VOL.77/2024.12

2nd Week, April 2022

Bestseller Trends in the Four Biggest Online Bookstores in Korea

2022.05.02

The entire world, not just Korea, has been eyeing a particular work throughout April. It is “Pachinko,” a drama produced by Apple TV+ in the US. Taking a painful moment in history as background, it tells the story of Koreans who immigrated to Japan. The drama is based on an original novel with the same title written by Lee Min-Jin, a Korean living in the US, whose work has become a bestseller chosen by New York Times in 2017. The growing popularity of this weekly drama has made the Pachinko series rank 1st and 2nd in all four major online bookstores in Korea. Beginning with the sentence, “The history has ruined us all, but it doesn’t matter,” Pachinko narrates the lives of Koreans who immigrated to Japan, who could not blend with the locals and belonged nowhere. While the book and the drama have become hot tickets, people around the world have begun to take an interest in Korea’s history and culture. In other words, Pachinko is proving the value and power of books.
Meanwhile, in the field of business, books written by authors popular on Youtube ranked high among the bestsellers. For example, Real Estate Investment that Can Change Your Life is by Jung Tae-Ik, who is running a Youtube channel called “A man reading real estate (부동산 읽어주는 남자).” In the book, the author – an investment mentor with 820k subscribers – gives investment tips to amateur investors. Books about stock investment have been popular as well; the first book by an investment expert Kim Hyun-Goo who is running a Youtube channel called “Kim Hyun-Goo Investment Champion TV (김현구 주챔 TV),” Investment Mentor Kim Hyun-Goo’s How to Sell and Buy Stock ranked 8th on the bestsellers’ list. Going beyond Youtube, the writer shares the basic principles and know-how about stock investing with the readers.
There are also self-help books that have been popular throughout April, most of which talk about “understanding oneself.” For example, Dasan’s Last Question with the sub-title “Self Enlightenment” is a modern walk-through of Jeong Yak-Yong’s unique interpretation of the Confucian Analects. In addition, Reconciliation by Oh Eun-Young, offers sincere consolation and thirst-quenching advice to the painful, lonely readers wearing a new cover designed to commemorate 200 thousand copies sold. The common point of these two books is that they ask readers how they will love themselves. We hope that Korean self-help books help readers become closer to their true selves through their sometimes realistic but warm advice.

* K-Book Trends Vol. 46- Interview of Dr. Oh Eun-Young

* The rank of bestsellers below was organized after integrating domestic best sellers in the second week of April from the four biggest online bookstores in Korea – Kyobo Bookstore, Aladdin, Yes 24, and Interpark.

Top 10 Bestsellers for the 2nd Week of April
1		Pachinko 1 Author│Lee Min-Jin Publisher│Literature & Thought Genre│Fiction
2		Pachinko 2 Author│Lee Min-Jin Publisher│Literature & Thought Genre│Fiction
3		Unfinished Tasks of South Korea as an Advanced Country Author│Cho Kuk Publisher│Medici Media Genre│Politics / Society
4		Uncanny Convenience Store Author│Kim Ho-Yeon Publisher│Namu Bench Genre│Fiction
5		The winning works of the 2022 13th Rookie of the Year Award Author│Lim Sol-Ah, Kim Mella, Kim Byung-Woon, Kim Ji-Yeon, Kim Hye-Jin, Seo Soo-Jin, Seo I-Je Publisher│Munhakdongne Genre│Fiction
6		A Country of Great People Author│Office of President Moon Jae-In Publisher│Hans Media Genre│Politics / Society
7		Real Estate Investment that Can Change Your Life: Basics Author│Jung Tae-Ik Publisher│Leaders’ Books Genre│Business
8		Kim Hyun-Goo’s How to Sell and Buy Stock Author│Kim Hyun-Goo Publisher│Mate Books Genre│Business
9		Wealthinking Author│Kelly Choi Publisher│Dasan Books Genre│Self-help
9		Tokyo Aliens 2 Author│Naoe Publisher│Seoul Media Comics Genre│Comics

 

Top 5 Self-help Books for the 2nd Week of April
1		Wealthinking Author│Kelly Choi Publisher│Dasan Books
2		Dasan’s Last Question Author│Cho Yoon-Je Publisher│Chungrim
3		Reconciliation by Oh Eun-Young (re-cover edition) Author│Oh Eun-Young Publisher│Korea.com
4		Turn on the Action Switch in Your Lazy Brain Author│Ohira Nobutaka Publisher│Million Publisher
5		Live Well, It is the Best Revenge Author│Kwon Min-Chang Publisher│Mindset
5		The Ten Times Rule Author│Grant Cardone Publisher│Bookie
5		Psychology Answers Anxiety Author│Hwang Yangming, Jang Rinrin Publisher│Mediasup Publishing