On January 9, 2024, CITIC Publishing Group held the "Shaping and Building: CITIC Publishing 2024 Partner Conference" at the CITIC Tower to report the results of the joint cooperation in the past year and share their understanding and initiatives for the future of publishing. This is also the first time since 2020 that CITIC Publishing has held a partner conference.
I would like to pay tribute to the 2023 Contributors of CITIC Publishing: Charlie Munger and Henry Kissinger, and present important awards such as Author of the Year and Partner of the Year.
At the same time, the conference invited Cai Lei, the representative of the 2023 authors, the former vice president of JD.com, and his wife, and Duan Rui, the founder of Icebreaker Station, to come to the scene and give a keynote speech; At the same time, Li Yongle, the author of CITIC Publishing's 2024 new book and a science popularizer and middle school physics teacher, Geng Huajun, the founder of the Planetary Research Institute, the creator of the "This is China Series" and "What is Chongqing", and Wu Xiaobo, a well-known financial author and author of "The Biography of Moutai", were invited to share their observations and thoughts on education, the narrative of the times and the current business.
2024 adheres to perseverance and innovation, and believes in the future of the industry.
At the meeting, Chen Wei, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of CITIC Publishing Group, shared CITIC Publishing's thoughts and responses on how publishers understand the mission of the new era and new culture, how to understand the changes in the current publishing industry, and the 2024 party of CITIC Publishing with the theme of "Believing in the Future of the Industry: Our Persistence and Innovation".
How to understand the cultural mission of the new era?
Chen Wei pointed out that it is necessary to start from the subjectivity of Chinese culture to develop and innovate, and he believes that the cultural mission of the mass publishing industry in the new era should focus on two dimensions: telling "Chinese stories" well, using high-quality works to keep readers alive and thoughtful, getting wisdom and inspiration, and nourishing the spirit of Haoran.
In the Wuka era, how should the publishing industry respond to the current changes? Chen Wei shared the cognition and practices of CITIC Publishing: "Content Innovation", "Digital Intelligence Empowerment", and "Channel Co-creation".
When it comes to content innovation, Chen Wei believes that publishing should return to the essence of content.
In 2023, CITIC Publishing will continue to increase its support for content innovation and copyright operation, continuously improve its content planning, marketing and distribution capabilities, and continue to strengthen its publishing efforts in various segments, keep pace with the times, and continue to increase attention and investment in areas of public concern such as popular science, children's reading, literature, and psychological inspiration, so as to help technological innovation and economic restoration, and continue to soothe the hearts of readers.
In 2023, CITIC Publishing outperformed the market and maintained its leading position in the market, with a market share of more than 3% in the book market throughout the year, ranking first in the market among independent publishing houses.
In the traditional segments, CITIC Publishing continued to lead the market in the categories of economics and management, psychological self-help and biography, with children ranking second in the market and art rising to third in the market throughout the year.
In response to the rise of artificial intelligence technology in 2023, Chen Wei believes that the publishing industry should use digital intelligence to help the industry reduce costs and increase efficiency.
He shared that in 2023, CITIC Publishing will assist in the publication of the science fiction series "Blood and Rust" through the AIGC digital intelligence publishing platform, which will be officially released and receive a lot of attention from the outside world. In addition, through the self-developed "Kuafu" AI intelligent application system, it helps the integration and dynamic management of book resources; Realize one-click generation and distribution of marketing materials, and truly achieve intelligent marketing.
In terms of channel co-creation, in the face of channel reform, Chen Wei introduced the main measures of CITIC Publishing: taking marketing as the starting point to leverage content production, building a new first-class communication matrix and a full-scale marketing system; Pay attention to market segments, continuously improve the operation ability of vertical channels, and further leverage the incremental market development of vertical production lines.
For example, for Generation Z and the two-dimensional crowd, we have cooperated with professional channels to continue to complete the promotion of key works such as "Goodbye Painted Pear", "Three Hundred Years of Not Seeing the Immortals" and "The Blessing of Heavenly Officials".
