VOL.77/2024.12

South Korea's April Bestsellers

Aggregate Data as of April

 

2018.05.30

 

Sales of essays that comfort and heal surge

 

 

A book of sayings by Winnie the Pooh called Pooh Bear, Happiness Happens Every Day has risen to first place on the bestseller list, driven by popularity from female readers. This book has also morphed into a publication to be 'seen' in addition to being read as readers have been sharing photos of the book cover on social media. With the sudden spike in the popularity of Winnie the Pooh, essays that focus on comforting and healing readers have also come into focus by readers. Expectations are high other essay collections that use animation characters will follow.

 

 

Books like Every Moment Was You (Wisdom House), How To Respond Smiling To A Rude Person (Gana) and I Have Decided to Live As Me (Maumsup) have also seen continued attention among essay collections. Books that aim to convey a certain kind of lifestyle to readers and comfort them have consistently sold well.
Also, Lee Ki-ju's Temperature of Language (Malgeulteo) is in headlines again as the book has now sold over 1 million copies. As one of those rare books that suddenly sell well long after initial publication, Temperature of Language has continued to see demand from readers this year even after becoming the bestselling book of 2017. Through this year, it has remained among the top-selling books in the country, flaunting its popularity.

 

Books on communication in demand

 

 

How Not To Sound Like A Pushover (Hongik Books) is finding extended popularity along with other books that teach readers on dialogue and speech. This particular book has received attention from readers who find it difficult to communicate with other people socially.

 

Boy band photo collection draws great attention from young women

 

 

Even from the pre-order period, boy idol group Wanna One's book of photos So We Don't Forget Our Memories (artePOP) shot to the top of the comprehensive bestseller list. When looking at the breakdown of consumers of the book, 93 percent were female and 34.8 percent of those who purchased the book were women in their 20s, reflecting the fan base of Wanna One. They were followed by readers in their 30s and 40s.

 

 

〈Monthly Bestsellers〉

 

No.	Title	Writer	Publisher	Genre
1	Pooh Bear, Happiness Happens Every Day	Winnie the Pooh	RH Korea	Poems/Essay
2	Every Moment Was You	Ha Tae-wan	Wisdom House	Poems/Essay
3	How To Respond Smiling To A Rude Person	Jeong Mun-jeong	Gana	Poems/Essay
4	Ji-young Kim Born in '82	Cho Nam-joo	Minumsa	Novel
5	Wanna One: Photo Essay So We Don't Forget Our Memories	CJ E&M	artePOP	Poems/Essay
6	I Have Decided To Live As Me	Kim Su-hyun	Maumsup	Poems/Essay
7	How Not To Sound Like A Pushover	Naito Yoshihito	Hongik Books	Self Development
8	Temperature of Language	Lee Ki-ju	Malgeulteo	Poems/Essay
9	Miracles of the Namiya General Store	Keigo Higashino	Hyundae Munhak	Novel
10	The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck	Mark Manson	Galleon	Self Development

 

 

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Written by Kim Hyun-jung (Brand management team, marketing division at Kyobo Book Centre)