K-Book Trends -

Search word : "English", Search result : 345

[TREND / TOPIC]

The Era of High Exchange Rates and the Korean Publishing Market

Topic The Era of High Exchange Rates and the Korean Publishing Market Readers ultimately respond to good content 2025.04.07 The structure of the Korean publishing market and translation-oriented publishing in the 1990s I vividly remember the days when the Asian Financial Crisis hit Korea. The value of foreign currencies jumped one day. I waited for it to fall, but things didn’t go as expected. The value of foreign currencies continued to skyrocket, and the value of the Korean won plummeted. This was the situation in 1997. Until then, the Korean publishing market had been heavily dependent on importing translation rights to titles that could compete in Korea from overseas markets, mainly Japan and the English-speaking countries. In this climate, Korea was hit by the era of high exchange rates. By the time we had to pay the advance for a title contracted at 800 won per dollar, the exchange rate had nearly doubled to 1,600 won per ...

VOL.81 / 2025.04

[TREND / KNOWLEDGE]

Books Loved Across Generations: Korean Steady Sellers

Knowledge Books Loved Across Generations: Korean Steady Sellers 2025.04.07 Bestseller lists reflect the issues of the times and the interests of readers. You can get a glimpse into readers’ thoughts and interests by looking at why a book gained traction. On the other hand, steady sellers are not only reflective of the times, like bestsellers, but they have the power to transcend time. A steady seller refers to a book that goes beyond just being a trend, and has a long-lasting lifespan through the power of its story. There are many books that become overnight bestsellers simply because they are written by popular authors with a fandom, or because they are endorsed by influencers. However, steady sellers are the ones that stay with readers across time. These books have stood the test of time and are more than just a fad; they resonate with readers and deliver a deeper message about life. They are not just books published a long time ago, but books still bein...

VOL.81 / 2025.04

[TREND / KNOWLEDGE]

Export Support Projects of KPIPA in the First Half of 2025

Knowledge Export Support Projects of KPIPA in the First Half of 2025 K-Books Go Global! 2025.03.10 To promote the excellence of K-publishing content and various cultural exchanges, the Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea (KPIPA) has been actively supporting Korean books’ advancement into the global market. The biggest international book fair in the English-speaking world: the London Book Fair (participant)Objective: Organize the “Korea Rights Centre” to support Korean books’ advancement into the English-speaking markets, as well as copyright export consultations and promotionDate: March 11 (Tue.) ? March 13 (Thu.), 2025Venue: Olympia London, UK See you in Bologna in spring: the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (participant)Objective: Support Korean picture books to reach global children and organize an “Author...

VOL.80 / 2025.03

[TREND / KNOWLEDGE]

AI Digital Textbook Policy and the Publishing Industry

Knowledge AI Digital Textbook Policy and the Publishing Industry 2025.02.17 The “AI Digital Textbook” vision: 5 million textbooks for 5 million students! “5 million textbooks for 5 million students.” This is the vision set forth by the Ministry of Education, the main policy maker for national education in Korea, in June 2023 when it announced plans to promote AI digital textbooks. AI digital textbooks are textbooks loaded with various learning materials and learning aid features using intellectual information technology, such as AI, to support a variety of customized learning opportunities that match students’ abilities and levels. They are an innovative policy focusing on the pure mission of normalizing public education through educational transformation by using textbooks that incorporate AI, the most significant topic of the era.In accordance wit...

VOL.79 / 2025.02

[TREND / EXPORT CASE]

Spreading Its Wings To the World: The Seoul Letter Shop

Export Case Spreading Its Wings To the World: The Seoul Letter Shop 2025.01.06 On October 12, 2023, I received an email from Shinwon Agency, Korea’s first copyright export agency. They wanted to meet me at the Frankfurt Book Fair. I was going to be there, so we agreed to meet on October 19. This was about a month after I had sent them a cold email looking for an export partner. Within that month, I sent them a cover letter for my publishing house, met with them to introduce my publication lineup, and passed on additional materials about the works they were interested in. Among them was a proposal for The Seoul Letter Shop (TXTY), including a synopsis.It felt interesting and fateful that two Korean companies would be meeting in Frankfurt on October 19, 2023, to talk about working together. Shinwon said that there was a lot of interest from Anglo-American partner agencies and offered an exclusive agreement for The Seoul Letter Shop. I was flabbe...

