Readers' concerns: How to get rich
Management and self-help books are the region's bestsellers with readers seeking new opportunities as Asia liberalises

For many Asians, the priorities in life are to be successful and rich, a study of reading habits in the region by The Straits Times has revealed.

Many of them are turning to management and self-help books to exploit new opportunities as Asia liberalises, the study by Straits Times bureaus in Asia showed.

'Books can be read as a sign of the times though marketing does play a role,' said National University of Singapore anthropologist Thang Leng Leng, who agreed with The Straits Times findings.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said last month that the kind of books that people read gave a good idea about the priorities of the society they belong to.

Picking up a poem in praise of a Palestinian suicide-bomber by Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Britain Ghazi Algosaibi and the then Chinese bestseller Harvard Girl Yiting Liu for comparison, the columnist said the priorities for Saudi Arabia seemed 'messed up' while China could 'eventually build Harvards of its own'.

Said Mr Swarup Biswas, United States multinational Johnson Control's Asia Pacific head for its six-sigma management project based in Kuala Lumpur: 'I think there has been a great increase in the feeling of insecurity especially after Sept 11 with a number of people getting retrenched.

'So people are looking for different avenues to make money.'

The Straits Times spoke to book watchers, anthropologists, sociologists, distributors and publishers across the region for their views on the non-fiction bestsellers in the region.

Some of the findings of the study:

Books on becoming rich and successful dominate six out of nine bestseller lists, and half the books on the lists deal with such themes.

• Asians prefer words of wisdom from Western authors - as the dominance of books by them on the lists shows.
• The bestselling books in the region were Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki that explodes the myth that only those earning high salaries can be rich and Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson that teaches tactics to deal with challenges in work and in life.
• Beyond wealth Asians seem most concerned about philosophy and religion - this was the second most frequent theme in the lists.
• In India and the Philippines, people seem disturbed by past or current events and want to understand them better, the dominance of books dealing with such themes or scandals shows.
• Critics in Taiwan were disturbed about the shallow reading habits of their country.

'The new economy offers challenges and people are becoming mobile,' said Mr Wang Yifang of Book Commercial News, a Chinese-language newspaper that monitors national publishing trends, explaining the bestsellers in his country - all five deal with success or becoming rich.

'They no longer hold the value systems of the past and everyone is focused on making the most money in the shortest possible time.'

Mr Wang believes 10 years ago books like Who Moved My Cheese would not have sold very well. Now, however, books such as these are replacing those of communist revolutionaries such as Mao Xedong, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping at the bookstore shelves.

Likewise in Malaysia works of Sun Tzu are a dying fad while in Indonesia, a market which has recently opened up to English books, readers are drawn to self-help, how-to books and memoirs of people who overcome poverty to succeed.

In Japan, however, Dr Thang believes people could be moving to seek meaning beyond wealth going by the latest bestseller list. 'It does not surprise me given the persistent downtrend.'

Many said the demand for the non-fiction books is likely to grow given the needs of the Asian society.

WHAT ASIA IS READING
Top five non-fiction bestsellers from selected countries in the region

CHINA
1. Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson
2. Jack - Straight from the Gut by Jack Welch
3. Whose Cheese Can I Move? - A Chinese bestseller by Chen Tong
4. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter
5. Haier - Made in China by Yan Jianjun and Huyong
Themes of becoming rich and successful dominate the list as the Chinese hunt for success in an opening economy. -- Source: Based on sales of 71 bookstores in China

PHILIPPINES
1. The Erap Tragedy: Tales from the Snakepit by Aprodicio and Eleonor Laquian
2. The Fall of Joseph Estrada by Amando Doronila
3. 3000+ Tried and Tested Ringtones by PSICOM
4. The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson
5. The Best of Food Magazine by ABS-CBN Publishing -- Source: National Book Store

INDIA
1. A Beautiful Mind
2. Indira by Katherine Frank
3. Zoya's Story by Zoya with John Follain and Rita Cristofari
4. Truth, Love and a Little Malice by Khushwant Singh
5. River Dog by Marck Shand
Concerns are different. The country's fascination seems to be with its own past or present events. -- Source: Full Circle and The Bookshop

HONGKONG1. Who Moved My Cheese
2. Rich Dad, Poor Dad
3. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
4. A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
5. Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus by John Gray
Though top buys are the Chinese versions of Who Moved My Cheese and Rich Dad, Poor Dad, there is a desire for philosophy as well reflecting current Hongkong blues.-- Source: Commercial Press

INDONESIA
1. Rich dad, Poor Dad
2. The Business School by Robert Kiyosaki
3. Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki
4. Food Combining by local writer Andang Gunawan
5. The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer
As the country liberalises, Indonesians seem drawn to self-help and how-to books as they seek inspiration to overcome misery and poverty. Books on Islam have been inching up the bestseller list. --Source: Gramedia Pustaka Utama, otherbookstores

