VOL.93/2026.04

 

Export Case: Jeong Hae-Yeon’s Success in Thailand

 

2026.01.05

 

Introduction of Eric Yang Agency

 

Founded thirty years ago, Eric Yang Agency is now widely known as one of Korea’s leading literary agencies for introducing international translated titles to the domestic market, including the Harry Potter series and JUSTICE: What’s the Right Thing To Do?. Less widely known, however, is that the agency has also achieved significant results in exporting Korean books to overseas markets for more than two decades. Over twenty years ago, Eric Yang Agency established a branch in China, and today it exports Korean titles across Asia through its offices in Taiwan and Thailand, as well as through local Eric Yang agents based in each market. Building on this stable Asian foundation, the agency has recently expanded its efforts to export Korean books more broadly, including to English-language and European markets. In addition to handling global rights for authors such as Jang Kang-Myeong, Kim Cho-Yeop, and Cheon Seon-Ran, the agency drew international attention with Lee On-Hwa’s novel A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang (Dive), which attracted strong overseas interest even before its official domestic publication and was sold into eleven countries prior to release. Kim Soo-Hyeon’s I Decided to Live as Myself (Clay House) has likewise been exported to seventeen countries, including Thailand. These achievements demonstrate Eric Yang Agency’s strong track record across genres, spanning fiction, non-fiction, and children’s books.

 

 

The growth of the Thai publishing market

 

Thailand’s publishing market has drawn attention as one of the most stable and steadily growing markets in Southeast Asia. This growth has been driven by a significant influx of Millennial and Gen Z readers before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, which has expanded the overall reading population. According to a report by the Thailand Publishing Promotion Agency, the Thai publishing market is projected to grow at an average annual rate of approximately 3.5% from 2025 to 2031. By genre, comics, thrillers, self-help, romance, and fantasy novels rank among the top categories, with fiction showing particularly strong growth, accounting for as much as 67% of the market. Within the fiction sector, BL (boys’ love), mystery and detective fiction, as well as horror and suspense genres, are reported to be especially popular. This trend indicates that fiction has become a core category driving publishing consumption in Thailand, attracting new readers through print books as well as e-books and online platforms.

 

Korean books in the Thai market

 

In Thailand’s publishing market, translated titles account for approximately 66% of all publications, and following books from the English-speaking world and Japan, demand for the translation and publication of Korean books has continued to rise. This is one of the key reasons Thailand has rapidly emerged in recent years as one of the most active overseas markets for Korean titles. Building on the cultural familiarity formed through K-pop and K-dramas, attention has now expanded to the literary sensibility and editorial strength inherent in Korean books themselves. As Korean titles gain a stronger presence across a wide range of genres?including children’s literature, young adult fiction, general fiction, and practical books?Thai publishers are beginning to explore Korean content at earlier stages and to actively discuss new forms of collaboration. Recognizing the growth potential of the Thai publishing market, Eric Yang Agency further strengthened its local operations by recruiting a dedicated Thai-based agent in early 2025. As a result, the agency signed contracts with Thai publishers for more than thirty Korean titles in that single year alone.
Korean essays have traditionally been among the most frequently contracted genres in Thailand, thanks to their sustained popularity. Following the bestseller success of Hwang Bo-Reum’s Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop (Clay House), a large number of healing novels have also been acquired and published. In addition, within Thailand’s educational comics market, the Cookie Run (Seoul Media Group) series has consistently ranked as a bestseller. More recently, as demand for thrillers and mystery novels has grown rapidly in Thailand, publishers that once focused primarily on healing fiction and essays from Korea are now actively seeking out Korean genre fiction?particularly thrillers and mysteries?marking a noticeable shift in the market’s interests.

 

 

Writer Jeong Hae-Yeon in the Thai thriller market

 

Writer Jeong Hae-Yeon has established her name in Thailand as a leading figure in Korean thriller fiction, known for combining tightly constructed suspense with emotionally driven narratives. The fact that many of her titles have been contracted and published in Thailand attests to this recognition. In particular, Double (Happy Books To You), published in Thailand in 2015, was the work that first firmly introduced the name “Jeong Hae-Yeon” to Thai readers. Through this novel, readers experienced the “distinctive twists and tension” characteristic of Korean thrillers, responding enthusiastically to its genre appeal and describing it as a “page-turner” that was impossible to put down.

 

 

In 2022, Jeong Hae-Yeon’s readership in Thailand expanded further with the publication of On My Way To My Death (Goldenbough), released by Piccolo, an imprint of Amarin, Thailand’s largest publishing house. While the novel explores weighty themes such as death, life, and the value of existence, its immersive tone and fast-paced narrative left a lasting impression on Thai readers. Local reviews praised the work for its “unexpected twists” and its “vivid portrayal of human psychology within darkness.” Following this success, additional titles by Jeong Hae-Yeon were published by the same publisher and others in Thailand, including The Bongmyeong Apartment Flower Boy Investigation Diary (Goldenbough), Suspects (Wisdom House), and The Flamingo’s Place (Elixir). With multiple works released consecutively, she has firmly established herself in Thailand as one of Korea’s leading genre fiction authors. Beyond individual translation and publication deals, the continued contracting and release of Jeong Hae-Yeon’s works demonstrate the potential for Korean genre authors to develop into recognizable and sustainable brands in the Thai market.

 

 

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Written by Jackie Yang (General Manager of the Export Team at Eric Yang Agency