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South Korea's November Bestsellers

Aggregate data as of the first week of October

 

2017.11.01

 

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2017

 

The first week of October is always called the season of the Nobel prize. Every year around this time, the Nobel prize committee convenes in Sweden to announce the winners in six different categories. This year on Oct. 5, the 117th Nobel Prize in Literature was given to Kazuo Ishiguro. According to Interpark Books, Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, one of his most famous novels, reached the top of their bestseller list the next day as soon as readers heard of the Nobel Prize news. Sales of the author's books in general soared in the days following the Nobel Prize announcement from Oct. 6 to 12, trouncing previous sales figures for the author which had been comparatively low. Also, Nudge, by Richard Thaler who was this year'srecipient of the Nobel Prize in economics saw a spike in demand around the same time.

 

 

In the case of the Nobel Prize for literature, lists of possible prize recipients usually float around with no clear candidates and at times there are authors who are widely discussed as possible candidates for the prize while some authors suddenly appear in the foray. This year, gambling company Ladbrokes announced a list of possible candidates and their expected ranking. This list had included Kenya's Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Japan's Haruki Murakami, Canada's Margaret Atwood and South Korea's Ko Un. However, this year's announcement came as a surprise like last year when the committee announced Bob Dylan as the winner of the prize.

 

Changes in book sales in South Korea

 

It is now a given fact that sales of certain books soar following announcements of the Nobel Prize in literature. According to comparisons made by Interpark Books of book sales during 30 days before and after recent award announcements, some book sales jumped a maximum 720-fold after the author was given the Nobel Prize. In the case of Patrick Modiano, who won the prize in 2014, only four copies of his books had sold in the 30-day period before his winning the prize. However, after he won the award, 2,879 copies of the book were sold for 30 days. The 2015 recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature, Sveltlana Alexievich also saw book sales fly more than 200 times over the same period. It is highly expected Ishiguro's books will see the same 'Nobel Prize' effect.

 

 

〈South Korean Top 15 Bestsellers, Oct 2017〉

 

No.

Title

Writer

Publisher

Genre

1

Temperature of Language

Kiju Lee

Malgeulteo

Essay

2

Ji-young Kim Born in '82

Nam-joo Jo

Minumsa

Novel

3

The Remains of the Day

Kazuo Ishiguro

Minumsa

Novel

4

I Have Decided to Live As Me

Su-hyun Kim

Maumsup

Poems/Essay

5

OtvN Premium Lecture Show"Somehow Adult"

Somehow Adult Team

Kyobo Book Centre

Humanities

6

Dignity of Words

Kiju Lee

Hwangso Books

Self development

7

Memoir of a Murderer

Young-ha Kim

Munhakdongne

Novel

8

Nudge

Richard Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein

Leaders Book

Economics/Management

9

Mother's Apology

Yoo-nam Lee

Den Story

Family and Life

10

A Lesson in Self-Esteem

Hong-gyun Yoon

Simple Life

Selfdevelopment

11

The Temperature of Love

Myeong-hee Ha

Book Road

Novel

12

Miracles of the Namiya GeneralStore

Keigo Higashino

Hyundae Munhak

Novel

13

I'm Quite Good Just the Way I Am

Yu-mi Cho

Hummingbird

Essay

14

Killing Commendatore 1

Haruki Murakami

Munhakdongne

Novel

15

Killing Commendatore 2

Haruki Murakami

Munhakdongne

Novel

* Information provided by Interpark

 

 

Written by Jin-kyung Kim (Public relations at Interpark)

kbbok

Jin-kyung Kim (Public relations at Interpark)
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