A printing company with an annual output value of over 100 million transformed into publishing, independently developing more than 300 varieties in three years.
Business Note: A printing and packaging company with an annual output value of over 100 million yuan has ventured into the picture book sector. In a little over three years, Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu) has launched more than 300 original picture books at a pace exceeding the industry average. The company has also received numerous honors, including "Recommended Works on the New Children's Literature List," "Shanghai Good Children's Book Shortlist," and nominations in the Hiii Illustration International Competition. Leveraging its own advantages, it has built a complete industrial chain model for original children's picture books, encompassing research and development, publishing, printing, distribution, and derivative product development. Amidst the current downward pressure in the children's book market, why has Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu) chosen to 'go against the tide'? What advantages does a printing company have in producing picture books, what challenges will they face, and how have they overcome them?
Over the past year, the industry book fairs in Shanghai International Children's Book Fair, Beijing Book Fair, and Shanghai Book Fair have all seen a "new face"-a brightly colored yellow booth, with shelves full of exclusively original picture books, all featuring rounded corners. This new face is called "Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu)," a brand-new original picture book brand from Longgang City, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province.
Rewinding the clock back to 2021, driven by national reading initiatives and policies promoting child-friendly cities, Zhejiang Huaxu Industrial Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Huaxu Industrial"), a traditional printing and packaging company with nearly 30 years of history, decided to venture into the children's picture book market. Leveraging its technical and channel advantages in printing and packaging, the company started from scratch to create the "Qianyu Picture Book (Huaxu)" brand. Considering the challenges of reducing costs and improving quality in original picture book publishing, Qianyu Picture Book (Huaxu) has from the beginning adopted an independent research and development approach, building a full-industry-chain model for original children's picture books that integrates R&D, publishing, printing, distribution, and derivative product development. In just over three years, Qianyu Picture Book (Huaxu) has published more than 300 original picture books, with some works receiving honors and recognition such as the "Children's Literature New Book List Recommended Work," "Shanghai Good Children's Book Nominee," "Hiii Illustration International Illustration Competition Nomination Award," and "Children's Picture Book Creation Top 100 Nominee." At the same time, as a key cultural industry project supported by Wenzhou City, Huaxu Industrial operates the offline public reading space "Huaxu Picture Book Library," which houses over 20,000 books and has hosted dozens of parent-child reading events, becoming one of the important local destinations for family activities.
Driven by both challenges and opportunities, printing enterprises venture into the picture book industry.
Whether considering the disappearance of demographic dividends or the increasing dominance of utilitarian reading materials in the children's book market, the past few years have not been an ideal time to enter the picture book publishing sector. So why did Huaxu Industrial choose to enter this field at this moment?
Firstly, the move stems from the challenges of industrial transformation and upgrading. Longgang City has long been known as the "Printing City of China." Like numerous other printing and packaging enterprises here, Huaxu Industrial, established in 1997, started with overseas trade printing and subcontracting. Its main business is the export of stationery and gift printing, generating an annual output value exceeding 100 million yuan. With recent changes in the pattern of domestic and international trade, Huaxu Industrial realized that the traditional printing and packaging subcontracting industry is relatively homogeneous and easily replaceable. Hence, proactively seeking change and exploring new avenues became a long-term strategy.