At the same time, CITIC Publishing takes key IP as the entry point to tackle the win-win ecology of channels. In the summer of 2023, the animated film "Thirty Thousand Miles of Chang'an" will be screened, and CITIC Publishing will release derivative products such as "Selected Poems of Chang'an" at the same time, achieving very bright market performance.
Regarding CITIC Publishing's 2024 Fang **, Chen Wei will focus on explaining for everyone. He started by deconstructing the 2024 CITIC Publishing's annual keyword "Shaping and Construction". Throughout the ages, the publishing industry, as a medium and transmitter of knowledge and ideas, has promoted the dissemination and popularization of humanistic knowledge, opened up people's wisdom, laid the foundation for the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution, and truly shaped and influenced society.
In 2024, CITIC Publishing will advocate the "new mainstream", highlight the "new strength", pay attention to the "new state", embrace the "new technology", cultivate the "new kinetic energy", and serve the "new readers", and looks forward to working with all colleagues, partners, authors, readers and friends in the publishing industry to create a new future.
Fang Xi, Executive Editor-in-Chief of CITIC Publishing Group, Zhang Zhao, General Manager of CITIC Publishing Group Children's Group, and Shen Jiale, General Manager of Book Distribution Group of CITIC Publishing Group, also shared their industry observations and insights from different perspectives and dimensions.
With the title of "Hardcore Talent - Several Judgments on the Key Areas of Popular Books", Fang Xi focused on the future topic selection and planning direction of CITIC Publishing in the field of popular publishing, and will be heavily equipped in the four fields of business and finance, literature, science and history.
She believes that the representativeness of the current bestsellers and the influence and pulling ability of the overall ** are constantly weakening. The traditional bestseller mentality is no longer able to adapt to the current situation.
In terms of content planning, publishing houses should pay more attention to the system, scale, and economic value, and develop a compatible and friendly ecosystem, so that books that can be published but not produced can be published; Books that cannot enhance the core competitiveness will be reduced in quantity.
Zhang Zhao took "reshaping children's book publishing" as the core, and revealed how CITIC Children's Books can be among the forefront of the industry in a short period of time, and summarized the six key words of the new momentum of CITIC children's book consumption in 2023: the power of beauty, emotional identity, content innovation, two-way interaction, rational consumption, and cultural confidence.
He also introduced the two things that CITIC Children's Books should insist on doing well in 2024: systematically building original and high-quality content, and providing users with overall reading solutions.
From the perspective of book distribution, Shen Jiale explained how CITIC Publishing can achieve the transformation from simple selling logic to effective delivery of book value through the publisher's new book marketing management support strategy superimposed by publishers on the publisher's new book marketing management support strategy, and shared specific practices
By helping publishing production – timely delivery of data, demand, market trends and other information to the production process; Customized channel strategies for different categories and IPs - marketing first, adjusting product plans in the process of publicity and distribution, comprehensive pre-sale, sales and production methods, etc.; Customized strategy - penetrate and make the core consumers who are willing to pay for the product; Complete communication plan - content, value, product production and communication channel design.
At the same time, she also said that the implementation of the reform of the publisher system is to change the original concept of a library of books in the publishing industry, and return to really care about each product, each reader's needs, since the new era of user needs are thousands of people, then the distribution process of CITIC Publishing should also be thousands of books, and I hope that such a change can give more support to partners.
CITIC Publishing pays tribute to the author in 2023.
Book of the Year, Partner of the Year, etc.
Grandly revealed. Standing in the face of drastic changes, CITIC Publishing has always believed that knowledge and meaning transcend time, and no matter how the cycle fluctuates, the essence of publishing is unshakable to disseminate knowledge, convey meaning, and inherit culture.
