Booksellers specialize to survive

Seventeen private bookstores have set up shop at the Shanghai Book Fair this year, marking the first time the event has set aside exhibition space for independent booksellers.

By giving private stores a venue, the event aims to promote one of the major bright spots in the book retail industry - the specialized bookseller - as the industry continues to adjust to digital reading, officials and store owners said.

The exhibition of specialized stores aims to support the development of private booksellers, said Fang Shizhong, director of the Shanghai Press and Publication Bureau.

The fair features successful private bookstores from Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, each of which serves its own niche.

Due to the effects of digital book sales, private bookstores are struggling. They have to specialize to survive, said Jia Xiaojing, vice director of Shanghai Zhongshu Co Ltd, which owns the Ibook chain of bookstores in Shanghai.

Shanghai Shendong Foreign Language Store specializes in used children's books imported from the US. Focusing on children's books allows the store to sidestep one of the more troubling trends in the industry - adults have been buying more of their books in electronic formats to read them on digital devices. Shendong began focusing on children's books when it noticed that children had become important readers, said Yao Hongxia, an employee at the bookstore.

Most of its customers are well educated white-collar workers who want their young children to learn English, Yao said.

"I began to teach my son to speak English at an early age and I want him to have fun and learn more by reading colorful English books," said a mother of a 3-year-old boy. "Buying secondhand books is also more economical."

Finding the right specialization is key. The Ibook chain shifted its specialization away from academic reference books.

It opened a new store in May that specialized in fiction and social science books in Songjiang district. The store was a hit.

The book fair runs until Tuesday at the Shanghai Exhibition Center in Jing'an district. Admission costs 10 yuan ($1.63) per person during the day and 5 yuan in the evenings.