JAPAN
1. Washizusm Manga, Music, Thought. Intellectual recreation that makes Japan one, edited by Yoshinori Kobayashi
2. Smart Way of Life by Shigeaki Hinohara
3. Japanese That One Wants To Read Out Loud by Takashi Saito
4. The Life of Quill, the Guide Dog by Kengo Ishiguro and Ryouhei Akimoto
5. World Shaking Edition of Japanese Insights by Hikari Ota and Yuji Tanaka -- Source: Tohan Corporation

MALAYSIA
1. Rich Dad, Poor Dad
2. Retire Young, Retire Rich by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter
3. Jack-Straight from the Gut
4. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey
5. The Millionaire Mind by Stanley J. Thomas
Malaysians now seem increasingly focused about making money.-- Source: MPH Malaysia

SINGAPORE
1. Rich Dad, Poor Dad
2. Retire Young, Retire Rich
3. The Welch Way by Jeffrey A. Krames
4. Fish! by Stephen Lundin
5. SMS Text book
A prominent distributor says the trend has not changed for the past 10 to 15 years. Books reflect the aspiration of people to be successful and rich.-- Source: Straits Times bestsellers list compiled from lists of Borders, Kinokuniya, Times, MPH, Popular and WH Smith

TAIWAN

Analysis based on latest lists of bestsellers as of May 14.   - 2002 May 20  Singapore Press Holdings   

Asian American Book Market Grows

Helen Zia, author of the just-released ``Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People,'' sees proof of her thesis in the book publishing industry.

``One of the themes of my book is that Asian-Americans have reached a critical mass,'' said Zia, a Chinese-American based in Oakland, Calif., ``and all the books scheduled to be published are evidence of that.''

More than two dozen Asian-American writers, their backgrounds ranging from Vietnamese to Indian, have works just out or due for release over the next couple of months. Anticipated books include Anchee Min's historical novel ``Becoming Madame Mao'' and Elizabeth Kim's memoir ``Ten Thousand Sorrows,'' for which Doubleday paid six figures.

``Doubleday has had good success with other Asian-American authors,'' said Kim's editor, Amy Scheibe, citing Jung Chang's novel ``Wild Swans'' and other books. ``It's a market that's been there a long time and it's getting more and more recognition.''

No one knows the exact size of the market, but the Asian American Writers' Workshop, a New York-based organization, has expanded from an original membership of six in 1991 to more than 600. Meanwhile, the number of colleges with Asian-American studies departments has grown from 14 to 25 in the past five years.

``It's all driven by student demand,'' said Anita Affeldt, an official with the Association for Asian American Studies. ``Young Asian-Americans are looking for an equal voice on campus.''

The origins of contemporary Asian-American writing date to the mid-1960s, when decades-old immigration quotas were overturned. Among Korean-Americans alone, a once-tiny population grew to more than 1 million by 1990.

Commercial and critical recognition began in the mid-1970s with the publication of Maxine Hong Kingston's ``Woman Warrior,'' a memoir that won the National Book Critics Circle Award. A decade later, Amy Tan's novel ``The Joy Luck Club'' became a major best seller. And authors such as Chang-rae Lee and Ha Jin, winner of the 1999 National Book Award for fiction, have received acclaim in recent years.

Such success can be as much a burden as a breakthrough. For years, Asian-American writers were expected to follow the model of ``The Joy Luck Club,'' an often sentimental story of four Chinese immigrant women and their daughters.

``I remember one author called me up and asked if she could interview me,'' said Elaine Kim, a professor of Asian-American studies at the University of California at Berkeley.

``She said she wanted to write five mother-daughter stories and that her agent told her it would be really popular. She also wanted to have each family come from a different background - Korea, the Philippines - so she could find readers in every community.''

Zia, whose book is being released by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, said some in the industry still have narrow ideas about the market. She said one publisher told her it already had a nonfiction work by a Chinese writer and didn't want another one. Another publisher said it was already reprinting a historical work from the late 1980s.

``What's the message in that?'' Zia said. ``That one book a decade by a Chinese-American is enough?''

But Zia and many others are encouraged by the diversity of books coming out. They are both fiction and nonfiction, written by both men and women, and their stories cover everything from the Khmer Rouge (Chanrithy Him's memoir ``When Broken Glass Floats'') to a Connecticut ladies' club (David Wong Louie's novel ``The Barbarians Are Coming'').

``We're not just telling immigrant stories anymore,'' said Quang Bao, managing director of the Asian American Writers' Workshop. ``We're also telling love stories and other kinds of stories. One writer is working on a book about an Asian-American who was the servant for Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein. There's an interest in all kinds of literature.''  - By HILLEL ITALIE, Associated Press

• The Eighth Promise - Asian American life

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