Based on this, the conference solemnly released the 2023 tribute authors of CITIC Publishing, they are Charlie Munger, "He used his legend of wealth to successfully pass through one economic cycle after another, and deduced such a simple and unchanging truth - knowledge and wisdom are the only magic weapons to achieve life." ”；Henry Kissinger, "a man who has reached rare heights in both the world of human intelligence and the world of power, is also an important representative of the scholar-turned-statesman".
The conference also released CITIC Publishing's 2023 Best Books, Authors of the Year, and Partners of the Year.
It is hoped that through each book and the issues behind it, readers can enter into a thoughtful intellectual life, care about labor, care about happiness, care about human dignity and the ability to think freely, and care about human beings themselves.
Cai Lei, Li Yongle, Geng Huajun, Wu Xiaobo.
Four celebrities gathered to talk about the future of publishing.
At the same time, Cai Lei, the author representative of CITIC Publishing in 2023, and his wife, Li Yongle, Geng Huajun and Wu Xiaobo, three representatives of the 2024 new book writers, were invited to share their own stories and readings, and share their observations and thoughts on beliefs, education, the narrative of the times and the current business.
Cai Lei: The power of believing.
Cai Lei, ALS fighter, former vice president of JD.com, and author of "Believe", as the author representative of CITIC Publishing in 2023, reviewed the origin and touching story of the publication of the book "Believe".
Since last year, my body has plummeted, and my ability to speak has become worse and worse. I think that there are still 100,000 ALS patients in China, everyone is facing despair, and there are even patients who want to give up their lives, and there are still 30 million patients with rare diseases in China, about 95% of whom have no cure, and many of them have given up hope after coming out of the hospital, I don't think it should be like this. So how can I make some more efforts, and how can I give some strength and inspiration to these tens of millions of patients?
In addition, China's economy has also faced transformation in recent years, including the rapid development of real estate, Internet, finance and other industries that I have been engaged in recent years, many people are very confused and feel hopeless, and I also want to give them some inspiration. Now there is a person who is no worse than you who is more difficult than you, but who has done something promising and shocking through hard work, then many people may be relieved and full of hope and strength. ”
Talking about the book "Believe" as the top of the annual new book list, Cai Lei said that the income from the book's remuneration will be used for scientific research and life treatment of ALS. But the book brings more than just economic value, it conveys spirit and shares strength to more people.
Mrs. Cai Lei and Duan Rui, the founder of Icebreaker Station, also shared their insights since the creation and publication of "Believe" - through the book "Believe", there is an opportunity to become a person in the book and be recognized by everyone. Now it is increasingly discovered that books are actually better than any other medium to convey warmth and affection.
Readers feel that they get warmth and help from the book, but Cai Lei and I actually get all kinds of warmth gathered from all over the world, thank you very much. Compared with various forms of ** and stage, books are a quieter and more sincere carrier.
Reading gives us the opportunity to travel through time and space, through the laws of physics, through the constraints on the human body, and to be very, very close to someone we don't know. Hope books are one of the most vibrant and dynamic ways of dissemination.
Li Yongle: In the future of learning, we should do a good job in the addition of science education in the "double subtraction".
Li Yongle, a science popularizer and middle school physics teacher, also told the story of himself and reading.
He believes that reading is an important means for children to acquire knowledge, understand the world, and shape themselves. As we all know, it is important to provide children with high-quality popular science books, so I hope that the books I make for children can be forward-looking, tasteful and full of intellectual interest.
Through discussing children's education issues with students' parents in his daily school teaching work, he found that everyone focuses on studying exam skills and problem-solving ideas, so that they may be able to get good results for a short time, but because they cannot understand the true meaning of learning knowledge, and lack long-term learning motivation, students are also easy to feel frustrated in learning.
Interest is the best teacher, only let students find that scientific knowledge is interesting, useful, and related to reality, so that they will not feel bored in the learning process, will take the initiative to solve the difficulties encountered in the learning process, and can draw inferences from one another.
