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Ads to appear on book covers

An industry insider said some publishers are finding it difficult to survive because the profits from book sales are small.

Li Yi, deputy manager of Jinghua Aobo, said they do not charge advertisers at present, but will discuss pricing with clients and set fees later this year.

"It's a start and we want advertisers to see the potential of the business first. We also want to help publishers diversify their earning opportunities by taking in advertising revenue," he said.

The revenue of the traditional publishing industry each year is 40 billion to 50 billion yuan ($6.3 billion to $7.9 billion), while the figure for the advertising industry is 500 billion yuan. If books and advertisements are combined, a 10 percent share of advertising revenue could help create another publishing industry, Li said.

Liu Wei, a division chief at Jiangsu Literature and Art Publishing House, which released My Son, Yo-Yo, said there had been problems placing the ad on the book cover.

"Most editors were not willing to feature the ad because they did not want to ruin the book's cover design. The writer also hesitated about this because she worried that the advertisement might be at odds with the style of the work," he said.

But Zhang Hongtao, a writer in Beijing, said he would allow advertisements on his books if writers could share the benefits.

"Books are products and putting advertisements in books is economically driven. It's feasible to have advertisements appear in books because it would not hurt writers' rights. Instead, it may bring us profits," he said.