A set of popular science books with the price of 168 yuan 12, which sells 186000 sets a month, is really a spectacle in the book market that has been weak for several months.

According to the publishing forum held by Shanghai Children's Publishing House in Beijing a few days ago, the sales volume of "100,000 Why" (New Century Edition) has been good since it was listed on September 5 this year. As of1October 24th,186,000 sets have been printed, and the payment has reached 6,543,800 sets. It is estimated that more than 300,000 sets will be issued this year. According to reports, in September 18 in Shanghai Book City, the book's editorial board's signature book sale activity was unprecedented, with more than 700 sets sold in two hours; In the next two days, the book sold 4000 sets in Shanghai. To this end, the factory that undertakes the printing of this book can only open a shop in the workshop and work overtime all night to grab the printing. "Mid-Autumn Festival is also popular in Shanghai:' What to buy this Mid-Autumn Festival, don't buy moon cakes and buy 100,000'. Someone told me to buy'100000' through the back door. This is a phenomenon that 10 has not appeared for many years after the problem of book shortage was solved. " Sun, young director of Shanghai Press and Publication Bureau, said.

A set of popular science books with the price of 168 yuan 12, which sells 186000 sets a month, is really a spectacle in the book market that has been weak for several months. Then, the best-selling secret of decrypting this book is indeed the hundredth why.

The first is the charm of the brand. 100,000 Why was published in the early 1960s. Over the past 40 years, the cumulative circulation has reached more than100,000 sets, and100,000 sets have been distributed all over the world. In the past decades, especially in turbulent years, it has played an active role in spreading knowledge and popularizing science, and influenced generations of teenagers to embark on the road of science. As Yu Youxian, director of the General Administration of Press and Publication, said, "100,000 Why's" should go down in the history of China publishing. "Many readers have a deep memory of" 100,000 Why ",and the cover is" Radiant Workers, Peasants and Soldiers "-it was almost the only set of popular science books of that era. Therefore, "100,000 Why" (New Century Edition) attracted a considerable number of people's attention as soon as it was listed.

The expression of "a hundred thousand whys" is an enduring secret. The way of asking and answering questions is straightforward, straight to the point, with short words and simple explanations, which is very consistent with the cognitive style and reading characteristics of young readers. This is also an important reason why several publishing houses rushed to publish "100,000 new editions", "1 million copies" and "10 million copies" some time ago. Although due to some restrictions of China's Trademark Law, a few versions of "100,000 Why" cannot be registered as trademarks, when its new century edition came out, its brand and reputation formed over the years still made it have absolute market appeal.

The best-selling of Old Trees and New Branches and the new century edition of Hundred Thousand certainly benefited from the reputation of the old edition, but also benefited from the timely transformation of its content. In terms of the knowledge capacity of the series, the new century edition has updated two-thirds of the contents compared with the old edition, and added the contents of environment, information, genetics, aerospace, human body, engineering and so on. There are many sources of topics, including tips from experts and letters from readers, but most of them are information feedback from publishers on field surveys. For this reason, there are some important and concerned frontier issues in "100,000 Why" (New Century Edition) (for example, the entry introducing the research results of Chinese scientists and Professor Chu Diwen, winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics: "Why can lasers' cool' atoms?" ); There are some latest research achievements in contemporary science (such as the entry "The Latest Progress in World Genetic Science Research" written by Dr. Lu Mei: "How do genetic diseases occur?" ); It comes down to many questions from people's daily life (such as: "Why did Jackson become a leopard on TV?" "Why does VCD have mosaic phenomenon?" ), etc. , all of which are included, thus showing the broad editing vision and rich knowledge coverage of this new version of popular science books to the maximum extent.

However, it is no accident that this can be done. This is first of all due to the unusually strong author lineup of this series. Forty years ago, the old edition of "100,000 Why" won the full support of China science, education and publishing circles. Li Siguang, Mao Yisheng, Hua, Zhu Kezhen, Zhang Zuoren, Su, and other scientists of the older generation personally wrote titles and articles for the series. Today, in the powerful editorial team of One Hundred Thousand Why (New Century Edition), we can also see the names of famous scientists such as Lu Jiaxi, Gan Fuxi, Ye Shuhua, Yang, Gu Chaohao, Xie Xide and Hong Guofan. 2 1 An academician from China Academy of Sciences and China Academy of Engineering formed the editorial board of this book, and many famous scientists served as the chief editors of each volume. Knowledge-rich scientists invariably come to this popular science book for teenagers, and "writing short articles in a large space" is a reliable quality guarantee for the new century edition of Hundred Thousand.

In order to further enhance the practicability of this popular science book, the new century edition has also creatively compiled index materials and used keyword indexing to make up for a major defect of the old edition and greatly facilitate readers.

Of course, the popular science boom that has just arisen in China has provided the best-selling time for Hundred Thousand. However, after five years of painstaking revision, the publishing house seized this opportunity. With the establishment of the national policy of rejuvenating the country through science and education and the deepening of quality education reform, popular science has become a hot spot in the book market. "100,000" will be promoted in a planned way: first, a sales contract and distribution intention will be established with the provincial wholesale store of Xinhua Bookstore, and then publicity will be carried out with the help of the media to make the sales of "100,000" go up a storey still higher. According to Zhou Shunpei, president of Shanghai Children's Publishing House, the book signing activities of "100,000" academicians in Changsha, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Lanzhou have effectively promoted regional sales. It is understood that Shanghai Shaoshe will also increase investment, and through a series of activities, set off a popular science reading craze of "learning science and loving science" among the vast number of young students across the country.