|
Books
Chinese authors ranked by income, sort ofPosted by Joel Martinsen on Monday, December 18, 2006 at 10:00 PM
China Business Post released a list last week ranking China's authors by income. From the start it was a coarse measurement — number of books in print over the last decade multiplied by the list price, and then adjusted for a standard 10% royalty. The report then notes that 10% is just an average value used purely for convenience; royalties typically range from 8% to 12%. And print runs were taken from the books' copyright pages, which often give a rather broad range, or from the publishers themselves, who have been known to manipulate numbers. And income from other sources — sale of film rights, appearance fees, endorsements — don't come into play at all. So it's not a particularly useful or meaningful list, but since we like lists here at Danwei, we might as well run it. The list (with a recent or representative work and income in yuan):
Some observations: · Jiang Rong (#10) makes the list entirely because of the sales of a single novel, Wolf Totem. Reactions? Su Tong called the numbers as fictional as his novels, Guo Jingming said that his royalties are sent to his mother so he doesn't have any clue how much he makes, while Han Han felt the numbers were generally correct. In a blog post, author Zheng Yuanjie considers these values as bribes accepted by these authors, and imagines possible punishments — he sentences Yu Qiuyu to death, Eryuehe, Han Han, and Su Tong are given stays of execution, Guo Jingming is given a life sentence, and everyone else gets between 3 and 20 years in prison (except for Wang Meng, who is let out for health reasons). The CBP report itself tried to connect the list to a debate about income disparity among writers that arose after writer Hong Feng went begging on the street in protest, but nostalgia for the days of the 1980s when everyone got the same royalties isn't likely to catch on much. Like the end-of-year best-of rankings everyone's releasing nowadays, the report seems designed just to stir up debate. Links and Sources
|
Partner Links
Jobs in China
Recent Comments
Henry on
The Eurasian Face
Caroline W on
Big in China
Michael on
Julia Lovell on translating Lu Xun's complete fiction: "His is an angry, searing vision of China"
Brandon K. on
Clueless academic takes on popular fantasy novels
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
The latest recommended blogs and new media
From 2008
Books on China
The Eurasian Face : Blacksmith Books, a publishing house in Hong Kong, is behind The Eurasian Face, a collection of photographs by Kirsteen Zimmern. Below is an excerpt from the series:
Big in China: An adapted excerpt from Big In China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising A Family, Playing The Blues and Becoming A Star in China, just published this month. Author Alan Paul tells the story of arriving in Beijing as a trailing spouse, starting a blues band, raising kids and trying to make sense of China.
Pallavi Aiyar's Chinese Whiskers: Pallavi Aiyar's first novel, Chinese Whiskers, a modern fable set in contemporary Beijing, will be published in January 2011. Aiyar currently lives in Brussels where she writes about Europe for the Business Standard. Below she gives permissions for an excerpt.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Korean history doesn't fly on Chinese TV screens (2007.09): SARFT puts the kibbosh on Korean historical dramas. + Religion and government in an uneasy mix (2008.03): Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊) article from October, 2007, on government influence on religious practice in Tibet. + David Moser on Mao impersonators (2004.10): I first became aware of this phenomenon in 1992 when I turned on a Beijing TV variety show and was jolted by the sight of "Mao Zedong" and "Zhou Enlai" playing a game of ping pong. They both gave short, rousing speeches, and then were reverently interviewed by the emcee, who thanked them profusely for taking time off from their governmental duties to appear on the show.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky
or Feedburner |