Second, benefiting from policy guidance and the deepening promotion of nationwide reading, both Zhejiang Province and Wenzhou City have successively introduced regulations to promote nationwide reading, implementing policies such as 'City of Nationwide Reading,' 'Child-Friendly City,' and 'National Copyright Model City Construction.' This has strengthened Huaxu Industrial's determination to transform into a cultural and creative enterprise and commit to 'creating content and building a brand.' In fact, producing original picture books was only one of the transformation paths planned by Huaxu Industrial at the time. To a certain extent, Ye Xiaoping, the head of Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu), played a key role in this endeavor. Ye Xiaoping is both a practitioner and beneficiary of parent-child reading. She has worked as a reading instructor and has consistently set aside about one hour each night for parent-child reading since her own child was eight months old, reading 5 to 10 picture books at a time. Now her child is 12 years old. While reading a vast array of high-quality picture books from around the world with her child, Ye Xiaoping has also extensively studied picture book theory, gaining deep insight into the history of picture books and the characteristics of good picture books.Of course, before truly starting to create original picture books, Ye Xiaoping spent more than a year conducting industry research, engaging with major book fairs and publishers, understanding parents' demands for picture book products, and purchasing a large number of picture books for study. Through research, she discovered that although original picture books have risen in recent years, there remains a significant market gap for high-quality original picture books that are intellectually rich, artistically excellent, and well-produced compared to the vast number of products available. 'Some picture books use inferior glue or ink, which can even smell bad; many picture books have sharp corners that can easily hurt children. Since we started in printing, we are particularly sensitive to the quality of glue, ink, and binding,' she said. Therefore, Ye Xiaoping and her colleagues found a more specific direction-to create more environmentally friendly and healthy picture books.Leveraging Content and Channel Advantages to Build an Entire Industry Chain ModelSince officially starting in 2022, in just over three years, Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu) has published more than 300 original picture books. This publishing efficiency is 'astonishing' compared to traditional publishing institutions that may take over a year or even several years to polish a single original picture book.In fact, during the rapid development of the children's book market in recent years, many publishing brands focusing on original research and development entered the market. They managed everything from topic planning to product development and channel distribution with a relatively small team, achieving market scales exceeding one hundred million yuan. However, most of these children's book publishing brands primarily produce knowledge-based books addressing practical needs, focusing on the 'comics + popular science' route, whereas story-based picture books like those of Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu) remain relatively rare.To overcome various barriers in research, publishing, and sales of original picture books and retain full control, and thanks to years of accumulated B-end channel resources, Huaxu Industrial decided from the start to build a full industry chain project for Huaxu's original children's picture books. The front end focuses on research and development of original children's picture books, building an independent IP matrix; the mid-section handles publishing, printing, and distribution of original children's picture books, creating high-quality products; and the back end develops derivative products from the original picture books, building a diverse product system including online education, cultural and creative merchandise, and digital rights.
Some photos of the company's sample roomDue to the purely self-developed model, in the original children's picture book development process, Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu) first obtains a picture book text through commissioned or solicited manuscripts. Then, the editors modify and polish the text, creating a relatively mature storyboard. After that, suitable illustrators are sought to complete the illustrations. Later, when editors and illustrators jointly refine the storyboard and details, the decisive opinions on the product often come from the editors, while respecting the professional creativity of the illustrators. The copyright of the final published work fully belongs to Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu). This content production model ensures that each picture book has a relatively fixed product cycle, truly achieving "quality improvement and efficiency enhancement."Undoubtedly, this self-development model places extremely high demands on the professionalism of editors. In a city like Wenzhou, known for its foreign trade industry but relatively weak cultural industry, how can competent editorial talent be quickly recruited? Ye Xiaoping frankly admitted that this was the first major challenge the brand faced at its inception. To address this, she conducted extensive interviews early on, interviewing at least hundreds of candidates, from local young talent to artists living abroad, and offered relatively generous local compensation packages.After investing significant time and effort, having "hit many walls and taken some detours," Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu) gradually formed a relatively stable team of 20 members, including planning editors, art editors, and designers, working in both Wenzhou and Hangzhou. Ye Xiaoping emphasized that original picture book development requires team members to be both emotional and rational-faced with the creation of numerous picture book storyboards, editors must possess rich imagination; at the same time, for the knowledge content and attention to detail in the artwork, editors need to have rigorous research capabilities.Integrating multiple resources to create local picture book IPAs long as you sincerely want to accomplish something, you will always meet like-minded partners. Ye Xiaoping adhered to this philosophy in building the editorial team and also in achieving strategic cooperation with Zhejiang Normal University.
