby Eady, a London-based literary agent who represents several authors who have written on China. They include Jung Chang, who wrote the popular novel ''Wild Swans''; Ma Jian, a dissident who wrote the political travelogue ''Red Dust''; and Tim Clissold, the author of the business memoir ''Mr. China.'' In China, Eady says, ''a contract is good until you step 10 centimeters out of the office.''

While great for the consumers, authors have a hard time making a living, as successful authors are pirated very fast or squeezed out by the publishers.

The story of Yang Erche Namu, a Beijing author and onetime popular singer, is also telling. Namu has published 12 books in Chinese, and her memoir, ''Leaving Mother Lake,'' was released in 2003 by Little, Brown. After an editor commissioned her first book, Namu was handed a bag with $10,000 in cash -- and no rights. She estimates the book sold two million copies, not counting pirated editions. In China, authors and editors rarely forge a lasting bond. For each of her successive 11 books, Namu has worked with a different publisher. Now they pay advances against royalties, but, given unreliable sales data and piracy, she says she still can't support herself from writing. Instead, she relies on income from guesthouses she owns in her native village. She has also started a lingerie line, for which she is seeking backers. ''I am famous, everyone knows me, but I have no money!'' she says with a laugh.