VOL.69/2024.04

 

Dasan Contents Group (Dasan Books)

Sharing the Joy of Story with the Entire Human Race

 

2023.08.07

 

Since its establishment in 2004 as a publisher of business and self-help books, Dasan Books has grown rapidly based on its strong trust with authors, cooperation with various departments such as planning, marketing, and public relations, as well as its robust experience in turning many quality books into bestsellers. Not satisfied with its achievements, it is now expanding the scope of its challenges from paperback books to digital content and new media under various brands, including Dasan Books as Dasan Contents Group. Here’s a brief interview with Dasan Contents Group, which is working hard to deliver “easy, deep, and entertaining” information to readers in order to “share the joy of stories” with the entire human race.

 

 

It’s an honor to have you with us for this interview. Please introduce Dasan Contents Group and Dasan Books to our international readers.

 

Named after the pen name of Dasan Jeong Yak-Yong, Dasan Books is a publisher that reproduces his love for the people and the values of empirical tradition through various content, including books. We are currently growing into a “Dassan Content Group” by challenging various content businesses such as digital content, entertainment, education, and new media, as well as publishing.

 

Next year will be the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Dasan Books. Over the past 20 years, Dasan Books has become one of the top 10 publishing houses in Korea, and has grown into Dasan Contents Group, ceaselessly producing high-quality books and content. So, what are the reasons and drivers behind such rapid growth?

 

Dasan Books’ mission is “the joy of story,” which literally means to share the joy of story with the entire human race. As we tried to design books in line with this mission, we naturally got to publish fine books, which eventually helped us to grow fast. We have always put the focus on identifying the most needed content for the readers of the time and making “difficult things easier, easy things more profound, and profound things more interesting.” And such content sometimes gives knowledge to readers, sometimes enlightens them with wisdom, and sometimes provides entertainment.
To make fun and happy books, we start mulling over what we can provide to our readers from the planning stage of each book. We think about what help (be it knowledge, wisdom, and entertainment) we can give to our readers, and if the book does not fit into any of the three criteria, we don’t publish it. We believe that the mission to publish books helpful for our readers is the driving force behind our rapid growth.

 

 

It was impressive to see the detailed explanation of the book-publishing process and support for authors on your official website. Also, Dasan Books is famous for its transparent management of royalties through a separate royalty program. How does this kind of open information help book production?

 

There’s a clear reason for sharing detailed information about how we produce books and support authors on our website: there are many to-be authors that submit their works through the website, and they are valuable, potential partners of Dasan Contents Group. Dasan Contents Group is not a company that only cares about readers. Readers are important, of course, but we believe that our staff members and authors are also crucial partners that grow together with the group.
The royalty program was designed to innovate the tradition in the Korean publishing industry that does not provide accurate information about the number of copies sold. Dasan Books makes sure that all the authors that have signed a royalty contract with us have access to their contract information, royalty payment history, and the actual sales information of their book. We believe that this program helped many authors have trust in us. And maybe this is why we receive so many manuscripts from authors.

 

 

The staff members and authors are important partners of Dasan Contents Group alongside our readers.

 

 

It’s widely known that the company prioritizes cooperation between departments such as editing, design, and marketing, as well as between authors. Is there a reason for prioritizing the communication and cooperation between departments?

 

Dasan Contents Group has three departments - editing, sales (marketing), and public relations - that work together like cogs in a machine. From the planning stage, where we decide which item to choose for the book, the sales team (marketing team for Dasan Books) and the PR team (media promotion team for Dasan Books) come together and share their ideas. Once an item passes the meeting, we move on to the concept meeting, where we design the concept of the book, and the two teams participate in the meeting again. So, the entire process of producing a book is not solely led by the editing team – it is joined by the sales and the PR team. After the publication, the editing team actively participates in marketing and PR. All publishing houses value inter-department cooperation, but Dasan Books’ cooperation is on another level.
Another reason that we stress the importance of inter-department cooperation is that it is no longer an era where good books sell themselves. Quality books are important indeed, but without good marketing and promotion, they cannot reach out to more readers.

 

The company has been expanding its IP (Intellectual Property) into various fields, such as webtoons and webnovels, on top of paper books. What was the background of such a business expansion, and what were the achievements?

