Maruzen and Chinese firm ink joint e-book deal

Book retailer Maruzen Co. is teaming up with the Japanese arm of a Chinese information technology company to provide translated e-book versions of manga for cellphone users in China, Maruzen said Thursday.

The deal with Beijing-based Peking University Founder Group Corp. will start in early October.

Maruzen will translate manga into Chinese after clearing copyrights and send them to its Chinese partner, which will distribute and market them to cellphone users in that country.

In return, Maruzen will receive academic and other e-book content from the Chinese group for sales to Japanese readers of e-books on personal computers.

The two companies aim to provide a total of 650,000 e-book titles in both countries by 2015, Maruzen said.

Peking University Founder Group holds a dominant share of China's e-book distribution market targeting electronic libraries and is experienced in e-book publishing and distribution. It also develops electronic editing systems.

The two companies are considering a joint venture, Maruzen said. Targeted sales for 2015 are 27 billion yen ($321 million), Maruzen said.