Chinese publishers were called to speed up their pace in adopting international practices in face of the country's imminent accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO).
They will have to survive solely on their competitiveness, said a top official with the Publishers' Association of China.
Chen Weijiang, vice-chairman of the association, together with decision makers from more than 50 domestic big-name publishing houses and Publishing On Line, an American company, attended a forum on the development of China's book industry and the international publishing market Tuesday.
Chinese publishers used to be "comfortable" because of the high demand resulting from the country's large population, Chen said.
"However, this situation will soon change after China enters the WTO," he said, explaining that domestic market will be opened to international publishers which are more advance in terms of marketing and management.
Experts attending the forum suggested Chinese publishers should pay more attention to factors that affect the market, such as consumer preferences.
However, they are all upbeat about the future of Chinese book industry given the fact that almost one-fourth of the world's population speak Chinese and that more and more people in the world want to know about China because of its rapid development.
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