Taiwan has seen as many as 30 percent more gay-themed books published and sold in recent years, partly driven by young women readers, according to bookstore statistics.

To tap the business opportunities, leading Taiwanese book chain Kingstone Bookstore will be holding a book fair from 20 June to 31 July on gay-themed books, whose publication and sales have both jumped by 20, 30 precent in recent years.

Online bookstore books.com.tw is also running an exhibition to showcase 'boys' love' and 'girls' love' comics. Sales of such homoerotic manga comics are up 20 percent from last year. French retailer Carrefour has also targeted the topic of sexual identity head-on, setting up a special area for these books for the first time.

The biggest hit this year so far has been ‘Taipei Dad, New York Mom’ by gay documentary film director Mickey Chen. The autobiographical prose collection published last year has won him a Taipei International Book Exhibition Prize, selling as many as 50,000 copies. Adapted into a play in February, the title will hit the silver screen in 2014.

The Chinese version of Jodi Picoult’s ‘Sing You Home’ has sold more than 10,000 copies since its release in March. Some 90 percent of buyers are said to be female readers, mostly aged 16 to 22.

Following up on its success with Patricia Nell Warren’s ‘The Front Runner’ last year, gay book publisher Soul Mate is going to publish on Tuesday (5 June) the Chinese version of ‘Billy’s Boy', a sequel to the international bestseller.

A trailer for the drama of Taipei Dad, New York Mom: