Is there a market for literature these days?

[Chinese Concept]

We are Mark Amy (British) and Fan Gao (Chinese), a two man translation team based in China.

We recently received an offer to translate some short stories by an author. Though we like literature very much, we cannot see any market of these short stories in China. So we had to decline.

We are not that market-oriented and we have started a bilingual poetry magazine. But we are doing business, so we'd like to hear your ideas.

What market do you see in literature, especially in the translation of literature?

Thanking you in advance!

Mark and Fan

[mir]

i'm not chinese, so i probably can't give very good views on this. but i do have some chinese friends who love literature very much, and who i think would miss many of the good authors they have found in America and would not have been able to find in China. so yeah, i think there might be a market for it . . .

[SleepyWitch]

hum, I'm not Chinese either, so I dunno about the market in China either...
but if you ever get a chance to translate Chinese stories into English/ another European language don't miss the opportunity. I think these days people over here are really into foreign authors...

[beer good]

I live in a country where most people speak English, yet there is still a huge market for translated English-language literature, so I wouldn't be surprised if the same held true in China - after all, even a tiny market share in China would surely mean as many readers as a big market share in most other countries?

[EAP]

Depends on your location and the type of literature up for translation. The popularity of western culture means chick-lit/romance can be pretty profitable, if marketed effectively, in the 15-40 female demographic. Fantasy/sci-fi should also do fairly well - mainstream probably not as much, unless it's an exceptional bestseller. (Crime/Political thriller might have to contend with government censorship)