Writer Sanctum
Writer's Haven => Marketing Loft [Public] => Topic started by: Maggie Ann on October 24, 2019, 02:44:17 AM
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I received an email from EGlobal Creative Publishing, the U.S. division of Jianlai Global, based in New York State (not NYC) and China. They are interested (maybe) in serializing my romance novels. It appears to be a subscription service and subscribers have to pay chapter by chapter.
The first red flag for me is China, knowing how casual they are about copyrights but other than that, I've never heard of these people. Anyone know anything about them?
This is their website. Looks like they started out translating manga and YA books from Chinese into English and they appear to be expanding into English romance novels.
https://www.jianlaiglobal.com/about-us
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I received an email from EGlobal Creative Publishing, the U.S. division of Jianlai Global, based in New York State (not NYC) and China. They are interested (maybe) in serializing my romance novels. It appears to be a subscription service and subscribers have to pay chapter by chapter.
The first red flag for me is China, knowing how casual they are about copyrights but other than that, I've never heard of these people. Anyone know anything about them?
This is their website. Looks like they started out translating manga and YA books from Chinese into English and they appear to be expanding into English romance novels.
https://www.jianlaiglobal.com/about-us
I don't know anything about them, but serialized subscriptions services is really BIG in China, much more than eBooks are.
So I'd take this seriously, and it is worth doing some research over. But caution is also the key word.
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I popped over to the dark side to see if anyone else got the same email. Yes, starting apparently in May.
Looks like David Van Dyke and one other person (author name unknown) signed with them.
If your book sells, they will translate into Chinese and the author holds all the rights.
Waiting to hear from David.
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Interesting. Thanks to the ads I get on my time-waster app games, I recently became aware of a host of serialized story apps (games?), such as "Chapters". I tried it out, and it claims to have stories written by actual romance authors. As it's not my genre, I don't know who these authors are, but it seemed to be a potentially lucrative market. (Not sure for whom, though... the app maker is my bet.)
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I never ended up signing. Just inertia, I guess--no major concerns. It would have taken revising their standard contract, though the contact said they were open to revision.
I've never heard of anyone making it big in English with them. There's no guarantee of them translating into Chinese, which would be the real moneymaker I think. It's a chicken and egg situation--the implication is that if you do well in English to a Chinese audience, they might put the effort into translating your books. But that's definitely apples and oranges...
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I never ended up signing. Just inertia, I guess--no major concerns. It would have taken revising their standard contract, though the contact said they were open to revision.
I've never heard of anyone making it big in English with them. There's no guarantee of them translating into Chinese, which would be the real moneymaker I think. It's a chicken and egg situation--the implication is that if you do well in English to a Chinese audience, they might put the effort into translating your books. But that's definitely apples and oranges...
Thanks, David. I think this might be worth exploring.
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I hope it's okay Maggie, if I go off topic a little bit. It seems like the most popular languages to translate into from English are Spanish, French, German and Italian (not in order). What do people in China read? There is a billion people there. Two major dialects. It seems like an untapped market but no one seems willing to start the ball rolling. Do any of the trades translate into the Chinese languages? It used to be a thing (may still be) to say "translated into over 50 languages". Is it just way harder to translate into the character driven languages or is the assumption people there aren't interested in the stories, because they are too different, or something else?
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I hope it's okay Maggie, if I go off topic a little bit. It seems like the most popular languages to translate into from English are Spanish, French, German and Italian (not in order). What do people in China read? There is a billion people there. Two major dialects. It seems like an untapped market but no one seems willing to start the ball rolling. Do any of the trades translate into the Chinese languages? It used to be a thing (may still be) to say "translated into over 50 languages". Is it just way harder to translate into the character driven languages or is the assumption people there aren't interested in the stories, because they are too different, or something else?