In 2023, through a recommendation from a partner, Huaxu Industrial established a collaboration with Zhejiang Normal University. The university's children's literature program is a national leader, providing significant academic support for Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu)'s product development. Following this, the two parties jointly established the 'Early Childhood Literature Research and Development Center' and a practical base, dedicated to the transformation of academic achievements in children's literature and the incubation of original Chinese picture book projects. The team is led by Wu Xiangyu, the head of the interdisciplinary children's literature program under the Ministry of Education and a PhD supervisor at Zhejiang Normal University, integrating cutting-edge concepts in children's literature and educational psychology, as well as the latest academic achievements, into Huaxu's original children's picture book development. Together, they developed 'Survey and Development of Preschool Picture Books,' which, as part of the New Liberal Arts construction project, was selected for the 2023 Zhejiang Province Industry-University Cooperation Collaborative Education Project list.
With precise feedback from B-end channels, the support of an integrated 'industry-university-research' mechanism, and a company team dedicated to research and innovation, Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu) began developing graded children's reading materials focused on five major areas of child development: health, language, society, science, and art, and nine key modules: cognitive science, character building, behavior cultivation, psychological growth, social interaction, life education, mathematical and logical thinking, ability enlightenment, and aesthetic cultivation. The materials cover different stages, including lower, middle, and upper kindergarten classes, as well as early primary school grades. All original picture book development revolves around these 'five major areas and nine modules' and targets the key aspects of each stage of a child's physical and mental development, releasing picture books with various themes accordingly.
In Ye Xiaoping's view, the current popularity of utilitarian reading materials essentially reflects parents' educational anxiety-the desire for their children to 'win at the starting line.' This is understandable and also reflects the broad market demand for informative books. However, the problem is that such books generally have weak aesthetic appeal, rigid knowledge points, homogenized topics, and neglect children's emotional experiences. If children's books can be crafted to integrate knowledge dissemination with aesthetic inspiration, it would represent a new market opportunity. This is also the goal that Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu) is currently pursuing.Take, for example, "Otter Tata's Shell Feast," recently selected as a nominee for the 6th Children's Literature New Book List. The book uses anthropomorphic storytelling to convey the survival wisdom of a little otter, incorporating concepts of ecological conservation and teamwork. To enhance the reading experience, Huaxu Industries utilizes its printing technology advantages to employ techniques such as foil stamping and embossing to recreate the texture of the underwater world, and simulates the roughness of reef rocks through paper texture.Facing the downward pressure on the children's book market, the Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu) team is more concerned with how to create works that are 'interesting and profound,' and how to 'truly help children progress and touch their hearts,' thereby demonstrating the irreplaceability of children's books in the competition for attention with more internet products.Ye Xiaoping admitted that when entering the original picture book market, the team initially relied more on the fearless courage of 'newborn calves unafraid of tigers.' Moreover, original picture books have long research and publication cycles, and Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu)'s full-industry-chain model presents higher difficulty and risk. However, for Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu), which is still in the early investment and cultivation stage, the establishment of a professional picture book R&D team, Huaxu Industries' professional production technology advantages, and the company's long-standing B-end channel resources both domestically and abroad, have given the team greater confidence in moving forward.While continuously developing high-quality picture books, Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu) has also seen positive responses from cultural and creative products developed from picture book elements. 'Our products, including sticky notes, stickers, glue-bound books, spiral notebooks, and fridge magnets, sell out every time we participate in industry exhibitions.' In terms of developing cultural and creative products, the company's prior experience in producing high-end gift stationery and more than 30 invention patents provide competitive advantages in craftsmanship, quality, and cost control.
In the future, Huaxu Industrial will focus more on building the 'industry-academia-research' platform, establishing a publishing, distribution, and sales matrix, developing derivative products, as well as protecting and licensing intellectual property. At the same time, the company's previous advantages in foreign trade will also support the overseas expansion of original picture books."Qianyu Picture Books (Huaxu) is also looking forward, with an open and enthusiastic attitude, to collaborating with fellow publishers to create new opportunities in children's reading and to jointly shape the future of children's reading," said Ye Xiaoping.