Franchising Fuels Success in April 2025

As some franchise-supported titles arrive on China’s bestseller lists, more are anticipated in months to come.

China’s consumer base is well accustomed to the energy of franchising, as is evident in this storefront at Tianfu International Airport near Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Beeding. Image – Getty: Vera Tikhonova

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

‘Street Wizards’ Return

Knocking Nezha: The Past of the Three Realms out of its film-powered (Nezha2) spot at the top of mainland China’s fiction bestseller lists took April’s arrival at No. 1 by a revised edition of Street Wizards from publisher The Writer’s Publishing House.

‘Street Wizards’ by Feng Jicai

And having been originally published in 2008, Feng Jicai’s Street Wizards (there are four books on the fiction charts, covering Nos. 1, 7, 8, and 9) has had some time to gather franchise power, which now is seen to be driving certain bestseller-list successes, not to take anything from the collection of 15 modern-folklore tales, themselves.

“In recent years,” our associates at the data-tracking and analysis company Beijing OpenBook say, “the franchise economy has continued to heat up, with leading properties from film, animation, and literature continuously expanding their commercial value through derivative books, trendy toys, and other products.

“Franchise has become an assurance for the sales of new products.”

By way of example, the If History Were a Group of Cats series by the “Fat Zhi Team” from Guangdong Tourism Publishing House is cited for having floated—on a high tide of tie-in merchandise—a new entry: If Journey to the West Were a Group of Cats is at No. 6.

“A top-tier book franchise product in the historical comic field,” is how this is being classified.

‘If Journey to the West Were a Group of Cats’

In April, this first installment “of another long-form comic series carefully created by Fat Zhi, If Journey to the West Were a Group of Cats was released and received enthusiastic market feedback.”

A third example of franchise-supported success is Line Dog, known for its imagery and a strong marketing strategy, quickly became a focus in Gen Z’s culture and consumer market. In April, the first official comic collection of the franchise (just check the nonfiction list, if you don’t know it) was released and sold well, titled My Dear Maltese.

By next month, it seems, that franchise-freighted Maltese debut may be sighted on our OpenBook fiction list.

Below, then, are OpenBook’s overall lists from April 2025 of bestsellers in fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books, followed by its lists of bestselling fiction and nonfiction in China by authors from outside the country.
At the end of our article, as always, you’ll find notes on how the lists are constructed.

OpenBook’s Fiction Bestsellers, April 2025

OpenBook’s Nonfiction Bestsellers, April 2025

OpenBook’s Children’s Bestsellers, April 2025

Foreign Author Fiction Bestsellers, April 2025

Foreign Author Nonfiction Bestsellers, April 2025

Notes on the Charts

OpenBook is a privately owned industry-data research firm based in Beijing. It functions somewhat as Nielsen and NDP do from the West, and Nielsen Book Research International has worked with OpenBook in Asian operations. With authoritative data and information resources, OpenBook is able to deliver consulting service to partners who would like to explore the Chinese book market and identify suitable partners.

At last report, OpenBook monitored more than 18,000 online and offline bookstores.

The online channel includes digital retailers such as large self-operated online stores, platform stores, and small- and medium-sized stores. The offline channels include more than 4,800 bookstores. Coverage includes most of the state-owned and influential privately owned bookstores in 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions. Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Tibet are not included in OpenBook’s system.

In 2022, OpenBook tracked around 76.21 billion RMB in sales (US$10.62 billion).

Retail outlets include:

• Traditional bookstores
• Supermarkets
• Campus bookstores
• “Professional” stores, said to be small stores with a specific industrial or trade focus
• Airport stores

In addition, OpenBook is drawing data from online bookstores of three main types:

• The “Tmall” stores of Alibaba (Tmall is described as a marketplace of companies that create storefronts online to sell products including books)
• The “JingDong” Stores of JD.com (similar to Tmall as a marketplace of both individual companies and bookstores operated by JD.com)
• Ten independent online bookselling retailers

China has 500 or more publishers in operation today. Most of them are government-owned. Private publishers are required to generate ISBNs for their titles from a publishing company that is government-owned—which, in other words, creates a system in which all ISBNs are registered through government channels. The government approves each book published in China.

More China bestseller reports from Publishing Perspectives are here, more on the Chinese book publishing market is here, and more on book publishing in Asia is here.