Today (June 1, 2012) I launched my Chinese ebook store “eBook Dynasty”. The online store features three portals — Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese and English. This means all Chinese ebooks promoted and/or published by eBook Dynasty are for all Chinese readers to consume, including those from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Macau and overseas Chinese communities around the world.
Running an online ebook store is no easy task. Apart from the process of creating the content — getting permission from authors, publishers and/or agents to translate and publish their titles as Chinese ebooks in multiple formats — there is also the actual construction and operation of the store.
From securing domain name and ISP to actually constructing a website, from creating what feels like a million little links to actually filling up all those individual web pages, from copying and pasting PayPal buttons to writing book reviews and recommendations — each page has to be done three times, i.e. in three languages. It is such a pain.
Then there is marketing, i.e. building a “platform”. Getting used to various types of social media is an even more daunting task.
But it is worth it. As a hopeless lover of books, I simply enjoy this privilege of being able to introduce good English literary voices to the Chinese world. Particularly for independent authors who do not have prominent publishers and/or agents to proactively promote them, I feel like a bridge, on top of which they can march proudly to the Chinese market.
The era of e-publishing and e-reading is slowly dawning in the Chinese world. The three things that will definitely help developing (and shaping) the Chinese ebook market are content, content and content. Content of quality and diversity is what the Chinese readers are desperately seeking.
The road is long, and I am glad to be already on my way. Thanks to all my friends who have been supporting me all this time. You know who you are, and I can only convey my gratitude by working hard to promote your Chinese ebooks on eBook Dynasty.
That is all I have to say. OK, let’s roll!
Voices under the Sun 陽光下的聲音 