Collaboration pact to turn fiction into cash

Online literature provider and telecoms firm to rely on each other's strengths, export stories

China Literature, a Chinese company focusing on online literature, announced on Sunday that it has forged a strategic partnership with Singapore Telecommunications, also known as Singtel.

Both parties will collaborate in content development, authorization, distribution, marketing and digital payment.

Their cooperation will include financial support for literature creation and training in writing, translation and editing.

The partnership marks a new age of online literature's coordinated development in the Southeast Asian market, said Wu Wenhui, co-CEO and executive director of China Literature.

Southeast Asia has long been a popular export destination for China's online literary works. Chinese novels, such as Nirvana in Fire, which was adapted into a blockbuster TV drama, and Ever Night are among the best-sellers of book stores in the region.

Chinese TV series adapted from online novels, including Legend of Fuyao, were received well in the Southeast Asian market.

For China Literature, the region is a key user of its database. The company's website says that it has hundreds of millions of active users and has signed contracts with millions of writers.

Singtel has rich distribution channels. In addition to its influence on its home turf of Singapore, it owns Optus, a telecommunications company in Australia. It also has a stake in other foreign telecommunications businesses, including Airtel in India, AIS in Thailand, Globe Telecom in the Philippines and Telkomsel in Indonesia, according to China Intellectual Property News.

The two companies will leverage their complementary strengths in content and platforms, advance cross-border cultural integration and tap into the potential of online literature's new products and business modes, Wu noted.

The CEO of Singtel's international businesses, Arthur Lang, said the collaboration will enable users' involvement in Singtel's apps and cyber community.

The deal with Singtel is another key move toward the Chinese company's global expansion. It comes after its investment in Munpia, an online reading portal in South Korea. There is also a joint venture with Transsion Holdings - an internet service company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong province - to explore the African market, China Intellectual Property News reported.

"From original novels to their intellectual property derivatives, the online literature sector is rolling out high-quality cultural products worldwide," Wu said.

Lin Tingfeng, senior vice-president of China Literature, said that China's online literature has witnessed major changes in its export path. These range from copyright authorizations to setting up portals that target overseas readers and further to exporting its business models and fostering local high-quality works and readers.

The market of Chinese online literature has expanded from Southeast Asia and North America to regions including Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Africa, Lin said.

Nowadays, Chinese online literature powerhouses are cooperating with their global industrial partners, using their respective advantages in business and jointly promoting creation, distribution and derivatives' development, he added.

(China Daily 06/27/2019 page17)