K-Book Trends -

Search word : "Star", Search result : 540

[TREND / TOPIC]

What the “Steady Seller Phenomenon” Means for the Book Market

Topic What the “Steady Seller Phenomenon” Means for the Book Market On books that have reached their 100th print 2024.07.01 The implication of books that hit the 100th print Kim Dong-Sik’s The Grey Man (Yoda Books) recently celebrated its 100th printing in the Korean book market. While the writer’s dramatic leap from a foundry worker to a best-selling writer has been spotlighted, what is perhaps most important is the internal narrative of the short stories contained within. This collection of 24 short stories was selected from the hundreds of short stories he posted to the horror forum of an online community, “Today’s Humor.” It is indeed a kaleidoscope of life’s short stories, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking. Readers have responded so enthusiastically to the short story collection, which went into its 100th printing in 2017 - 7 years after it was first published, and there are many factors behind this. The factor include the dra...

VOL.72 / 2024.07

[TREND / SPECIAL PROJECT]

Want to Know More About Korean Architecture?

Special Project [English Books in Korea ②] Want to Know More About Korean Architecture? 2024.07.01 I start this article with the confession that writing an introduction to English books on Korean architecture is perhaps even more challenging than writing an English book on Korean architecture itself, primarily because the absolute number of such books is so small. Considering the fact that the Korean architecture market is not small at all, that many of the world’s leading architects have left their legacies in Korea, and that Korea has consistently participated in international architectural events such as the Venice Biennale, this is somewhat surprising. This is even more true when we consider that there are a significant number of people in the Korean architectural community who have had first-hand experience in other countries through studying or working abroad and are familiar with foreign languages. For a country that exports so many th...

VOL.72 / 2024.07

[TREND / KNOWLEDGE]

Book Fairs, Another Type of Holiday

Knowledge Book Fairs, Another Type of Holiday 2024.07.01 When you work with books, you get to experience a yearly cycle of events. For small bookstores/publishers like Ghost Books, which is both a bookstore and a book maker, book releases are usually aligned with these events. This is because you can have quite good promotional effects by doing so, particularly if you publish fewer books and don’t have a great budget for marketing each book. As such, book fairs are very important for planning the year ahead. Aligning your publication schedule with these annual events gives you a clear guideline for managing the manuscript editing, designing interior layout and cover, and printing timelines.Over the past 8 years of running a small publishing house and bookstore, I have attended a number of book fairs. As I mentioned earlier, these events usually occur in a certain cycle. Meeting the authors that you have been seeing at a similar time and space every year is...

VOL.72 / 2024.07

[TREND / BOOK TRIP]

In Search of a Garden Where Our Beautiful Korean Language Breathes

Book Trip [A Trip to Literary Museums ②] In Search of a Garden Where Our BeautifulKorean Language Breathes Introducing Sonagi Village at Hwang Sun-won, Literary Housein Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, and Beyond 2024.06.03 The works of Hwang Sun-Won have a solid presence in Korean literature. The literary world he has built transcends time, genre, and ideology, naturally expressing the most Korean emotions. It was around 1952, when Korea was undergoing the Korean War, when his representative short story Rain Shower (read Sonagi in Korean) was released. However, it is difficult to recognize such a period from the portrayal of the two main characters in the novel. The only clue that connects the story to reality is the place name “Yangpyeong” that appears at the end. The thoughts that germinated in this place became the driving force for creating a literary space, and it led to new attempts to reinterpret the work in various ways.The Sonagi Village in the Hwa...

VOL.71 / 2024.06

[TREND / KNOWLEDGE]

Celebrating 20 Years of Jecheon Miracle Library, a True Gift to Korea

Knowledge Celebrating 20 Years of Jecheon Miracle Library,a True Gift to Korea 2024.06.03 In Korea, there is a “Miracle Library,” which is the one and only in the world In the early 2000s, children were particularly marginalized in Korea, especially in terms of library services. At that time, the “Miracle Library Project” began as a social concern to address the reality of children in our society who, due to poverty, social indifference, other unfortunate conditions, and the misguided greed of adults, were deprived of their right to grow up freely. In other words, the project was born out of the recognition of the need for libraries dedicated to children as the best possible environment for their creative growth by ensuring their right to grow up freely and broadening the equality of opportunity.The Miracle Library Project, a nationwide initiative to build libraries exclusively for children, was a collaborative effort of citi...

VOL.71 / 2024.06

[TREND / TOPIC]

How Did the “Best Book Design From All Over the World” Begin?

