Talk of the town

Attendance of the Beijing International Book Fair, which ended on Sunday, was up 6.2 percent over last year, organizers say.

"We don't like to take ourselves too seriously, really. Let's play!" says Jo Lusby, managing director of Penguin Random House North Asia.

"We want people to feel that this is fun. Also for a publisher like us, it's also important to not become too serious. And readers love it."

Just one week ago, Penguin had put up its first booth ever at the Shanghai Book Fair, which became instantly popular with readers.

Lusby first came to the Beijing book fair 10 years ago, when Penguin had just opened an office here.

"Ten years ago, it was much more about publicizing ... being public and visible," she says.

But in the past five years, it has become more about business, with foreign publishers looking to sell their books to Chinese readers and also enter copyright partnerships with Chinese publishers, she adds.