VOL.69/2024.04

Bookpal

The possibility of South Korea's web fictionMake your stories shine! Meet Bookpal

 

2017.7.28

 

South Korea's web fiction market has been growing quickly. As businesses dealing with the Internet and mobile platforms develop, web fiction, or web novels in the country's publishing industry have been receiving more attention. 'Bookpal' is the leading web fiction website in South Korea which mainly focuses on romance novels. The following is an interview with Bookpal, which is also aiming to look beyond South Korea.

 

 

 

Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea (KPIPA)

Hello, thank you for sitting with us in ak-book trends interview. Could you provide us with an introduction?

 

Bookpal

Hello. We are Bookpal, a company currently dreaming of becoming one of the top companies in mobile contents. Our business currently operates a web fiction series platform that deals mainly with text - which is the start of all contents. Currently there are thousands of writers and readers using our service and we are the No.1 romance web series platform in the country.

 

KPIPA

It's clear you're dominating the web fiction market. What was the biggest driving force behind your growth? 

 

Bookpal

We think it was our experimental spirit. Our streamlined structure enables us to make swift business decisions, while a horizontal corporate culture and experimental spirit encouraging our workers to make mistakes are real strengths that help us in trying new endeavors without hesitation. This type of corporate culture is difficult to copy, we believe, and it's one of our positive strengths that has helped us grow into the market leader we are today.

 

KPIPA

Recently we've seen many web fiction works become Korean television drama series and go on to earn great popularity. I think we can safely say Hallyu is affecting web fiction. What is Bookpal doing today to enter the overseas market?

 

Bookpal

In addition to us, we feel all companies think alike when it comes to wanting our excellent web contents to become known overseas. Bookpal has made various attempts at taking content abroad and currently we are tapping the Chinese market with web novels turned web comics. Further down the road we plan to enter markets in Southeast Asia through translation platforms. Furthermore, with the help of our partner companies we are developing measures to use the intellectual property Bookpal has in diverse ways, including through video content and VR content. Text is the basis of intellectual property and we plan to use our strength which is our platform on which our creators can personally upload their work.

 

KPIPA

We found how Bookpal engaged industry players at foreign book fairs quite striking. Out of the contents Bookpal had to offer, what were they most interested in? 

 

Bookpal

Bookpal has continuously participated in foreign book fairs to increase awareness on distribution via web fiction content and platforms. We've had diverse feedback from foreign industry executives. They were interested in our content but our web fiction platform as well. We've also been focusing on possibilities for one-source multi-use regarding our web fiction content. The synopsis for a number of our work gained much interest, as well as their unique story lines. Those who were interested in our web fiction platform honed in on the fact that readers can read our content on their mobile devices without being restrained by space or time. At the same time they wanted to know how they could create the same user experience through paid-for content.

 

KPIPA

After speaking with you, our hopes for Korean web fiction have only grown. What are your plans and goals for the future?

 

Bookpal

Bookpal will continue to cement its leading position in the market by providing next-generation mobile content through our experience in making web fiction succeed. We plan to forge on with our endeavors into overseas markets and see next year as a real turning point for our business and hope many of those in the publishing industry take interest. 

 

 

 

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