dc.description.abstract | In this thesis I will use the market approach known as AIDA to look at how picture book publishers in Taiwan coped with the problem of how to sell picture books in the absence of picture book culture. I begin by providing an introduction to the marketing concept known as AIDA, which provides a useful perspective on the promotion process. I next look at the early history of the picture book market in Taiwan to illustrate the difficulties picture book publishers had in marketing this product for which there was little if any demand.
In the second chapter, I look at Han-Sheng, which was the first publisher in Taiwan to recognize that in order to sell the picture book they would have to sell the idea that picture book was beneficial in terms of the specific needs and wants of the Taiwanese consumers. In the absence of a consumer demand for picture books, Han-Sheng turned to a more aggressive door-to-door direct marketing to draw attention and arouse interest in the product and developed a promotional supplement called “Mother’s Manuals” to persuade consumers that these books had educational benefits.
In the third chapter, I look at the experience of the Hsin-Yi Foundation, which has sought to sell the benefits of picture books by (1) developing picture books that would embody the benefits of picture book reading and, as market competition increased, (2) introducing innovative strategies to draw attention to and create interest in the books. These included the use of non-professional direct marketing salespeople called “Hsin-Yi Mothers”; the establishment of the Hsin-Yi Picture Book Award; and the formation of a performance troupe to promote storytelling.
In the final chapter I will look at the current state of picture book marketing in Taiwan, which exhibits an interesting discrepancy: picture book publishers have succeeded in selling picture books but, according to all informants, the growth of picture book reading continues to lag far behind picture book sales. This discrepancy is, I argue, a product of, on the one hand, the socioeconomic constraints on picture book reading, chief of which is the educational system, and, on the other hand, of the growing number of picture book makers and children’s literature bookstores, and the diversification of the consumer base I exemplify the former by pointing to the experience of the experience of the Eslite Bookstore chain and the Taiwan Reading Association’s attempts to promote picture books and picture book reading, and I exemplify the latter by summarizing the experience of both those picture book publishers I discussed earlier and that of Grimm Press, whose success can be traced to its redesigning the picture book for primary school and young adult readers. | en_US |