Fads rule reading lists in fickle city, booksellers say

Running a bookshop in Hong Kong is hard in the best of times, but the fickle and unpredictable nature of the city's reading preferences makes it even more difficult, booksellers say.

Causeway Bay Book Shop in Lockhart Road has been plying its trade for 18 years, but estimating what books would be popular is becoming increasingly difficult, said the store manager who would only give her name as Cheng.

'People buy books to join a fad,' she said. 'Books written by celebrities were popular some years ago. Then it was pet books. Trends come and go quickly.'

Some of the books may not be particularly well-written, but when their topics strike a chord then that may be enough to give them a measure of success, she said.

Books that have been turned into Hollywood films usually appear on best-seller lists, but their stay may not be a long one. In 2009, Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series about vampires was a top three item for bookshop chain Commercial Press. A year later it had dropped off the top 20.

Taiwanese author-director Giddens Ko Ching-teng, whose movie You Are the Apple of My Eye became the top grossing film in Hong Kong last year, had three books - one the novel the film was based on - in the charts last year.

Since the seven-book Harry Potter fantasy series ended, there has been nothing to match its worldwide sales of 450 million copies, according to booksellers.