The hint of make-up, artfully coiffed hair and boyish looks resemble a teen idol. His autograph sessions on the mainland draw thousands of fans, particularly young girls. He's even managed by EE Media - the company behind a crop of singers including Super Girl contest winner Li Yuchun.
But Guo Jingming is no pop star. He's one of the mainland's top-selling authors. The 26-year-old is often held up as a voice of the balinghou (post-1980s) generation, along with writers such as Han Han and Guo Ni. Although not known for literary heft, they are hugely popular with young readers. Now some are starting to get a following in Hong Kong, which is why publishers have been flying them in for the annual Book Fair. Guo Ni, for instance, attracted gaggles of teenage girls at her autograph session last year.
Guo Jingming may draw at least as much interest at his Book Fair talk tomorrow on the post-80s generation, if only because he's often cited as the mainland's richest writer. With a reported annual income of about 1.3 million yuan (HK$1.47 million), he's the only mainland writer to have been included on Forbes' Chinese Celebrity List for the past six years.
'Good looks might bring some screams from young female fans but I don't think it helps that much in terms of book sales,' he says.
There's no denying Guo taps into the psyche of mainland youth with tales of middle-class teenagers riven with angst about identity and love, and yet have a fondness for designer label fashion and other luxury goods. His novels are popular not just with urban adolescents but also those in rural districts, reflecting their concern with individuality as well as growing materialism.
Guo doesn't set out to address teenage readers.
