Taiwan publishers plan bigger in mainland

Publishing firms from Taiwan are expecting a bigger slice of the market in the Chinese mainland and they hope authorities on both sides can further boost the book trade.

Yang Tsung-han, a manager at Taiwan's Dragon Totem Cultural Ltd, said the company has introduced about 300 categories of mainland books to Taiwan by collaborating with a mainland company.

Yang, who was attending the Cross-Straits Book Fair in Xiamen, Fujian province on Sunday, said the company's latest moves will include translating more Taiwan books into simplified Chinese and selling them in the mainland market.

"A major way for mainland readers to snap up Taiwan original books is to participate in such a book fair. Although this year's fair invited some Taiwan sought-after writers such as Chang Ta-chun and Chu Chen-fan, which is very nice, mainland readers' understanding of Taiwan books is still limited," Yang said.

Taking the culinary critic Chu Chen-fan as an example, Yang said only a few books, of the 40 by Chu, dubbed "the modern food god" in Taiwan, were displayed at the fair.

"It's not enough. More diversified Taiwan books need to be presented in the future," Yang said.

Lee Ya-mei, a sales manager with Taiwan's Commercial Press Ltd, said her company has been authorizing copyright to companies in the mainland to publish their books.

"Recent years have seen an increased interest in history and literature books, the company's forte," Lee said, adding she will strengthen cooperation with mainland publishers to explore a wider market.

Chen Ben-yuan, president of the Taiwan Publisher's Association, noted another way for mainlanders to have access to books from Taiwan is to buy imported copies.

But the high price of the imported books often dampened the sales, and thus tariff reduction is necessary to enhance the book trade, Chen said.

Chen also hoped authorities on both sides would work on streamlining procedures in examining publications from Taiwan, given the demand for original Taiwan books is growing and the book trade plays an important role in the cross-Straits cultural and creative industries exchange.

Nearly 285 publishing firms from Taiwan showcased more than 30,000 books at this year's fair, which will last until Monday.

The fair, focusing on the book trade and boosting industry collaboration, has been held annually since 2005, with Xiamen and Taipei taking turns as host cities.