Lack of authors harms the local literary scene

Two Hong Kong publishers said at the opening of the annual book fair on Wednesday that the shortage of authors – both young and experienced – poses a challenge for the local literary industry.

Publishers Breakthrough and Boundary Bookstore told HKFP on Wednesday that the lack of local authors had contributed to existing business problems, which included rising printing costs and a shift in readership that was leading to a decline in book purchases.

The publishers were among the 760 exhibitors at this year’s Hong Kong Book Fair, which runs until next Tuesday at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.

“Nowadays, content creators can choose between different platforms, they can make videos or post their work on Instagram,” Leanne Liu, publishing director of Boundary Bookstore, told HKFP in Cantonese.

“In fact, (authors) cannot make any real profit from publishing a book unless it sells about 1,000 copies,” Liu added.

Boundary Bookstore was founded in 2022 and is participating in the book fair as an independent bookstore for the second year in a row. Liu says this is a great opportunity for the new company to make itself known.

In addition to publishing works from local manga artists to seasoned poets, Boundary Bookstore also brought four new titles to this year’s event.

However, Liu said it was not easy to find authors willing to write new works, adding that as a new publisher, she found it difficult to handle the workflow involved – from editing to design to marketing – without the help of industry veterans.

“We can only rely on our experience from one or two published books. There aren’t many people we can ask for advice on things like improving the design or using higher quality paper for printing,” she said. Despite the saying “never judge a book by its cover,” Liu said good design is key to sales.

Breakthrough, a nonprofit Christian youth ministry that has been in publishing since the 1970s, faced a similar dilemma when it came to retaining experienced authors.

Ng Wing-chi, a publications manager at Breakthrough, told HKFP that “some authors have left Hong Kong” and chosen to publish elsewhere, contributing to a decline in the number of books produced by Breakthrough in recent years.

Breakthrough primarily publishes works that focus on youth issues such as intra-family communication and development, as well as fiction and mental health books.

Ng also said that the organization has invested its resources in promoting new writers, but that this process will take some time.

“Nowadays, reader behavior is shaped by different niche markets, so it really takes a while for a group of readers to get to know and familiarize themselves with new authors,” Ng said in Cantonese.

She pointed to the fate of the quarterly culture magazine Breakazine, which recently announced that it would cease printing next year, citing rising printing costs and falling readership numbers.

A booth on Wednesday presented the latest issue of Breakazine, which focuses on the precariousness of freelance work, as well as previous issues on topics such as gender, mental health and local politics.

Ng said Breakazine’s readers were primarily “a certain type” whose readership was in decline, without elaborating.

But she also said that the team behind Breakazine has been discussing possible alternatives to distributing its reports through the print edition. The last issue of Breakazine will be published next April.

“Events Capital of Asia”

At the opening ceremony of the book fair, Margaret Fong, executive director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, said the book fair would “cement the city’s reputation as the events capital of Asia”.

“This year’s book fair… will feature more than 600 cultural activities on and off the fair. More than 250 prominent Chinese and foreign-language authors and celebrities will be invited to hold seminars, promote literary exchanges and bring book lovers together through literature,” Fong said in Cantonese.

The annual event was themed “Film and Television Literature” and included exhibitions of literary works by renowned directors such as Wong Kar-wai and Ann Hui, as well as up-and-coming filmmakers such as Norris Wong and Ho Check-tin.

Before the opening, organizers had stated that exhibitors would have to comply with the national security law enacted by Beijing and the domestic regulation on safeguarding national security, known locally as Article 23.

According to local media reports, some exhibitors on Wednesday did not display political titles that could be classified as “sensitive.”

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