VOL.74/2024.09

South Korea's September Bestsellers

Aggregate data as of the first week of September

 

2017.9.11

 

An analysis into the popularity behind South Korea's bestsellers

From the final week of August through the first week of September

 

 

For the Ji-youngs inside all of us Ji-young Born in '82

When this book was published in October last year, it did not gain big interest, but word of mouth from April this year helped it climb the bestseller list. Sales of the book jumped especially after Aug. 27 when local broadcaster SBS aired a special on the book called “Ji-young Kim Born in '82 -- The Story of Half of the World”. This book is one most people in our everyday world can relate to. It tells the story of the average Korean woman, complete with statistics and news articles. The book takes the form of a report written by a doctor who treats a fictional character named Ji-young Kim and tells the story of her life. Readers of the book have said they can relate to her but later feel sad and afraid, realizing it is also the story of their lives.

 

 

Word of mouth bestseller Temperature of Language

This collection of essays has brought together everyday stories frequently experienced. It was first published in August last year, and now finds itself on the bestseller list after traveling through social media as well as publicity from the author's social networking account. It briefly lost ground on the bestseller list due to Haruki Murakami's new release and other books introduced on a television show, but the book's popularity has been rising again thanks to the author's aggressive publicity efforts: meeting with readers and appearing on television. This week, it rose to No. 2 and Dignity of Words, another book by the same author, is currently at No. 7.

 

 

All of Haruki in One Book Killing Commendatore list

If you were a Haruki fan, you were waiting day and night for this full-length novel. Of course, in 2013 the acclaimed Japanese author published Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage but this was his first full-length novel in seven years after IQ84. There are several elements to the book fans will recognize as 'true Haruki' elements, like the first-person narrative the author used in his early writing days, and the character building by going back and forth reality and conceptions. The biggest selling point for Killing Commendatore was that it offers everything Haruki fans were looking for after educating themselves on his earlier books. As soon as it was released in July, the books have failed to die in popularity.

 

 

Forecast for the second half of 2017: Screens and Publishers Aware!

Here come the 'screen sellers'

 

 

In the second half of 2017, there are several publications waiting to take bookshelves and movie theater screens by storm. Memoir of a Murderer by Young-ha Kim ranked at No. 3 on this week's bestseller list just as the movie created from the book with the same name was set to open in theaters on Sept. 7. When a movie based on a novel premieres, there is usually a surge in readers who wish to get their hands on the story first. The rise in popularity for Memoir of a Murderer is expected to continue. Also, “The Fortress” based on Hoon Kim's novel Namhan Fortress is set to open in theaters in late September while “The Night of 7 Years” starring Seung-ryong Ryu and Dong-gun Jang is also based on a novel by Yu-jeong Jeong. The original novels for these two films are also expected to jump in popularity as the films open.

 

〈South Korean Top 15 Bestsellers, Aug 2017〉

 

 

 

---

Written by Jin-kyung Kim (PR team at Interpark, additional contribution by Hyun-joo Song, novel MD at Interpark Books)