The population of China’s e-book readers had topped 300 million by the end of 2016, while there were more female readers than male ones, according to the White Paper of China’s E-book Reading published during the China Digital Reading Conference held in March 2017 in Hangzhou.
According to the data compiled by China Literature Limited in June 2017, women had become the majority of e-book readers. Among the mainstream e-book readers, who were born after 1995, 76.6 percent of the female readers were willing to pay for online literature.
These figures have shown that women have become the main consumers in the e-reading market. With the rise of women’s social status and their income, the women-centered consumerism has become the new trend.
Over the recent years, the concept of “SHE Reading” has gained its popularity in China. Some publishing houses and libraries are promoting books that are popular among female readers. Reading festivals and forums targeting women have been held in Beijing and Shanghai. iReader, China’s leading e-book and reader vendor, has held the Female Literature Festival, while news app Toutiao has also published a detailed report on the female readership.
Currently, quite a number of publishing houses, libraries and bookstores have made some achievements in better serving the female readers.