Well established in Europe and the US, literary agents are now setting up shop in Taiwan. But serious literature is a hard sell. Agents here are getting their feet wet by representing writers of comics and online media. However, the formula for success is something both agents and writers are trying to figure out. (photo by Chuang Kung-ju)

In The Making of a Bestseller, Dan Brown, author of the worldwide smash hit The Da Vinci Code, calls his literary agent Heide Lange an angel for his career.

Literary agents are well established in Europe and the US. There, nearly 90% of all authors negotiate with publishers via agents who also handle many other aspects of their business affairs. That's not yet the case in Taiwan, though their influence is growing here too. Wanwan, Ethan and Sam Woo all used MSN to draw attention to their work, and have all now turned to professional agents to manage their work and brands with an eye to developing new business opportunities.

Literary agents are on the march in Taiwan, but what does this profession really do? Why do agents and the artists they represent have such a love-hate relationship? What niche will Taiwan's developing literary representation industry find in mainland China's 1.3-billion-person market, and what challenges will it face there?

The third annual Chinese-Language Blog Awards got underway the weekend before Christmas 2007. Perhaps the most celebrated (and photographed) blogger in attendance was Wanwan (Hu Chia-wei), whose blog has clocked more than 100 million views. But Wanwan's fame extends beyond the Internet. Her first book, I Hate to Work, But Enjoying My Life, published in late 2005, sold out its first print run of 120,000 volumes in just two weeks. Those sales, together with dozens of stationery products and knickknacks based on her work, have been a rare bright spot for Taiwan's struggling publishing industry.

Wanwan has built her success largely on hard work and on stories of everyday people related in an appealing comic-strip style. But these two elements aren't the whole of the story. "We really have to thank her agent, Ray Huang," says her mother. "He gave Wanwan many suggestions and much assistance during the creative process and during the marketing of the first book."