VOL.78 / 2025.01

[TREND / SPECIAL PROJECT]

Korean Literature’s Borderless Literary Appeal

Special Project [Award-winning Korean Books ②] Korean Literature’s Borderless Literary Appeal Korean works nominated or winning international literary awards in 2024 2024.12.02 The flow, trend, and outlook of Korean literature Until 2023, one of the major concerns in the Korean literary world, intellectual circles, and the publishing industry was whether Korean books, including literature, would continue to expand their presence in the global content market. And, this became a “certainty” in only a year. Han Kang’s winning of the Nobel Prize in Literature served as the catalyst. In the four years since 2020, the number of Korean authors winning international literary awards skyrocketed. Among the 45 awards won since 2003, 20 were from 2020 and onward. The following are some of the most prominent wins or nominations for international literary awards in the past four years.In 2020, Kim Young-Ha’s Diary of a Murderer (Bokbok S...

VOL.77 / 2024.12

[TREND / KNOWLEDGE]

Korean Publishing Market’s Trends in 2024 and Outlook for 2025

Knowledge Korean Publishing Market’s Trends in 2024 and Outlook for 2025 2024.12.02 Trends in 2024: Questioning life, fandoms, and Nobel Prize in Literature Philosophy and psychology books have dominated the Korean publishing market, with Reading Schopenhauer at Forty (Uknowbooks) topping the overall bestseller list through August. Also, 11 of the 30 bestselling fiction titles in the first half of the year were “rebound” titles, meaning they were published more than 10 years ago. In addition, the nonfiction category returned to growth after 4 years of decline, and the cases of books becoming bestsellers after being recommended by celebrities increased.Reading Schopenhauer at Forty has continued to grow in popularity this year after being featured on a TV entertainment series last year. The autho...

VOL.77 / 2024.12

[TREND / EXPORT CASE]

Globalizing Korean Literature: The Journey of Kim Hye-jin and Her Works

Export Case Globalizing Korean Literature:The Journey of Kim Hye-jin and Her Works 2024.11.04 I am writing this a day after Han Kang received the Nobel Prize in Literature “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” The first in history for a writer from South Korea. It is, without a doubt, a huge milestone for South Korean literature and a debt that was long overdue. Some may even feel that this is the ultimate goal for the internationalization of Korean literature.Korea has an incredibly rich and diverse literary culture that has conquered the world in recent years, and I feel that this is an interesting moment to stop and think about how authors and authorships are managed. The most important ‘ingredients’, which are talent and key resources such as translators, grants, and promotion programs, are already there. The support is truly impressive. But how can we best promote a...

VOL.76 / 2024.11

[TREND / TOPIC]

What Comes After Today’s Korean-Style Healing Novels?

Topic What Comes After Today’s Korean-Style Healing Novels? 2024.10.07 “While the so-called ‘Korean style healing novels’ are selling well these days, trends always change. This craze will be replaced with a new trend sooner or later.” Barbara J. Zitwer, a literary agent working across English-speaking countries, said so in a recent interview. Zitwer is an American who has been exporting Korean literature overseas for about 20 years and is often referred to as a “Korean literature ambassador.” She explains that the phenomenon of Korean-style healing novels being so popular not only in Korea, but also abroad, is something that may change at any time soon. “At first, everyone read pure literature,” she said, “and then the trend shifted to healing novels.” While it may seem that the popularity of Korean literature across all genres has grown on the surface, Zitwer says that international readers switched genres when they got tired of...

VOL.75 / 2024.10

[TREND / SPECIAL PROJECT]

Promoting Korean Art Through Books

Special Project [English Books in Korea ⑤] Promoting Korean Art Through Books English editions of Korean art books for foreigners 2024.10.07 Youlhwadang Publishers, the publisher I’m working for as an editor, has three ways of utilizing English when publishing books on Korean traditional culture and arts. At the most basic level, we include an English summary at the front of the book that summarizes the content of the Korean edition, with the intent of providing the most basic information for librarians in foreign libraries with no Korean skills to categorize the books. For art collections that are mainly image-based with relatively few texts, the full text is included in both Korean and English so that it can be distributed at home and abroad as a single edition. This is also useful for artists to use as a portfolio when performing abroad. Finally, the Korean and English editions can be planned as independent books, published simultaneous...

VOL.75 / 2024.10

VOL.93/2026.04

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