The Billion Copy Opportunity
By Lewis Manalo - Publishing Perpectives

CHINA: By now it's a scene we in the West are familiar with: a swordsman or -- swordswoman -- makes an acrobatic leap to a stone-tiled rooftop and sets off in pursuit of a masked bandit. The swordsman leaps from roof to roof, across ridiculous distances and with such balletic grace, he seems to be on the edge of flying. He catches up with the bandit in a few bounds. Both draw swords, and a duel of exotic and impressive style ensues, taking the audience's breath away.

We know it as a scene from a martial arts film, but in China, the genre is called wuxia. Wuxia are stories of chivalrous heroes with a tradition that goes back centuries, a rich literature of fantasy that has a basis in ancient fact.

(read on ...)

Should Publishers Intervene When Pirated Copies "Outsell" Official Versions?
By Edward Nawotka

In today's lead story, Louis Manalo discusses the career of Chinese writer Louis Cha, whose wuxia novels are immensely popular across Asia - one estimate says that more than billion copies of his books have been read. That said, official sales number a mere 300 million or so, with the remainder being made up by pirated copies or bootlegs.

(read on ...)