VOL.69/2024.04

Korean Books Published in Thailand through Nanmeebooks

K-Book Promotion Strategy in Thai Publishing Market

2023.01.02

Around 10 years ago, Thai children reading educational comics, whether in bookstores, libraries, or school areas, became familiar to Thai people. With colorful illustrations, easy-to-read content, friendly numbers of characters, well-managed information sections, and various topics, there was no doubt that parents put their trust in educational comics and viewed them as a form of knowledge packed with entertainment that were easy to buy as a gift for young readers.
Unquestionably, Thai people are fond of cartoons. Tracing back to the 90s, when entertainment media for children were few, cartoons seemed to be the only option available. Since then, cartoons have become familiar to Thai people and have had a great influence on them, especially manga. With a rich variety of contents for all ages and affordable prices, manga has abruptly become popular among Thai readers and continued to grow more and more up until now.
Plus, in general, Thai children tend to learn from visual contents more than textbooks as they are easier to understand. Moreover, the knowledge they acquire can be organized in a desired sequence in their heads, like when they are reading or watching cartoons. Therefore, educational comics are the best choice for parents who want to encourage their children to learn in addition to their school textbooks. The most significant factor which attracts children’s attention is the characters in each series which are distinct and appealing; various famous characters are adapted into media to promote domestic trade in Korea, such as a collaboration with products from other brands. This shows an impressive development of Korean comics or “Manhwa (만화).”
Nanmeebooks have recognized the potential of Korean educational comics, which encourage reading and learning experiences of young readers through entertaining stories, and make knowledge more attractive compared with books packed with lots of text. In the selection process, we have selected the books we believe stand out, not only with comprehensive contents but also with friendly and appealing characters. Here are some examples:

Why? (YeaRimDang) is an educational comic series that features various topics regarding scientific knowledge in depth and introduces them through easy-to-read and fun stories.
Stingy Family (Jaemibooks) is our bestselling educational comic series of all time. With the story of the characters who live in poverty, but are still funny, the readers can relate to their situation and enjoy learning the economics knowledge presented in a strange and amusing narrative.
The Cookie Run (SEOUL MEDIA GROUP) series is an adaptation of characters from the well-known mobile game, “Cookie Run.” There are several subjects, such as Science, Mathematics, Geography, and general knowledge, featured in this series.
These are examples of our famous educational comics which have caught children’s and parents’ attention in Thailand. Trusted by many schools, these series are brought into school libraries and become popular among Thai students throughout the country. Therefore, Korean educational comics have become familiar to young readers, encouraged them to go to bookstores, and helped develop reading habits in Thai children since then.
However, the interest of Thai children has diverted to other learning platforms, such as Youtube, Tiktok, or Facebook. As a result, Thailand’s rate of social media use has ranked 20th in the world (https://worldpopulationreview.com, November 2022). As a consequence, there have been attempts to reduce the use of social media among children. With the traits and value of Korean educational comics and the adaptation characters from other media children are familiar with, educational comics are the solution that can change children’s learning behavior from the screen back to paper again.
Apart from children’s comics, Korea has an impressively developed and high quality entertainment industry, such as movies, Korean dramas, and music, made with support from Korean government and people. Consequently, Korean culture and works have reached and been accepted in every corner of the world. Moreover, an online space that encourages people to freely create contents, like the “Naver” platform, has produced numerous quality works, writers, and illustrators, and has become a source of quality content for people. As a result, the Korean publishing industry has continued to grow, and the works such as essays, tales, picture books, Manhwa, or Webtoons have been recognized worldwide, not only in Asia.
With the fast development of the economy, society, and culture, Koreans live with stress, intense competition, and a high standard known as perfection. With these problems, psychologists and psychotherapists have played a big role in Korean society. There are attempts to encourage people to love themselves, accept the fact that people are imperfect, and be themselves. With this kind of movement, healing essays filled with easy-to-follow and practical psychological guides have followed. The market of this category has become more competitive with different topics, illustrations, and identities.

With similar social conditions in Thailand, these healing contents have undeniably caught the attention of a new generation of readers, and gained popularity more and more. Therefore, Bloom Publishing (an imprint of Nanmeebooks) has been established aiming to publish healing essays, especially Korean works, for this particular group of readers and support them. In the Thai market, picture essays with cute illustrations and easy-to-read contents have received much positive feedbacks and have also become collectibles. The factors that affect the interest of Thai readers are 1. Topics in everyday life 2. Appealing characters with clear expressions 3. Attractive cover, and 4. A title that is easy to understand. With the increase in popularity of this kind of book, the contents, and appearance of healing essays have been developed and adapted to Thai culture, which resulted in the continued growth of the market and effects on the perspective of the new generation of readers.
Ultimately, the influence of Korean publications and the entertainment industry will continue to be a great influential factor in Thai people’s lives. The happiness, entertainment, and knowledge from Korean works will continue to inspire the new generations, both in Korea and Thailand, to create excellent works for the next generations to come. Hopefully, Thai people will continue to have quality books from Korea to read and be inspired by moving forward.

Written by Piyanut Lucksameepong (Editor, Nanmeebooks Co., Ltd.)
Translated by Thanadol Palaphun (Rights Officer, Nanmeebooks Co., Ltd.)