Blackpaper Magazine: One Page, One Dollar, 160,000 Copies

Hong Kong – As cheap as one Hong Kong dollar, as thin as one piece of paper, Blackpaper stands out among the other publications on sale at 7-Eleven convenience stores in Hong Kong.

The single-page magazine began publishing in 2010, originally billed as a  “Fake Literary Magazine.” Its contents typically consist of just 60 to 80 intriguing sentences themed on a particular word. Up to 160,000 copies of the monthly magazine have been sold in Hong Kong within a year.

“We never imagined our magazine could draw so much attention in Hong Kong,” said Ka-Ho Yiu, better known as Bu, one of the founders of Blackpaper and also a DJ at Commercial Radio. “In fact, we have only printed 2,000 pieces in the first month of last year. As soon as the magazines were sold out, we had to overprint. Then sold out, and overprinted,” Bu said.

The production team of Blackpaper is formed by Seven Chan, a DJ from Commercial Radio, Roy Lam, a lyricist who was previously a DJ from Commercial Radio, and Bu. The three good friends’ original thought was to create Blackpaper just as an excuse for getting together.

“We have come up with many different ideas about what we were going to do during our gathering, but unfortunately we are too busy to do a blockbuster other than our own jobs. A one-page production is the only thing we can do in our spare time. So there came Blackpaper,” said Bu.

Bu said he hoped Blackpaper could enrich the cultural diversity of Hong Kong’s society. “In Japan, even a leaflet in metro can be creative and inspiring. ”

Inside the literary Blackpaper, swarms of words about critics of the current social phenomena and funny sentences could be read. Bu said approximately 10,000 to 20,000 issues are sold per month.

“I have bought a couple Blackpaper as soon as the magazine was launched. Some are for myself to collect and others for my friends,” said Orchid Zhang, 23, a student who is studying law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Zhang said she was a 10-year fan of Commercial Radio and that is one of the reasons she bought the magazine.

“I often hear the DJs’ promotion of Blackpaper when I am listening to the radio,” said Zhang. “I am attracted by its content and am curious about the next issue when Bu advertises it in his radio program.”

The HK$1 magazine, with its distinctive layout, was initially available in just seven locations, including book store Kubrick, furniture shop G.O.D and creative social enterprise SkyHigh.

Bu said the reason why they set the price at HK$1 rather than put it online for free was because they didn’t want their efforts to be in vain. “Writing is of value. Nowadays the Internet is flooded with too much information that people can’t tell the good from the bad. Actually HK$1 is only a symbolic cost.”

Along with the new year of 2011, Blackpaper had a “facelift” with a new tagline, “Fake Entertainment Magazine”, and a new retailing partner, the world’s largest chain convenience 7-Eleven, with a sharp increase of selling locations up to 1,000.

Kain Fok, 19, a form-five student from Macau, left a message on the Blackpaper’s Facebook page complaining that she couldn’t buy the magazine in Macau.

Fok said she heard about Blackpaper from another magazine and was impressed by its interesting way of turning common things around. “I haven’t bought one yet because they don’t sell the magazine in Macau. And it was sold out quickly in Hong Kong,” said Fok.

When asked about the reasons for the magazine’s popularity, Bu said one is that the writing style of Blackpaper appeals to the current generation. “Every sentence in our magazine is short, just like status updates in Facebook and words in microblog.”

Siu-Wa Tang, an editor of Hong Kong-based literary magazine Fleurs des Lettres and a DJ from Radio Television Hong Kong, said the popular renown of DJ Bu and Seven Chan are the factors behind Blackpaper’s success with readers. “What’s more, Blackpaper itself caters to Hong Kong people because it is cheap, thin, light and [written in] short [sentences],” Tang said.

According to Blackpaper’s owners, they are still losing money on the business.

“But our purpose of creating the magazine is not to earn money. This is our hobby project and we just do it for fun,” said Bu.

A Blackpaper Bookset, which contains 12 issues of last year, is now on sale in Hong Kong. But Blackpaper’s ambitions don’t stop there. “We are exploring cooperation with some local fashion brands and even [thinking about] a music concert now,” Bu said.