VOL.69/2024.04

2nd Week, March 2022

Bestseller Trends in the Four Biggest Online Bookstores in Korea

2022.04.04

March in Korea also means “a new start” to many. New season spring comes in March, and the new semester begins in March, too. So, most Koreans clean up and make changes to parts of their houses and organize the winter clothes piled up in the closet. The publishing industry saw changes as well, just like how nature changed its clothes from white snow to green sprouts, popular books that have made makeover changes to the cover page catch our eyes on the bestsellers’ list for this month. The cherry blossom edition specially produced to mark the sales record of 400 thousand copies of the book Uncanny Convenience Store by Kim Ho-Yeon – a beloved writer among Korean readers – grasped readers’ attention. Also, I am Thankful for Myself, an essay published in 2016, went through a total makeover of its cover page and content. Meanwhile, Wealthinking, a book about the writer’s ideas (thinking) on wealth, met the readers with its limited-edition made to celebrate 100 thousand copies sold. As such, the “re-covered” versions of such popular books give readers that read them for the first time an image of a new book and a desire to own them for their existing readers, both leading to increased sales.

* K-Book Trends Vol. 44 – Interview of writer Kim Ho-Yeon

While there were books that met the readers in new clothes, some books have been popular with a new title in their series. For example, the Seol Min-Seok’s Korean History Adventure series, which has settled its position as the best history book series for children in Korea, selling 5 million books since the first volume in 2017, has published a new volume, the 20th in the series, continuing to time travel through history. Also, Tin Tin Tinkle!, a book with cute, distinctive characters, published the second volume receiving explosive love on Social Media. The story of the main characters, Tinkle and Tin Tin, brings up school memories for grown-ups and elicits empathy from children, consoling their minds.
Among the bestselling travel books for the second week of March, a number of books introducing tourist spots in Korea caught readers’ eyes, as they are limited from going abroad due to COVID-19. For example, Foodie Hur Young-Man’s Food Trip Set is a comic that introduces nice restaurants picked by cartoonist Hur Young-Man, famous for his Foodie (Korean title: Sikgaek) (Gimmyoung). The series talks about 400 restaurants in Korea the writer has been to in two books, with tasty critiques selecting “the best of the best” among them. Also, I Think I Should Go Somewhere by Myself One Day, written by travel writer Jang Eun-Jung recommends about 30 tourist spots in Korea categorized by seasons, themes, and preferences. We hope that these books with rich information about good tourist destinations in Korea refresh the hearts of readers frustrated by the prolonged pandemic.

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

Top 10 Bestsellers for the 2nd Week of March
1		Uncanny Convenience Store Author│Kim Ho-Yeon Publisher│Namu Bench Genre│Fiction
2		The Last Lesson of Lee O-Young Author│Kim Ji-Su, Lee O-Young Publisher│Yolimwon Publishing Group Genre│Humanities
3		Why Fish Don’t Exist Author│Lulu Miller Publisher│Gom Books Genre│Science
4		I am Thankful for Myself Author│Jeon Seung-Hwan Publisher│Book Romance Genre│Non-fiction
5		Wealthinking Author│Kelly Choi Publisher│Dasan Books Genre│Self-help
6		Semantic Error: Photo Essay Author│Watcha, Raemongraein Publisher│Orange D Genre│Non-fiction
7		Seol Min-Seok’s Korean History Adventure 20 Author│Seol Min-Seok, Storybox Publisher│I-Human Genre│Children’s Comics
8		Welcome to Bookstore Hyunamdong Author│Hwang Bo-Reum Publisher│Clay House Genre│Fiction
8		The Psychology of Money Author│Morgan Housel Publisher│Influential Genre│Business
10		Tin Tin Tinkle! 2 Author│NAN Publisher│Joongang Books Genre│Comics

 

Top 5 Travel Books for the 2nd Week of March
1		Let Me Try Living on My Own as I Want Author│Lee Won-Ji Publisher│Sangsang Publishing
2		Foodie Hur Young-Man’s Food Trip Set (Vol. 1, 2) Author│Hur Young-Man Publisher│Guardian
3		Eiden’s National Travel Guide 2022-2023 Author│Tabula rasa Editors, Lee Jung-Gi Publisher│Tabula rasa
4		Accidentally, Wes Anderson Author│Wally Koval Publisher│Woongjin Thinkbig
5		I Think I Should Go Somewhere by Myself One Day Author│Jang Eun-Jung Publisher│Book Life
5		Reason for Traveling Author│Kim Young-Ha Publisher│Munhakdongne