K-Book Trends -

Search word : "Bookstore", Search result : 500

[TREND / SPECIAL PROJECT]

Special Project [Award-winning Korean Books ①] Literary Awards: A Message of the Times Major Korean literary award-winning books in 2024 2024.11.04 Writer Han Kang, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024 Where does the authority of the Nobel Prize in Literature derive from? Is it the huge prize of 1.3 billion won, or the long history of 124 years? Or is it the exceptional life stories of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite? Well, it’s probably a combination of all of these elements, but more than that, it’s the message that holds the secret to its long-standing authority. The Nobel Prize in Literature has always pointed out exactly what we, as a species, need to think about right now, and where we should be headed together. Each year, hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, of people around the world share the same curiosity when the Prize is announced. They ask themsel...

VOL.76 / 2024.11

[TREND / KNOWLEDGE]

Write the Story You Want to Read

Knowledge Write the Story You Want to Read Self-publishing platforms in Korea: The reasons for growth and the current state 2024.11.04 “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” - Toni Morrison, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 While there is no established academic definition, “self-publishing” refers to authors planning, editing, publishing, and distributing their own manuscripts without working through a publishing company. As opposed to “vanity publishing,” which involves paying an upfront fee to a publisher to produce and distribute a book, it is used almost interchangeably with “independent publishing” in Korea (some researchers and book critics use the two terms separately). The desire to document ...

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 / EXPORT CASE]

New Trends in Korean Literature

Export Case New Trends in Korean Literature 2024.10.07 It’s important to be ahead of the pack in global publishing; to find the new trends and to be future looking in order to be successful. I have always been an explorer, a seeker of the new, while travelling professionally and personally, and that has led me to discover Korean literature more than a decade ago. The first books to break through were literary masterpieces Please Look After Mom (Changbi Publishers) by Shin Kyung-Sook and The Vegetarian (Changbi Publishers) by Han Kang. After the initial introduction of Korean books to global readers who had never heard of them, let alone read them, I introduced mysteries and thrillers which are already super popular in the World English and global markets. So, readers of Steig Larrsen’s mega-bestseller, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, devoured Jeong You-Jeong’s The Good Son (EunHaeng NaMu Publishing). J.M. Lee’s The Investigation (EunHae...

VOL.75 / 2024.10

[TREND / TOPIC]

Korean Readers’ Picks in the First Half of 2024

Topic Korean Readers’ Picks in the First Half of 2024 2024.09.02 According to the “2023 National Reading Survey” announced by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism in Korea, the overall reading rate was observed to be 43.0%, the lowest since the survey was initiated in 1994. This means that 6 out of 10 adults don’t even read a single e-book or audiobook, let alone a paper book. The shrinking of the reading population, which forms the foundation for the publishing market, and the aging population have been issues in Korea for quite a long time. However, it was indeed a shocking figure for the publishing industry as it expected to see a steady increase in the reading population since it enjoyed a boom during the pandemic compared to other industries.In the first half of the year, the reduction in newly published titles, driven by a contracting publishing market, alongside the enduring popularity of long-time bestsellers, played a si...

VOL.74 / 2024.09

[INFORMATION / NEW BOOKS]

Contradictions and Hopes of Life, Unfolded Through Intimate Conversations

New Books Contradictions and Hopes of Life,Unfolded Through Intimate Conversations 2026.07 Kim Hye-ri, The Books We Loved, Boogie Woogie, 2026. The Books We Loved by Kim Hye-ri, is a reflection on the truths and shadows of life examined from various angles. As a veteran film journalist, Kim has long communicated with the public through reviews and columns. She has been praised by fellow critics as a model of film criticism, delivering the sincerity, fiction, tragedy, and hope embedded in cinema through her deep and thoughtful perspective. While moving within film circles, her experience introducing movies on the radio led her to launch the specialized film podcast 〈Kim Hye-ri’s Film Club〉 in 2016, alongside producer Choi Da-eun and actress Im Soo-jung. As Kim grew accustomed to discussing cinema through spoken words rather than writte...

VOL.96 / 2026.07

[TREND / KNOWLEDGE]

Current Status of Adult-Oriented Picture Book Publishing and Publishers in Korea

Knowledge Current Status of Adult-Oriented Picture Book Publishingand Publishers in Korea 2024.09.02 Reflections on “picture books for adults” My publishing house, “A Little Cat at Noon (오후의 소묘),” began to be called the “picture book publisher for grown-ups” as we published our first picture book At the Drop of a Cat (written by ?lise Fontenaille, illustrated by Violeta L?piz) in spring 2019. But, what exactly is a “picture book for adults”? Korean cover of At the Drop of a Cat According to Rouergue, French publisher of the original book At the Drop of a Cat (original title: Les poings sur les ?les), the book is a picture book for children aged 6 or above. If a child and an adult read the book together, the child reads it more progressively. As such, while the best readers of picture books have been, and are, children, there are, in fact, fun picture ...

VOL.74 / 2024.09

[INFORMATION / BEST SELLERS]

The Beginning of Summer: June's Integrated Bestseller List

Best Sellers The Beginning of Summer:June's Integrated Bestseller List 2026.07 Since the March issue, this column has analyzed the bestseller lists of four major bookstore franchises in South Korea: Kyobo Book Centre, Youngpoong Bookstore, Jongno Books, and Arc N Book. While previous analyses focused strictly on brick-and-mortar sales, the charts of online bookstores, which now represent a major pillar of book distribution, are arguably just as important as their offline counterparts. Because all four of these franchises operate online storefronts alongside their physical locations, the upcoming features from the July through October issues will examine comprehensive charts that combine both online and offline data. To kick off this series, we look at the integrated bestseller chart compiled by Kyobo Book Centre, the largest and most influential of the four franchises. During th...

VOL.96 / 2026.07

[INFORMATION / AGENCY LIST]

Agency List

Agency List Agency List 2026.07 Abba Communication Ltd. Launched as a translation and interpretation agency in 204, Abba Communication (Abba here after) now also acts as a copyright agency. Abba supports young Korean publishers who are aspiring to build experiences in moving on to the international market, providing consultation on the way until they become global. Abba’s special forte is its excellent professional team with expertise in re-writing and/or editing synopses and introductions into texts both competitive and persuasive. Other services Abba provides include translating original materials and creating promotional texts. Focused Subjects LiberalArts : Biography, Management, Negotiation Contacts • Kim jungsukE-mail : jskim@abbacomm.co.kr / Phone : +82-2-707-2103 / Regions : Asia, UK, USA • Han-gyul GoE-mail : a...

VOL.96 / 2026.07

[INFORMATION / BEST SELLERS]

Bestsellers for the First Week of May: Family Month Special

Best Sellers Bestsellers for the First Week of May:Family Month Special 2026.06 Major franchises dominate the majority of South Korea’s offline bookstore market. Currently, four major franchises—Kyobo Book Centre, Youngpoong Bookstore, Jongno Books, and Arc N Book—are competing in the offline retail sector. Starting with Kyobo Book Centre, which has the largest number of branches, followed by Youngpoong Bookstore, Jongno Books, and Arc N Book, we will examine the top 10 best-selling books. In our last issue, we explored the bestseller chart at Youngpoong Bookstore. For this June edition, which marks the fourth installment of our offline bookstore bestseller analysis, we conclude our look at the “Big Four” franchises by examining Arc N Book’s top sellers from...

VOL.95 / 2026.06

VOL.96/2026.07

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