Pop-up books are called Pop-Up Book (Pop-Up means pop-up), which refers to paper books that use various three-dimensional structures and mechanism designs to create three-dimensional or even multi-dimensional space [1]. Since the 19th century, children's pop-up books have become popular in Western European countries, and large publishing companies such as Britain, Germany, and France have established children's pop-up book studios, and the development of children's pop-up books has entered a golden age. After World War II, the cultural center of gravity moved westward as a whole, and the American children's book market occupied the top position of children's pop-up books. With the maturity of children's pop-up book production technology, its interactive design and fun experience have been fully developed, and the main function has shifted from education to entertainment.
China's children's pop-up books started late, and it was not until after China's accession to the WTO that domestic publishing institutions consciously introduced foreign children's pop-up books into China, and children's pop-up books were recognized by domestic readers. In recent years, with the increasingly rich experience in the introduction, OEM and production of foreign children's pop-up books, the types and sales of children's pop-up books in China have made substantial breakthroughs, and a number of brands focusing on children's pop-up books such as "Fun Fun", "Children's Fun" and "Little Mammoth Children's Books" have emerged one after another, creating a new era of children's pop-up book publishing in China.
I. The current situation of the publication of children's pop-up books in China
The development of children's pop-up books in China can be divided into two stages: 2006-2016 is the first decade, when children's pop-up books are in their infancy, and publishing institutions and the mass market are maintaining a wait-and-see state; After 2016, children's pop-up books have developed rapidly, and remarkable results have been achieved in terms of publishing scale, book type, product form and distribution channels.
1. The scale of publishing is increasing year by year, and the market value is revealed
After the early introduction of children's pop-up book publishing practice, the scale of children's pop-up books in China has achieved a uniform growth, showing strong growth potential. Open book data shows that from 2016 to 2020, the number of publishing institutions participating in the development of children's pop-up books in China increased from 209 to 278, whether it is a comprehensive publishing institution, a professional publishing institution, or a private book company, they have increased the planning and product research and development of children's pop-up books, and the competition has become increasingly fierce. At the same time, the proportion of children's pop-up books in the children's book market increased from 2.75% to 3.59%, and the proportion of yards and oceans increased from 5.09% to 11.1%, forming three product lines of original children's pop-up books, imported children's pop-up books, and original children's pop-up books [2].
It is worth noting that the pricing of children's pop-up books is generally higher than the price of other children's new books, and the growth rate of yards and oceans has also reached new highs, reflecting the boom of children's pop-up book publishing. According to the statistics of the children's book sales list from January to March 2022, the top three sets of children's pop-up books are priced at 330 yuan, 275.2 yuan and 488 yuan respectively, of which "Harry Potter Pop-up Books: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" priced at 488 yuan is a single book, while the top three children's picture books are only 58 yuan, 40 yuan, and 318 yuan, which shows the readers' price acceptance of children's pop-up books.
2. Book types bloom and traditional culture heats up
The types of children's pop-up books mainly include popular science cognition and IP adaptation. These two genres have been tested in foreign markets, and publishers have imported them through original editions or localized adaptations to feed readers. Science cognitive children's pop-up books are based on natural science knowledge, from daily life to astronomy and geography, providing a variety of book products to satisfy children's curiosity and thirst for knowledge, such as the children's pop-up book "Our Body" for human body structure, the pop-up book "Earth Pop-up Book" for children in geography, and the children's pop-up book "Little Player in Mathematics" for mathematical calculations. IP adapted children's pop-up books use well-known IPs such as film and television, animation, and games to create children's pop-up books, and derive a variety of products on the basis of exerting the influence of the original IP, such as children's pop-up books such as cat and mouse, Peppa Pig, Snow White and Seven Dwarfs.
In recent years, with the maturity of China's local development experience in children's pop-up books, children's pop-up books have opened up new fields by focusing on the excellent traditional Chinese culture. Among them, it includes not only original works with various traditional cultural elements as the theme, such as festivals, solar terms, zodiac signs, costumes, cultural museums, etc., but also traditional narrative texts, such as folk tales, myths and legends, Tang poetry and Song poetry, and the second processing of classical masterpieces, which has won both word-of-mouth and market recognition.
3. Books are wonderful in form and incorporate digital technology
Throughout the current stage, children's pop-up books are presented in an increasingly diverse way, such as pop-up books, flip books, touch books, hand puppet books, multimedia books and other special-shaped books. Taking the most common pop-up book as an example, the moment the reader opens the book, the shape in the book will immediately pop up the page. This transformation from flat to three-dimensional brings a strong visual impact to the reader. Because children's pop-up books have special requirements for the printing process, publishers often make a big fuss about the paper material. For example, the "magic color-changing bath book" series adopts the printing process of water discoloration, when young readers paint with water or a water pen, the black and white image in the book will produce color changes, which not only enhances the visual effect, but also increases the readability of the book.
In addition, the combination of children's pop-up books and digital technology has also deepened, and technologies such as AI, AR, VR, MR and other technologies have begun to be integrated into the development and production of children's pop-up books. For example, the foreign edition of the book "Science Runs Out" introduced by CITIC Publishing Group covers many fields that children have not yet touched, such as celestial universe, prehistoric biology, natural disasters and modern science. The book uses AR technology to build various real scenes, and children can feel their appearance characteristics and internal structure through mobile phones, tablets and other electronic devices, and expand their thinking space [3].
4. Online channels are fully expanded and marketing methods are diversified
As a highly practical book category, children's pop-up books were initially distributed through offline channels such as Xinhua Bookstore and well-known private bookstores. With the overall online migration of book sales, children's pop-up books have become heavily dependent on online channels. Open book public data shows that the current proportion of children's pop-up book online channels accounts for more than 90%, far exceeding other children's book categories [4]. On the one hand, this is due to the continuous iteration of online channels, and various new book sales platforms have been derived from traditional e-commerce, such as WeChat community, Douyin, live broadcast platform, etc. On the other hand, the high price of children's pop-up books can get higher sales discounts on online platforms.
The boom in online channels has led to a new type of marketing of children's pop-up books. Live streaming marketing promotes the direct transformation of children's pop-up books through the blessing of KOLs, KOCs, such as mothers, hosts, and cultural scholars. Crowdfunding marketing reduces the market risk caused by the high production cost of children's pop-up books. For example, the 2020 limited edition of "Opening the Forbidden City" and "Zhaojian Forbidden City" chose the Modian APP crowdfunding platform as the sales channel, and preset 15,000 sets of 20-day crowdfunding period for all netizens, and as a result, the project was sold out in less than 20 days after it was launched.
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