Publishing and innovation : disruption in the Chinese ebook industry

Is digital publishing leading to a paradigm shift or only replicating the print publishing systems in digital garb? This appears to be a key concern of the Chinese publishing industry in the internet age. In the age of e-books, dynamics such as self-publishing, digital distribution, and the internet economy have the potential to challenge the established business models, regulations, and publishing culture through disruptive innovation ranging from disintermediating and reintermediating publishing communication, to empowering authors and readers in connected and distributed ways, and monetising content resources in new channels. While digital publishing has tremendous disruptive potential, there is still uncertainty about the transformation and evolution of publishing in China, as it is deeply influenced by the special Chinese contexts. Just some of the characteristics include: strong government control, the monopoly of state-owned publishers, the prevalence of print reading habits, and a traditional book culture as opposed to the open, connected, and distributed internet culture. In this chapter, I will review disruptive innovation in the e-book industry and the cultural impact of the e-book in both the production and consumption sides of publishing in China. I will explore the complex interplay between disruptive innovation and contextual factors through examining three case studies in the e-book field: Qidian (Qidian Zhongwen wang 起点中文网), the literary self-publishing site; China Mobile Reading Base (Zhongguo yidong yuedu jidi 中国移动阅读基地), the e-book distributor for mobile phone reading; and Duokan (Duokan yuedu 多看阅读), an e-book start-up powered by user-oriented and user-driven innovation. They are conducting e-book business differently from traditional publishers as well as many other e-book vendors. These disruptive initiatives could be viewed as a snapshot of the digital transformations occurring in the Chinese publishing system. Analysing their practices and challenges sheds light on our understanding of the complexity of digital innovation in China’s publishing world.