How can more students find interest and motivation to learn?
Li Yongle believes that the best way is to read, and revealed that he will publish a set of books that combine textbook knowledge and the real world - tentatively titled "Teacher Li Yongle Talks about the Great Power and Heavy Weapons", so that students can build a "sense of meaning" in learning through reading. He said that the future of education is changing, and the concept of learning as an exam, a certificate, a university entrance examination, and a good job will not cultivate talents who can adapt to the future society.
And use Hawking's words to encourage everyone: remember to look up at the starry sky, don't look down at your feet. No matter how hard life may be, keep your curiosity open. You will always find your own path and your own success.
Geng Huajun: From a geographical perspective, tell China's story to the world.
Geng Huajun, the founder of the Planetary Research Institute, the creator of the "This is China" series and the creator of "What is Chongqing", published his observations and thoughts on the narrative of the times and shared stories related to books with the title of "Telling Chinese Stories to the World from a Geographical Perspective".
Geng Huajun said that China's geography is seriously underestimated, and many of the things in the "This is China" series are the little-known research results of Chinese scientists in recent years, which have been warmly welcomed by the public. In the process, they discovered that they should use a geographical perspective to tell China's story to the world.
How to tell Chinese stories from a geographical perspective?
Geng Huajun said frankly that the first thing to look at is China's diversity, for example, China is the country with the most glaciers in the middle and low latitudes in the world, and it is also the country with the largest number of mammal species in the world, and so on.
But at the same time, we also have to look at the scientific causes behind it, for example, the opening chapter of "This is China" mentions a large collision 65 million years ago, which can be simply understood as the impact of the Indian plate to the north, this event has a great impact on China, but there are many other reasons that make China the country with the highest geomorphological richness.
From a geographical perspective, you can also see the philosophy of life. He explained with a related article in Jiuzhaigou ** in "This is China". "Jiuzhaigou ** is destruction in our eyes, but it also creates beauty, and it is another creation in nature. ”
Geng Huajun made a forward-looking disclosure of the main contents of "This is China 3", which has been in preparation for three years and will be launched as scheduled in 2024, and hopes that one day, the Planetary Research Institute will be able to see all the mountains, rivers and cities in China with everyone.
Wu Xiaobo: "Stupid kung fu" between fast and slow
Wu Xiaobo, a well-known financial author, has been researching various enterprises for many years, has a keen insight into business changes, and has a huge social influence in the field of financial writing.
At the scene, Wu Xiaobo told everyone the creation story of his new work "The Legend of Moutai" at the beginning of 2024. He admitted that Moutai Group is completely different from the companies he paid attention to in the past, and it is a particularly slow enterprise, which makes him very curious and finally decided to write this book.
Can Moutai be learned?
Wu Xiaobo said that after writing "The Biography of Moutai", he found that it was possible, and he summarized the six methods and twelve styles of Moutai and presented them in the booklet.
He also said that the development of enterprises around the world can be roughly divided into two categories: one is driven by technological change, and the other is driven by aesthetics and culture. Moutai turns the meaning of culture into a product, into a product with a high price-earnings ratio, and this is what it teaches us.
At the same time, he believes that "there are still many possibilities for making another Moutai".
In a sense, the era of fast is over, and the era of slow is returned, and if the combination of fast and slow is good, this is called rhythm. Moutai has become a company with a market value of more than 2 trillion yuan from a small burning house in southwest China, which is a good story of enterprise growth, and I hope it can inspire and help young people and people who are interested in business in China today. ”
It is with the strong support of authors and channel partners that the industry can continue to move forward.
From January 11th to 13th, the 2024 Beijing Book Fair will be grandly opened at the China International Exhibition Center (Chaoyang Pavilion), and CITIC Publishing will have a booth in Hall A of Hall 1, looking forward to exchanging ideas and recommendations with industry partners and readers.