 

Dasan Books has been steadily making various attempts in the digital content business. We installed a special department in 2014 and advanced into the webnovel sector in 2016. We have published more than 600 titles until today. We have been making our way in the webtoon industry since 2019, and currently, we are serializing or producing 20 titles. All of Dasan Books’ webtoons target the global market, and many are translated and exported. More than 80 of our major works, such as The Stairway of Time, It Was All a Mistake, and I Wasn’t the Cinderella, were exported to 9 countries, and serviced in different languages across the world.
Apart from this, we have been producing various K-pop music pieces based on our webtoons and servicing them in the global market. The song “In the Novel,” inserted in the webtoon It Was All a Mistake sung by Minnie from K-pop group (G)I-DLE early this year, became a hit on music charts in Korea and abroad, and went viral on video platforms such as TikTok and Bilibili through dance challenges, receiving an enthusiastic response from global fans. Also, 10 songs written and produced based on the webtoons’ world view, including “Not Cinderella” sung by YUQI from (G)I-DLE, “Goodbye” sung by Ryeowook from Super Junior, “At the End of Time” sung by Eunha from Viviz, and “Last Trip” sung by Kim Namjoo from Apink, received much love from global fans.

 

 

 

We have been making new attempts in various fields such as webtoon, webnovel,
and K-pop on top of paper books, receiving love from global fans.

 

 

You are publishing books through various brands. Can you introduce to us some of your unique brands?

 

The most representative brand is “Dasan Books.” It mainly publishes business and self-help books, including translated books like Sanctuary Books and Life Leverage, as well as Korean books like Wealthiking and The Moment When Studying Becomes Fun which became steady-sellers. Another brand “Dasanchackbang” mainly publishes fiction and non-fiction, and the representative books are the Land series (20 volumes) by Pak Kyeong-Ni, which is regarded as one the best Korean fiction works. Other bestsellers include Deokyeongju and A Man Called Ove (translated books).
Also, the brand “Nole” publishes adolescent fiction. Its best books include translated books such as River Boy and How to Steal a Dog, as well as Korean books such as I’m Glad to Live Like Bonobono. The brand “Dasanchodang” publishes humanities books, and its best books include translated book Habitus and Korean books such as I May be Wrong, Use of History, and When I Don’t Know What I Really Want.

 

 

Dasan Contents Group is also famous for its excellent marketing strategy. Is there an interesting marketing channel that you want to recommend to our readers?

 

The major marketing channel of Korean publishers these days is YouTube. We also had many cases where books introduced on several YouTube channels became bestsellers. Yet, this is all thanks to the YouTube channels’ power, rather than them being our own unique marketing channel.
The marketing channels we own are “Bookspirit” and “Books 612.” These two are run on “Content View,” serviced on Daum, a portal site operated by Kakao. They turn books into the format of comics, making readers feel as if they are reading a webtoon while they are actually reading a book. The content produced in this channel has actually helped so many books go bestsellers. By the way, there’s a popular YouTube channel that we run as well, which is called “Smartmandoo.” Here again, we had the experience of introducing a book and getting a good response from readers.

 

Is there a book published by Dasan Contents Group that you want to recommend to our international readers?

 

First, we would like to recommend reading We Steal From Each Other, an essay by Yoo Ji-Hye. Writer Yoo is a standout essayist, who has been strongly supported by female readers in their 20s and 30s through the mail-subscription service named “Yoo Ji-Hye Paper.” The book We Steal From Each Other is a more balanced story that the author herself calls a turning point. It would be great to have the opportunity to share Yoo’s sensitivity with international readers.
Another book we would like to recommend is The Master’s Note by Kim Ik-Han. Writer Kim is the first archivist in Korea, and his book explains the importance of records and how to apply them. This book was especially loved by people of all ages and genders, and we think it can be loved across borders.

 

 

We look forward to Dasan Contents Group’s next moves. What are your future plans or goals?

 

Dasan Books and Dasan Contents Group aim to become the best publishing brand in Korea by 2024, the best knowledge service company in Korea by 2034, and the best knowledge service brand in the world by 2044. To accomplish these big dreams, we’ll keep one mission in mind: the joy of story.

 

 

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