My father, Carlton, was and is an avid growth stock investor, and he began writing and publishing the Cabot Market Letter back in 1970 because he wanted to share his ideas with other investors.

I grew up with the business, so l know a lot about both investing and publishing, but at heart I’m more of a publisher, so I hire investment experts to deliver the nuts-and-bolts content of our various investment advisories.

Now, a major truth about the publishing business, whether it’s newspapers, magazines, or newsletters, is that the profits are in the renewals, not the first-time customers. It costs money to get a first-time customer, so we work very hard to deliver high-quality content that will compel readers to renew their subscriptions.

And one way we do that is by acting honestly. In fact, part of our mission statement says that we will “conduct all our affairs honestly, not only because our independence and trustworthiness are major assets, but also because it’s the right thing to do.”

Another way we convince subscribers to renew is to give good investment advice.

For example, until this year, Chinese stocks were red-hot and investors who put a lot of money in the right ones saw terrific profits. In 2006, Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report was the top-performing newsletter, with a gain of 78.6% (according to Hulbert). In 2007, Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report was #1 again, with a gain of 74.1%.

At the market top, back in the fall of 2007, the situation was glorious. Getting new subscribers when the newspaper headlines were screaming about profits in Chinese stocks was relatively easy. But I know from experience that markets go in cycles, and when everybody is feeling wonderful about a trend that has proved very profitable, that trend is likely to change.

It happened in housing, as we all know. And it happened in Chinese stocks, too.

Yes, the Chinese market, like the U.S. market, topped out in October 2007, and began a long decline–just like the U.S. market–that didn’t end until last month. But the good news is that Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report didn’t stay heavily invested! Instead, under the able leadership of editor Paul Goodwin, it cut back dramatically early in 2008, telling investors to sell their Chinese stocks and go to cash.

And that worked out very well. As of the end of November (Hulbert’s last measurement period), Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report was still a top performer, with an annualized return over the previous three years of 34%, compared to a negative 1% for the DJ-W 5000.

And now I have further good news. Just this week, Paul received a buy signal from his Chinese market-timing indicator and began buying Chinese securities again, specifically, one stock and one ETF.

So from my perspective, while October 2007 was an “easy” time to invest in Chinese stocks (because of the great headlines), it was the worst time. And while today is a difficult time to invest in Chinese stocks (or any stocks), because the news is terrible, it’s likely to be the best time. That’s how the market works.

So, if you’re willing to risk some of your portfolio in the fast-growing Chinese market (and perhaps Brazil, India and Russia as well), Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report has all the information you need.