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PUBLISHING
IN CHINA (Sue Kay)
28 February,
2005
(please keep in mind that this meeting was held in 2005 and things may
have likely changed)
Have you ever thought about what
to do with all those old lesson plans you've hoarded over the years?
Ever thought about writing a
book?
Are you already writing a book?
Well what about getting
published in China?
What a great idea, and dead easy
to do right?
Definitely a great idea, but
just how easy is it?
Last Monday our TDF session was
lead by Sue Kay who has published 2 EFL books in China. The first was
Business Writing, which sold out the first run of 6000 and then had a second
edition printed. The second, which has just been published, is Practical
Presentations, a guide to presentations and public speaking for English
learners.
Sue gave us her hints and
guidelines for getting published in China and talked us through many of the
pitfalls. Whilst publishing is not generally a money-spinner, (you can either
get a lump sum up front for the book or receive royalties, usually around
8%), it does get you known, give you prestige, and a feeling of contribution
and satisfaction.
So here are Sue's ideas.....
...Publishing is a thorny field
in most countries and is no different in China. The following are some of the
points that I advise people to think about based on my experiences. I have no
doubt there is much more to learn!
FLTRP The Foreign Language
Research and Training Press (one of the most prestigious publishing houses in
China)
1. First approach may be to the
General Editorial Office (tel. 8881 7495). They will give name of division to
approach.
There are a number of different
divisions e.g.
General English Publishing
Higher English Education
Publishing - (textbooks for universities)
Research into higher learning +
literature + cross cultural communication
Basic English Education -
(primary school and middle school)
2. Better, may be a personal
contact (this is China!)
3. Be able to send a proposal
and sample chapter.
4. If the publishers show
interest, you want to know:
1. that you will have editorial
control and will have time to proof read before it goes to the printer
2. the retail price
3. what %age comes the writer
(don't expect to get rich unless you have a 'best seller'!)
4. what the print run will be
(i.e. how many copies they will print)
5. how long it will be licensed
to the publisher (exclusivity normal, but can be changed at end of license
period)
6. when it will be published and
made available for sale
7. where it will be made
available
8. how it will be promoted
9. how many free copies you will
get and how many at reduced price
10. conditions pertaining to
reprinting - e.g. changes to original you may want to make
A less well-known press is the
Beijing Institute of Technology Press. They did a good job on my first book,
Business Writing, but didn't want to have to pay for it. Strange idea but it
is apparently quite 'normal' in China!
It is helpful if you are able to
promise that a number of copies will definitely be sold to an institution.
Also, if an institution will agree to promote the book - this can be added to
the front cover.
From our meeting Sue seemed to
stress the importance of chasing up the publishers after you've sent your
draft, otherwise they may well print it without your knowing and without you
editing it!
Also, Sue stressed that you must
be insistent with publishers, especially with the cover, the paper quality,
print quality and price. They will heed your words, but you do have to
insist. Publishers will have their own ideas about design and layout, and
more than likely these will be different from yours.
In the meeting we all seem to
agree that there are very few new ideas in the publishing world, many books
are just old ideas put in a new, albeit very valid, way. While copyright is
obviously an issue, adapting, re-wording, re-assembling and evolving are
clearly within the grasp of all of us!
After all in a book on
telephoning English there are only so many ways of saying: "Hello, who's
calling?"
So, if you have an idea for a
book, we hope the guidelines above may help.
In fact, if anyone else has
written a book or is writing one, we'd love to hear about your experiences,
learning, advice or questions.
After our session on publishing
a lot of people have asked for more information about it.
Below is an e-mail from Vaughan Ross, giving more info and his experience of
publishing here in China.
Thanks for that Vaughan, and if
there are any more ideas out there please do send them in.
PUBLISHING: (Vaughan Ross)
I found the email about the TDF
meeting where you discussed publishing very interesting; I spoke to Keith for
a few minutes about a few things.
Getting work published is easy;
getting it sold is the hard part as an individual
First is the concept of publishing at what a publisher or publishing house
actually does. I think of publishing as getting an ISBN, for books, or ISSN
for periodicals.
And I think of Publishing houses/publishers as distributors or agents who
sell your work. The fact is anyone can get pretty much anything
"published" you just have to fill out an online application form.
ISSNs and ISBNs are issued by different organizations in different countries,
the head office is in Paris though. If you do a search for ISSN or ISBN and the
country you want your material published in, except for China, China has its
own rules. Then there is an online application to fill out, in NZ they ask
for three copies of your material to be sent to them.
This is how we published our
journal, Education International. Some people think that there are quality
standards etc.. to get work published, but actually that is only the case if
you go through a publisher/publishing house etc. Then if they decide they
like you work they'll try selling it. ISSNs and ISBNs are just for record
keeping purposes.
That is why I say they are
distributors or sellers, because that is what they can do but you probably
can't.
How is this relevant to
publishing in China? What I suggest is applying online for an ISSN or ISBN
for your work and then taking it to a publisher/publishing
house/school/university etc. to be sold/distributed.
There are two advantages doing
it this way.
1. You own the work you did, not some publishing house they didn't have
anything to do with creating it. This means that you have the option of using
this work or excerpts as you please, and best of all the option to have it
sold or published in other countries without having to ask anyone's
permission or giving up a huge share of the proceeds.
2. It looks better when you take work to a Chinese publisher when it has
already been published, and they still get the rights to use it in China.
3. You are also better protected if work is stolen, which is a risk you take
if you show potential publishers you unpublished work to see if they want to
use.
4. Complete editorial control-though they may want changes to be made of
course
5. If you are being hired to write for a company or publishing house you can
still do it this way, you give them the work do use as they please in China
for whatever payment structure was prior agreed upon. But before that you
apply online for an ISSN or ISBN outside of China, for example in the country
you are from.
That way both sides still win.
I am doing this with a writing
project I'm doing for a Chinese company in Beijing. Just remember to apply
for the ISSN or ISBN before they publish your work. Because China has its own
rules with regards to publishing it actually has its advantages for writers.
Think of it like this, although
it's not exactly like this, there is China and the rest of the world. Getting
something published in one place doesn't mean it has been in the other.
That's why all the ESL books like New Interchange have published by Foreign Language
Teaching and Research Press in them. Even though they were published by
Cambridge, that means nothing in China, they play by their own rules.
But we can use that to our
advantage.
Here are the steps again
1. Write your work
2. Apply online for an ISSN or ISBN
3. Offer your work to Chinese publishers? You may need to write up some sort
of agreement to give them the rights to your work in China.
Issues such as the following brought up at the meeting you'll still have to
deal with, but you're in a much better bargaining position and are protected
a lot more.
1.
the retail price
2. what %age comes the writer (don't expect to get rich unless you have a
'best seller'!)
3. what the print run will be (i.e. how many copies they will print)
4. how long it will be licensed to the publisher (exclusivity normal, but can
be changed at end of license period)
5. when it will be published and made available for sale
6. where it will be made available
7. how it will be promoted
8. how many free copies you will get and how many at reduced price
9. conditions pertaining to reprinting ? e.g. changes to original you may
want to make
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