With a population of over 1.3 billion living in 9.6 million square kilometres, China is the world’s most populous country and the second largest by land area on the planet. Consequently, those born with a creative writing talent, have an immediate market without ever having to sell a book internationally.
These writers can also take pride in developing their skills in the country that invented woodblock printing and movable type printing.
China was not just fascinated with story but how best to print it to earn the widest readership possible.
The early exponents of prose and poetry flourished even more as written text gave them a louder voice. But fiction was slower to emerge. China was a country built on history, politics, military science, philosophy, astronomy, and religion. As a result, non-fiction was China’s most popular outlet. Even today, one of those books from the 6th century BC, is as widely read, referenced, and studied as it was over a thousand years ago: The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Whereas fiction in the form recognisable to the modern world did not begin to emerge in China until the 14th century during the Ming Dynasty.
After the collapse of the dynasties in the early 20th century, the voice of literature in China broadened with love stories and female writers sharing the stage with the traditional stories of social conflicts.
By 1930 the League of Left-Wing Writers launched by the Communist Party of China, who themselves were founded nine years earlier enabled novels to be used to spread the political message of communism. After coming to power in 1949 they took this literary control to a whole new level: they nationalised the publishing industry and censored all writers.
Today, China’s state-run General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) monitors, censors and bans any book or electronic work they choose.
Moreover, it is illegal for any publisher to operate without being licensed by the GAPP. This has not stopped the thousands of underground publishers from trying to publish works free from government control. But to deter them, the Chinese government regularly holds public book burnings as a warning to those trying to write outside of the political system. Nevertheless, the competition between the state-sectioned publishers and the underground ones has seen China become the largest publisher of books in the world.
These books are often published without a literary agency being involved. The fact that a writing income can be so low in a Communist state, except for the established authors, means that many aspiring writers simply cannot afford to be represented by a literary agent who will further eat into their small slice.
Consequently, the first stand-alone literary agency was not even founded until 1987.
It is more common for publishing houses to offer representation for its authors than to allow them to be represented by an agency outside of their control. However in recent years more agencies have emerged that are seeking to change the agency model in China and if anything bring Western literature in and sell Chinese literature to the world.
Asia Literary Agency
Website: Official Site
The agency is based in Hong Kong.
Genres: Fiction | Non-Fiction
E-mail submissions only: admin@asialiteraryagency.org
Query Fiction and Non-Fiction: Query letter only.
Big Apple Agency, Inc
The agency is based in Shanghai, but they also have offices in Beijing and Taipei.
Website: Official Site
Genres: Fiction | Non-Fiction
E-mail submissions only: Agent specified. Check website.
Query Fiction and Non-Fiction: Query letter only.
Note: Founded in 1987, they are the oldest literary agency in mainland China.
Changjiang Literature and Arts Publishing House
They are based in Wuhan. They also have offices in Beijing and Shanghai.
Website: No
Genres: Fiction | YA | Non-Fiction
E-mail submissions: hb_tianyi@yahoo.com.cn
Query Fiction and Non-Fiction: Query letter only.
Note: Founded in 1955, they are predominately a publishing company that offers representation for its authors.
Dakai Agency
The agency is based in Beijing.
Website: No
Genres: Fiction | Children’s Books | Non-Fiction
E-mail submissions only: contact@dakai-agency.com
Query Fiction and Non-Fiction: Query letter only.
Note: As well as Chinese literature the agency also works with French translations and has an office in France.
Peony Literary Agency
The agency is based in Hong Kong.
Website: Official Site
Genres: Fiction | Graphic Novels | Non-Fiction
Does not represent: Children’s Books.
E-mail submissions only: info@peonyliteraryagency.com
Query Fiction: Query letter, synopsis, bio, and the first three chapters as a Word or PDF attachment.
Query Non-Fiction: Query letter, full proposal, and a bio.
Watchman Agency
The agency is based in Hong Kong.
Website: Official Site
Genres: Fiction | Illustrators | Non-Fiction
E-mail submissions only: info@watchman-agency.com
Query Fiction: Query letter, and the first 5 chapters. Both as Word Document attachments.
Query Non-Fiction: Query letter, bio, one paragraph synopsis for each chapter, and the first 2 chapters. All as Word document attachments.
Query Illustrators: A low-res PDF dummy or sample layouts, otherwise 10-15 medium res photos with captions. Send images by pasting a download link into the message.
Note: All manuscript written text must be Times New Roman, point 12, and double-spaced. The agency is currently rebranding, but they are still contactable.
Zui Book Company
They are based in Shanghai.
Website: Official Site
Genres: Fiction | Comics | Manga | YA
E-mail submissions : zui@zuibook.com
All Queries: Query letter only.
Note: Only founded in 2008 they are predominately a publishing company that also offers representation for its authors. Most of these authors are young as the focus is on the teen market. Zui are often responsible for the majority of books on China’s best-sellers list. They also produce the monthly magazine Zui Novel which has a circulation of 500K.