We’ve just gone to reprint with three books:

Whispers and Moans: Interviews with the men and women of Hong Kong’s sex industry
King Hui: The Man Who Owned All the Opium in Hong Kong
Wing Chun Warrior: The True Tales of Kung Fu Master Duncan Leung, Bruce Lee’s Fighting Companion

It’s clear that people love to read about these things!

One of the best, but hardest, parts of publishing is writing the back-cover text for books. Apparently people will pick up a book if they like the front cover, and will then spend an average of 9 seconds reading the blurb on the back. In little more than 100 words you have to both summarize the entire story and convince people to buy it. We go through many drafts. Here’s an early blurb for a book we’re publishing early next year:

In 1995, Chris Thrall left the Royal Marines to find his fortune overseas. In Hong Kong, he went through a bizarre series of jobs while becoming increasingly addicted to crystal methamphetamine. Soon he began working for the 14K, Hong Kong’s largest crime family, as a doorman in one of their nightclubs in the Wan Chai red-light district. Dealing with homelessness, violence and the ‘Foreign Triad’ – a secretive expat clique that unbeknown to the world works hand-in-hand with the Chinese syndicates – he had to survive in the world’s most unforgiving city, addicted to the world’s most dangerous drug.

What do you think — would you read on?