The problem with China is little or no copyright laws. I think one or two people here went through a Chinese company to have their work translated, but I can't remember who. One of the other posters in the KB thread did get changes made to the contract, but she only posted a couple of times on the forum and I have no idea what her author name is. I think the changes she had made in her contract are a good place to start.
I was contacted by another Chinese agency years ago but nothing ever came of it. They kept me on their contact list because for quite a while after, they'd invite me to conferences and that sort of thing. They'd have probably dropped their teeth if I showed up.
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The other red flag for me is that I'm not a big seller, so why are they interested in me? I'm sure I'm one of many and maybe targeting prawns, they think they'll get more response.
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I didn't know about the copyright law issue so thank you for that.
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eGlobal tossed its hook into my little puddle. My book is coming-of-age fantasy with pacing like an adult novel. Not exactly written to market! I'm not going to pursue it at this time because it's not likely to overreach the other high-priority tasks any time soon.
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My books are being translated into Chinese and published in China through this company: https://fiberead.com/
I haven't had any problems with them - I have communicated with the translators and received royalties several times. Having said that, they are extremely slow. It has taken a year or longer for some books to make it through the translation process and then it also takes a while for the translated books to appear in Amazon China and other online bookstores over there.
I hesitate to 'recommend' them, but only because whenever I do, either on an author website or Facebook group, I get attacked for daring to assert that it's okay to trust a Chinese company with manuscripts and it's okay to publish in China. I have seriously been accused of 'promoting piracy'. This is all from authors whose books are being published by Amazon in India.
Anyway, if you're considering publishing in China, Fiberead exists.
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eGlobal tossed its hook into my little puddle. My book is coming-of-age fantasy with pacing like an adult novel. Not exactly written to market! I'm not going to pursue it at this time because it's not likely to overreach the other high-priority tasks any time soon.
I haven't gotten a round tuit either. Probably will at some point.
My books are being translated into Chinese and published in China through this company: https://fiberead.com/
I haven't had any problems with them - I have communicated with the translators and received royalties several times. Having said that, they are extremely slow. It has taken a year or longer for some books to make it through the translation process and then it also takes a while for the translated books to appear in Amazon China and other online bookstores over there.
I hesitate to 'recommend' them, but only because whenever I do, either on an author website or Facebook group, I get attacked for daring to assert that it's okay to trust a Chinese company with manuscripts and it's okay to publish in China. I have seriously been accused of 'promoting piracy'. This is all from authors whose books are being published by Amazon in India.
Anyway, if you're considering publishing in China, Fiberead exists.
Thanks. I was trying to remember the name of that company. Yes, there are no copyright laws in China, but I'm sure they can easily pirate my book without my sending it to them.
At least without going through that long translation process you're going through with them, there might be a chance of getting some reads through the other company. Nothing to lose.
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I hesitate to 'recommend' them, but only because whenever I do, either on an author website or Facebook group, I get attacked for daring to assert that it's okay to trust a Chinese company with manuscripts and it's okay to publish in China. I have seriously been accused of 'promoting piracy'. This is all from authors whose books are being published by Amazon in India.
I understand people having concerns about publishing in China, and even being upset with those doing business there, but I don't see how not publishing in China would help Hong Kong. On the contrary, sharing books across borders seems to be a positive step towards bringing people together long term.
I wish writers would stop attacking each other in FB groups.
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I hesitate to 'recommend' them, but only because whenever I do, either on an author website or Facebook group, I get attacked for daring to assert that it's okay to trust a Chinese company with manuscripts and it's okay to publish in China. I have seriously been accused of 'promoting piracy'. This is all from authors whose books are being published by Amazon in India.
I understand people having concerns about publishing in China, and even being upset with those doing business there, but I don't see how not publishing in China would help Hong Kong. On the contrary, sharing books across borders seems to be a positive step towards bringing people together long term.
I wish writers would stop attacking each other in FB groups.
Yeah, it's okay to disagree with someone's opinion. It's not okay to make personal attacks. This is one of the things that is gradually turning me off on social media.
