PUBLISHERS of academic texts have been going through a difficult period recently.

It is difficult for books dealing with theoretical subjects to generate substantial sales, and without selling a certain number of copies, profit is elusive.

A title that sells 5,000 copies can usually break even, but you can only be sure of making a profit if you sell 10,000.

Academic publications enjoyed a boom in the early 1980s, but today, no more than a tenth of the country's more than 500 publishing houses have academic departments.

Publishing companies have to ask authors of academic works to cover part of the cost or to buy some of the books.

For instance, a publishing house published a translation of a book on Western drama on the understanding that the translator would buy 800-1,000 of the total of 3,000 copies.

Zhang Kun