Mingjun is a diminutive woman, very much a member of the publishing's inner circle. She laughs and jokes easily amongst trusted friends, but to strangers and new staff, she can appear quite forbidding. At those moments, when she is not smiling, her most noticeable feature is a strong, determined chin.

Mingjun is this 40-year-old woman's religious name as well as her pen name. A devout Buddhist, a Buddha pendant is her only adornment.

There is much steel in Mingjun's character, steel that may have been underestimated as she started from scratch, opening her first eponymous chain bookstore in Shanghai three years ago, and suffering the ups and downs of the publishing business. Today, Mingjun Bookstore has expanded into 28 direct chain operations and 3 franchisees, and has a book club with 150,000 registered members in Shanghai.

China's publishing sector first ventured into chain operations in the mid-1990s. Since 1995, chain operations have advanced, moving from state-owned operations to private enterprises and from direct chain operations to franchising. As a result, popular book centers like Jifeng, Xishu, Luming and Scholar have mushroomed around the city. But unlike general interest bookstores, Mingjun focuses on economic, financial and management books, which set her bookstores apart from the others.

"It's my specialty that distinguishes my bookstores from the competition and gives you a hook to remember us by," says Mingjun.

Her personal reading, too, is business-related. The owner of the bookstore is a fan of Hong Kong novelist Leung Fung-Yee, whose novels feature the unremitting struggles and complicated love stories of independent professional women against the backdrop of Hong Kong's unpredictable business circles.

"I think the reason why I became so obsessed with business books and novels is that money brings out both the best and the worst in us. It's a reflection of humanity. It's not as cold as we imagined. In fact, it's charged emotionally," says Mingjun, a literature major.

The private bookstore titan says she is more of a book planner and marketing strategist than a bookstore operator, and her role in strategy and planning is also the key to her success.

Born to be a wordsmith, Mingjun, a Chongqing native, became a ghostwriter and freelancer in her home city in the early 1980s. She joined the editing force for the famous "Fivejiao" book series (a collection of short stories and articles, much like Reader's Digest, with each issue costing only cost five jiao -- half a yuan) in 1985. It was then that she realized the enormous profit potential of the publishing business. There and then, Mingjun started to outline her life's ambition.

In 1986, Mingjun went to work for a business newspaper in Chengdu, where she later became a high-profile reporter. She started compiling guides to The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT, on the side, which proved lucrative. Suddenly, she felt an urge to fulfill her own dream -- publishing her own book. So she penned a business novel, Winners, which told of cunning business scams combined with the twists from Tsun Tsu's The Art of War. But the book didn't sell. Mingjun, who arranged for it to be published by a friend in the business, paid for the costs of publication herself.

"A book agent later told me that the problem wasn't in the writing or the story," she explains. "It was all about the cover and design. So I repackaged it, and sold more than 100,000 copies to distributors in one week."

It was a lifetime's worth of lessons in the domestic book market. In 1997, she was appointed assistant to the editor-in-chief of the Sichuan Financial Times, which brought her to Shanghai as the director of the weekly newspaper's local office.

Mingjun arrived in the city at a time when stock fever had just started to take the town by storm. She interviewed the big players in the local stock market, distinguishing herself with her human interest stories. Rather than merely reporting the hard, cold news, she contemplated the ups and downs faced by small shareholders. She won the hearts of readers, and the circulation of the weekly newspaper jumped to 150,000 in Shanghai at its peak, becoming one of the top financial publications nationwide.

Despite a busy day job, her professional passion for writing and editing continued to burn. With the clout that comes with running a widely circulated newspaper, she hit on the idea of inviting investment gurus from around the country to write analytical articles about the stock market. She then compiled these articles into a book and published What Does It Take to Be a Successful Short-term Investor. The book attracted those interested in managing their own stock portfolio as it explains the cyclical nature of stocks and helps in deciding on an entry and exit point. Savvier now, she applied marketing strategy to the book, and got the experts to go on a book-signing tour.

Mingjun played her cards right. The publicity, combined with the red-hot topic, drove the book up the bestsellers' chart and enhanced her reputation.

She later published the book's contents in a series of newspaper articles. "This way, newspaper management and book publishing can work hand in hand to promote each other," she says.

In 2000, Mingjun quit the position in the newspaper and started her own business.

Looking back, she sees the period the lowest point of her career as a positive. Mingjun said it gave her the opportunity to plunge into her strong suit -- planning finance books. Drawing on her various publishing experiences, she planned six business bestsellers and amassed 1 million yuan (US$120,000), enough to set up her company in five months. The startup began by staking out a claim at every stop along the RT No. 2. Mingjun has worked hard for her money and her business reputation, against the odds. She has had her challenges, for sure: Two years ago one of her managers absconded with a considerable sum of money and many of the invoices from wholesalers. Shortly afterwards, unscrupulous wholesalers accused Mingjun of owing them money -- but with the invoices gone, she had no way of proving them wrong. When her creditors began clamoring for a total of 1 million yuan, she showed her steely side: Mingjun managed to convince them that she would return their funds by mortgaging her personal assets. And she did so.

For Mingjun, focusing on business-conscious readers has allowed her to carve a solid niche in publishing circles, with a solid reputation for her chain store operation. Liu Feng, the deputy editor-in-chief of Yilin Press publishing house, says, "Take a look at the bestsellers' list in major cities, and you will find financial books or self-help books in the top spots. That's all it takes to explain Mingjun's success. She jumped ahead of others to establish this niche market."

When it comes to popular investment books these days, Mingjun says the messenger is the message.

"Let's face it, credibility is a factor," she explains. "That means authors who have established trust with their readers are prospering now. More than ever, readers are looking for names they trust. Case in point: the bestseller by renowned Hong Kong economist Steven Cheung Ng Sheong. His loyal following has helped spark sales. It's that access to an audience that knows your name.

"It seems that readers cannot get enough. We've pulled back on traditional stock-market investing books and even on personal finance books. We're ramping up on real estate investing," says Mingjun, citing the success of Zhang's books.

Successful publishing also requires a form of life-long learning, Mingjun points out. She sets aside a big chunk of time every day to read sales statistics and how-to literature on publishing and marketing, occasionally jotting down a new idea or a fresh take on an old idea.

Mingjun is beginning to stretch her subject matter when it comes to planning her books. Last year, she planned a twin book: Wrong Love and Loved the Wrong One, documenting the love and relationship quagmires that beset big city denizens from both a men's and women's point of view. Penned by local psychologist Wang Yuru, the book was a hit. Now Mingjun moves on to her next book plan: a five-volume picture book series about old Shanghai.

"Shanghai is a magnet, attracting both foreigners and out-of-towners. When they're living in Shanghai, curiosity about the city's past is inevitable. So I think the series will be well received by the market," she says confidently.

Although it's a big switch from her investment-wise book titles, Mingjun promises she will not turn back on her metier. A few management titles written by prominent financial scholars and entrepreneurs are also in the pipeline.

They will very likely be successes, as readers have reason to trust this woman.

(Shanghai Daily February 2, 2004)