Publishing in certain countries is a risk because of differing attitudes toward copyright. Authors need to be aware that, in the event of infringement, there probably isn't any legal recourse. On the other hand, a company that genuinely wants to do business with American authors has an interest in protecting the works of those authors from piracy. Some American things are very popular there, so I could imagine an audience for American novels (though they'd do better in Chinese translation, for sure).
Groups that want American participation (for whatever reason) can be somewhat responsive. I have an odd, non-publishing example from some years ago. The school where I was teaching at the time time was one of those invited to send a group to some event involving singing groups from various countries. We had received assurances that the event was strictly non-political. However, someone connected with our group translated one of the songs they were learning from Chinese to English and discovered that the lyrics included, "We love the red star, the red star of Communism." (I think it lost something in translation.) Anyway, the school board president called her Chinese contact and said our group would withdraw because the non-political pledge was not being observed. The next day the Chinese announced that that particular song would not be included in the program because it was too difficult to learn. :hehe In other words, whoever was organizing the event tried to pull a fast one but valued our participation enough to back down when the truth came out. How much more would a publisher with potentially lucrative American business want to avoid losing it all?
The Chinese government shows little respect for copyrights or patents, and it does favor its own businesses even more than many other countries favor their own. However, there is some consciousness that doing business with other countries may require a little give-and-take.
None of us is anything close to a guarantee that material won't be pirated, of course. But I can see why someone might want to take the gamble.
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I was concerned about this translation issue also. I'd have to factor in the cost of hiring someone to check any translation a Chinese publisher/distributor did.
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I've been very busy writing and editing a new four book series and haven't had much time to look into this. I did reply to Rebecca Regan's email and she sent me a link to one of their books so I could see how it worked. She also sent me a link to a blog post from one of their authors.
First red flag came from the book they chose for me to look at. There is no ebook on Amazon, only on Wattpad. There is a print book on Zon but it's ranked at 7M. Also there was a comment under the book that really raised my eyebrows.
"i'm so lazy😂😂😂 tho i do like to read novel from time to time. I want Points Points. I already have 2355 points but no coins😂😂. I don't have money"
If this book is the best they can do, I'll have little or no competition on their site. I did look at the "episodes" for the book and each has several hundred thumbs up, so it could have been read that many times.
Second red flag was the fact that the author who wrote the blog post could not provide any figures. She wrote the post in June but as of 11/3 was still waiting for her first quarterly report. At least this author has several books published on Amazon.
She also said that the company was just starting out. It sounds like they are very much in need of content.
I wrote back tonight and will hopefully have some answers tomorrow.
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Got a reply this morning.
The coins are used internally, sort of like Amazon's coins for games. The difference is they earn points and coins for reading and can only apply them to new chapters. It seems legitimate.
I got a copy of the contract and I'm going to have a lawyer look it over. It's 17 pages long and beyond my paralegal experience.
So, maybe in six months, I'll be back here to report some figures. :angel:
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I just got the same email.
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I just got the same email.
Are you going to look into it?
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Fiberead.com apparently sells its books through Amazon.
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True, but this is an entirely different kind of distribution. The English language books are serialized and readers subscribe, paying for one chapter at a time. If they get enough sales, the book will be translated into Chinese.
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This is probably a stupid question, but how do you pronounce "Fiberead"?
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This is probably a stupid question, but how do you pronounce "Fiberead"?
I don't know if I'm right, but I pronounce it as if it were two words. fiber read
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This is probably a stupid question, but how do you pronounce "Fiberead"?
I don't know if I'm right, but I pronounce it as if it were two words. fiber read
That's how I've been saying, too, but it feels weird. :icon_think:
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This is probably a stupid question, but how do you pronounce "Fiberead"?
I don't know if I'm right, but I pronounce it as if it were two words. fiber read
That's how I've been saying, too, but it feels weird. :icon_think:
That's because it's a weird name for a translation service.