Topic How Did the “Best Book Design From All Over the World” Begin? Books selected in Korea in 2024 2024.05.07 Launched in 1963 by the German Stiftung Buchkunst, the “Best Book Design From All Over the World” is a world-renowned competition that is now co-organized with the Leipziger Buchmesse. Leipziger Buchmesse is the earliest international book fair held every year. Leipzig, the background of Martin Luther’s debates on reformation, has been a center of book printing, publishing, and design since medieval times, as well as being home to numerous publishing houses. The competition is set in this historical context.In Korea, the Korean Publishers Association has been holding a contest for Korean books, and the selected books have been submitted to the contest in Germany. Consequently, Uhm Yoo-Jung’s collection, FEUILLES (Leaves), published by Media Bus in 2021, won the prize for the first time in Korea, followed by Workroom Press’s Samuel Beckett An...

VOL.70 / 2024.05

[TREND / SPECIAL PROJECT]

New-nostalgia, the 1990s Sought in the 2020s

Special Project [Book × New-nostalgia] New-nostalgia, the 1990s Sought in the 2020s 2024.05.07 By their very nature, books are vessels of knowledge encompassing all fields. Endless topics can be written about depending on the material and message. In the [Book × _____ ] series, experts recommend Korean books in their respective fields that you’ve been curious about but had trouble discovering more about. Now, let’s jump into the infinite world of books through the collaboration of books with various fields. Why are the 2020s bringing back the 1990s? The past ages do not just recede from the present over time. Some events from the past have become the underlying framework for the present. The 2020s have been through the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, and have embraced each of them one after the other. The 1990s, in particular, are often invoked in the 2020s when it c...

VOL.70 / 2024.05

[TREND / EXPORT CASE]

The Bird That Drinks Tears, Flying Around the World

Export Case The Bird That Drinks Tears, Flying Around the World 2024.05.07 Sometimes, a project comes across your desk as an editor that immediately catches your eye. Maybe it’s the title, or the author, or the pitch that was written to suck you in. With The Bird That Drinks Tears (Minumsa Publishing), it was definitely the latter for me, specifically the idea of “the Korean Lord of the Rings.”Okay—that got my attention. Diving into the manuscript, then, I was blown away by the depth of the world and how fascinating the characters were. And yet, while Lee Young-do is certainly a Tolkien in breadth and spirit, he’s also distinctly Korean in the best possible way. This wasn’t just another Western fantasy retread, but a purely new read for me, and that was exciting. The “if you haven’t read it before, it’s new to you” vibe was strong, and I found myself sucked into the narrative. Korean edition of The Bird That Drinks Tea...

VOL.70 / 2024.05

[TREND / ONE-LINER QUOTES]

Two Ways to Read Spring in April

One-Liner Quotes Two Ways to Read Spring in April Columnist’s Pick 2024.05.07 Former journalist for Elle and Esquire, Min Yong-Jun is a freelance columnist, appearing on TV, lecturing, and writing. He wrote Yesterday’s Film, Today’s Director, and Tomorrow’s Conversation (Zene Scene), a collection of interviews he had with 13 directors. The seasons are always honest and dutiful - they do what they must when the time comes, without hesitation. In spring, it sows what it has to, blooms what it has to, and declares another cycle of seasons to begin again. Spring is always an invigorating and promising season, as if giving those who have missed the start of a new year a second chance to get back on the starting line. Although we often say that spring begins in March, it is usually April when we can truly enjoy it. So, I have selected 2 books that I think are perfect for April, when spring fully blooms. ...

VOL.70 / 2024.05

[TREND / KNOWLEDGE]

Today’s Local Bookstores Seen Through Data on Independent Bookstores in Korea

Knowledge Today’s Local Bookstores Seen Through Dataon Independent Bookstores in Korea A service for non-readers: a map of local bookstores 2024.05.07 Independent bookstores, each unique in its own way, are significant in that they create new cultures and book ecosystems. There is a platform that collects data on these independent bookstores and shares their locations, activities, and stories with readers online and offline – it is “Bookshopmap,” a neighborhood bookstore map, which started in 2015. In this article, focusing on Bookshopmap, we will look at how the service started, how it works, and how it differs from traditional bookstores. We will also take a look at the changing trends of independent bookstores in Korea based on data statistics from the past 8 years, from 2015 to 2023. It started for fun After stumbl...

VOL.70 / 2024.05

VOL.72/2024.07

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