By John Cairns

HOLLYWOOD ROAD, Hong Kong – Publishing any book means overcoming big problems. But it's vastly more difficult to profit regularly from the publishing process.

After five years and 48 books (most modestly successful), British-born publisher Pete Spurrier, the 37-year-old founder of Blacksmith Books, has mastered the knack of choosing interesting manuscripts and hammering them into English books that readers will enjoy. With his Hong Kong-based company already a regional player in the books biz, he's adjusting strategies to tackle world markets.

“We just got a North American distributor based in Maryland,” Pete said. So Blacksmith titles have started to sell in stores across the United States and Canada. “Initial orders look encouraging.

“A lot of U.S. companies look at the China market and lick their lips. I'm coming from the opposite direction and doing the same. It's exciting to suddenly gain access to a market of 400 million people, mostly English-speakers.”

Similar deals for Europe and Australia may come next. “Blacksmith Books is successful, earns money and so can continue,” Pete said. “Bit by bit, we'll try to enter new markets.”

The company name conjures images of burly men hammering at hot metal. Pete's surname, Spurrier (spur-maker), came from such work done by his ancestors. “Blacksmith is a simple name, easy to convey, general enough for any book and has the notion of handcrafting products.”

At the heart of everything lies Pete's love for books. “Publishing means creating something new and unique from start to finish,” he said. “It's nice to take pride in that. My best moments happen when I see shoppers pick up the books, flick through and buy them. That’s so satisfying. I never get tired of it.”

Sure, the business brings challenges. “There are frustrations,” Pete said. “Emotionally and financially, you put so much into producing each book. You're excited. The author's excited. You get media coverage. Then maybe bookshops won't order it.

“I publish books with Chinese themes, but it's hard to get shops in China to order them. Then it's hard to get paid. If shops don't pay me, I won't supply them anymore. I can't throw good money after bad.”

Competition from electronic books poses another challenge. “E-books get a lot of press, not because they sell well, but because they're new,” Pete said. “Compared to paper books, their sales remain tiny. I hope that paper books will have a constant place in our culture.”

With 10-12 new titles yearly, Blacksmith Books fills shelves mainly in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei and Macau. The company specializes in Asian non-fiction, notably history and biography, but also handles fiction, photography, art books, children's stories and guidebooks.

“Non-fiction outsells fiction and has a longer shelf life,” Pete said. “Usually there's a built-in audience naturally interested.”

Blacksmith’s bestsellers are: Sketches of Soho by Lorette Roberts, King Hui, The Man Who Owned All the Opium in Hong Kong by Jonathan Chamberlain and Diamond Hill, Memories of Growing Up in a Hong Kong Squatter Village by Feng Chi-shun. Two pending books, The Eurasian Face and Lama of the Gobi, will bring Blacksmith's list to 50 titles.

More public favorites include:China, Portrait of a People by Tom Carter, Chinese Gods, an Introduction to Chinese Folk Religion by Jonathan Chamberlain, and Sleeping Chinese by Bernd Hagemann. That last one, a humorous English-Chinese book of photos of people napping in public places, sells well in Shanghai.

Initially, Pete alone drove Blacksmith Books. Recently, he hired Sheryl Lee as a part-time publicity manager. Freelancers handle the editing, design, translation, illustration and proofreading. “I keep a lot of people in work,” Pete said. “Using freelancers is a nice way to do business – it's always flexible.”

Blacksmith Books occupies a 5th-floor office without a sign on its door. Nearby, its warehouse holds “a frightening number of books” stacked up to nine boxes high.

Seventy per cent of the titles turn profits. Pete attributes this better-than-most success rate to carefully choosing the books to publish. “I need a high degree of success,” he said. “If I lose much money, I'm out of business. Unlike big publishers in New York or London, I can't afford to print loads of books and hope they do well. I need to make sure.”

All Blacksmith’s published authors (about three dozen so far) earn some money, even if their books sell poorly. “I pay a small advance and then use a royalty system,” Pete said. “It's a partnership. As a publisher, I take all the financial risks and pay the production costs. The authors throw time into researching, writing and helping to promote the books.”

Pete's most offbeat author is Alain Robert, the “French Spiderman” who enjoys risking his life to climb skyscrapers. In 2008, Blacksmith published his autobiography, With Bare Hands.

Most print-runs total 2,000 or 3,000 copies. Popular books get reprinted. A few are translated into Chinese editions. Selling about 700 copies usually covers costs.

Always busy at work, Pete remains single. “I'm married to my job,” he said. His main hobby, hiking along hillside trails, led him to write guidebooks, The Serious Hiker's Guide to Hong Kong (FormAsia Books, 2010, sixth edition, 308 pages) and earlier The Leisurely Hiker's Guide to Hong Kong.

Seventeen years ago, a youthful Pete first arrived in Hong Kong. It was “by accident and with no clue what I'd do here” after a journey risky enough to rival any book plot. He didn't plan to stay.

Smitten by wanderlust, he had finished high school, left London and started following the Silk Road from the Middle East across Central Asia and into China. “In western China, I ran out of money,” he confessed. “So I'd hitch-hike outside a big city to the first train station without ticket barriers, jump on a long passenger train and keep eluding any ticket collectors. I rode trains that way from Urumqi to Xian to Beijing to Hong Kong and then walked across the border.”

Next he begged a few coins from a newspaper vendor to get started in a city that has treated him well. Soon he received two job offers on the same day and accepted one.

Now Pete pays fares to ride trains. “When you're young, excitable and foolhardy, you do lots of things you wouldn't do later,” he said. Maybe he should publish a book about those youthful travels. “I've started one, but didn't finish it yet.

“For me, Hong Kong has been a great place. Within a few weeks, I surprisingly fell in love with it. At the time, it was what I needed – safe, peaceful and, although not particularly friendly, welcoming enough. It gave me work and a place to stay.”

Pete's jobs included English teacher, restaurant manager, movie actor and magazine editor. He lived in many districts, like Tsim Sha Tsui, Central, Kennedy Town, Mui Wo and Lamma Island.

“I knew little about publishing books, but three of my friends had book ideas so I decided to do their books,” Pete recalls. The first-ever Blacksmith book, Hong Kong Cheap Eats by Nicole Lade, appeared in 2003 and “went well”. So did the next two, Adventures with Kids, the Essential Guide to Hong Kong for the Expat Parent by Sarah Woods and Sketches of Soho

Now manuscripts routinely arrive by mail, and Pete selects the best. “I've read hundreds and hundreds of manuscripts. They flow in the door – two or three a day -- from America, India, South Asia, Australia and everywhere. Many people feel driven to write without having a market for their work, which is a shame. They don't write with an audience in mind. They just write what they want, not the best way to get published.”

Pete makes a point of replying to every author: “I'm often late, but I do reply.”

Blacksmith's biggest crisis came with the 2008 global economic slump. “For two months, I sold nothing,” Pete said. “It was scary.” Luckily, orders resumed.

Big efforts continue to shape this small publishing house’s burgeoning potential. “It's fulfilling work,” Pete said. “I hope to continue for a long time.”


For more information: www.blacksmithbooks.com


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