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I just got the same email.
Are you going to look into it?
No. I haven't found anything that points to a scam, but it's not the kind of thing I'm interested in doing. I found a lot of posts on Kboards and Reddit from people who received the same email - they seem to be blanket cold mailing thousands and thousands of people. Maybe unfairly, that puts me off as it seems their only criteria for contacting me is that I'm a writer with books on Amazon, and not (as it suggests in the email) that my writing "would be a good fit for their model". The kboards thread https://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=311975.0 (https://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=311975.0) has some useful information (and a lot of speculation) about them.
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At least they didn't say the work 'resonates' with them.
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I hesitate to 'recommend' them, but only because whenever I do, either on an author website or Facebook group, I get attacked for daring to assert that it's okay to trust a Chinese company with manuscripts and it's okay to publish in China. I have seriously been accused of 'promoting piracy'. This is all from authors whose books are being published by Amazon in India.
I understand people having concerns about publishing in China, and even being upset with those doing business there, but I don't see how not publishing in China would help Hong Kong. On the contrary, sharing books across borders seems to be a positive step towards bringing people together long term.
I wish writers would stop attacking each other in FB groups.
Yeah, it's okay to disagree with someone's opinion. It's not okay to make personal attacks. This is one of the things that is gradually turning me off on social media.
Publishing in certain countries is a risk because of differing attitudes toward copyright. Authors need to be aware that, in the event of infringement, there probably isn't any legal recourse. On the other hand, a company that genuinely wants to do business with American authors has an interest in protecting the works of those authors from piracy. Some American things are very popular there, so I could imagine an audience for American novels (though they'd do better in Chinese translation, for sure).
Groups that want American participation (for whatever reason) can be somewhat responsive. I have an odd, non-publishing example from some years ago. The school where I was teaching at the time time was one of those invited to send a group to some event involving singing groups from various countries. We had received assurances that the event was strictly non-political. However, someone connected with our group translated one of the songs they were learning from Chinese to English and discovered that the lyrics included, "We love the red star, the red star of Communism." (I think it lost something in translation.) Anyway, the school board president called her Chinese contact and said our group would withdraw because the non-political pledge was not being observed. The next day the Chinese announced that that particular song would not be included in the program because it was too difficult to learn. :hehe In other words, whoever was organizing the event tried to pull a fast one but valued our participation enough to back down when the truth came out. How much more would a publisher with potentially lucrative American business want to avoid losing it all?
The Chinese government shows little respect for copyrights or patents, and it does favor its own businesses even more than many other countries favor their own. However, there is some consciousness that doing business with other countries may require a little give-and-take.
None of us is anything close to a guarantee that material won't be pirated, of course. But I can see why someone might want to take the gamble.
Um, I'm actually British. :)
But aside from that, anyone who's worried about their books being pirated should not publish. Books published anywhere in the world can be pirated (and are, if the author is famous enough). The problem is by no means endemic to China.
My stance is, I don't mind. I like it when people read my books, and Neil Gaiman has commented that when his books were pirated in Russia his legitimate sales went up. So I have no qualms about publishing in China, though of course it's a decision all authors must make for themselves.
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Fiberead.com apparently sells its books through Amazon.
They sell books through Amazon (China), Amazon Kindle (USA - Chinese language of course), DuoKan, NetEase, Baidu, JingDong, Pubu and Tencent. Maybe others, but those are the stores where my books are listed.
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I hesitate to 'recommend' them, but only because whenever I do, either on an author website or Facebook group, I get attacked for daring to assert that it's okay to trust a Chinese company with manuscripts and it's okay to publish in China. I have seriously been accused of 'promoting piracy'. This is all from authors whose books are being published by Amazon in India.
I understand people having concerns about publishing in China, and even being upset with those doing business there, but I don't see how not publishing in China would help Hong Kong. On the contrary, sharing books across borders seems to be a positive step towards bringing people together long term.
I wish writers would stop attacking each other in FB groups.
Yeah, it's okay to disagree with someone's opinion. It's not okay to make personal attacks. This is one of the things that is gradually turning me off on social media.
Publishing in certain countries is a risk because of differing attitudes toward copyright. Authors need to be aware that, in the event of infringement, there probably isn't any legal recourse. On the other hand, a company that genuinely wants to do business with American authors has an interest in protecting the works of those authors from piracy. Some American things are very popular there, so I could imagine an audience for American novels (though they'd do better in Chinese translation, for sure).
Groups that want American participation (for whatever reason) can be somewhat responsive. I have an odd, non-publishing example from some years ago. The school where I was teaching at the time time was one of those invited to send a group to some event involving singing groups from various countries. We had received assurances that the event was strictly non-political. However, someone connected with our group translated one of the songs they were learning from Chinese to English and discovered that the lyrics included, "We love the red star, the red star of Communism." (I think it lost something in translation.) Anyway, the school board president called her Chinese contact and said our group would withdraw because the non-political pledge was not being observed. The next day the Chinese announced that that particular song would not be included in the program because it was too difficult to learn. :hehe In other words, whoever was organizing the event tried to pull a fast one but valued our participation enough to back down when the truth came out. How much more would a publisher with potentially lucrative American business want to avoid losing it all?
The Chinese government shows little respect for copyrights or patents, and it does favor its own businesses even more than many other countries favor their own. However, there is some consciousness that doing business with other countries may require a little give-and-take.
None of us is anything close to a guarantee that material won't be pirated, of course. But I can see why someone might want to take the gamble.
Um, I'm actually British. :)
But aside from that, anyone who's worried about their books being pirated should not publish. Books published anywhere in the world can be pirated (and are, if the author is famous enough). The problem is by no means endemic to China.
My stance is, I don't mind. I like it when people read my books, and Neil Gaiman has commented that when his books were pirated in Russia his legitimate sales went up. So I have no qualms about publishing in China, though of course it's a decision all authors must make for themselves.
British material also seems to be much sought-after in China. I remember reading an article about Harry Potter "universe piracy." Someone was creating new Harry Potter books and selling them, apparently with a fair degree of success at first. That someone should go to that much trouble suggests how popular that series is.
I've found some online evidence that China's copyright laws are not that much different from those in other countries but that enforcement still needs work. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/23/ip-plagiarism-is-rampant-in-china-and-media-companies-profit-from-it.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/23/ip-plagiarism-is-rampant-in-china-and-media-companies-profit-from-it.html) and https://iclg.com/practice-areas/copyright-laws-and-regulations/china (https://iclg.com/practice-areas/copyright-laws-and-regulations/china) are examples. The latter includes what looks like an English translation of the Chinese copyright law.
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British material also seems to be much sought-after in China. I remember reading an article about Harry Potter "universe piracy." Someone was creating new Harry Potter books and selling them, apparently with a fair degree of success at first. That someone should go to that much trouble suggests how popular that series is.
I've found some online evidence that China's copyright laws are not that much different from those in other countries but that enforcement still needs work. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/23/ip-plagiarism-is-rampant-in-china-and-media-companies-profit-from-it.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/23/ip-plagiarism-is-rampant-in-china-and-media-companies-profit-from-it.html) and https://iclg.com/practice-areas/copyright-laws-and-regulations/china (https://iclg.com/practice-areas/copyright-laws-and-regulations/china) are examples. The latter includes what looks like an English translation of the Chinese copyright law.
I read that they were sellng books with Harry Potter covers and the interiors were extracts from Lord of the Rings.
I think, like many laws in China, the copyright laws are mostly enforced when someone has something to gain or a grudge to settle, rather than routinely enforced per se. But, like I said, it doesn't bother me too much. I would love to be so successful that my name or the name of one of my series on a cover was enough to sell a book for a petty criminal.