The Book Market in South Korea for Canadian Publishers

Home , Bandi (writer), Kyobo Book Centre

Report of the Livres Canada Books Scouting Mission to South Korea 17–21 June 2013 The Book Market in South Korea for Canadian Publishers

Report of the Livres Canada Books Scouting Mission to South Korea, 17-21 June 2013 © 2013 Livres Canada Books All rights reserved. Published 2013 Members of the Delegation François Charette Executive Director, Livres Canada Books [email protected] Gillian Fizet Rights Manager, House of Anansi and Grounwood Books [email protected] Arnaud Foulon Vice-President, Publishing and Operations, Groupe HMH [email protected] Brian MacDonald Sales and Marketing Manager, University of Toronto Press [email protected] A special thanks to Hye-Shin Kang and Soo Hyang Kim of the Embassy of Canada to Korea, who made our scouting mission a success. Livres Canada Books 1 Nicholas Street, Suite 504 Ottawa, Ontario K1N 7B7 CANADA www.livrescanadabooks.com

We acknowledge the financial support of the Nous reconnaissons l’appui financier du Government of Canada through the Canada Book gouvernement du Canada par l’entremise du Fonds Fund at Canadian Heritage du livre du Canada de patrimoine canadien Contents

The Korean Context ...... 1 Reading Trends ...... 3 The Korean Book Market ...... 4 Trade, Pricing and Royalties ...... 7

The Adult Trade Perspective, Gillian Fizet ...... 8 Paju Book City...... 8 The National Library of Korea ...... 10 Meetings with Publishers and Distributors ...... 10 Meetings with Subagents (Rights Agencies) ...... 13 Bookstore Visits ...... 13 Recommendations for Trade and English-Language Publishers ...... 14

The Scholarly Perspective, Brian MacDonald ...... 16 Book Market...... 16 Higher Education in Korea ...... 17 Translation Rights...... 18 Local Print-on-Demand Suppliers ...... 19

The Children’s Book and French-Language Perspective, Arnaud Foulon ...... 20 Digital Technology ...... 20 Publishers ...... 21 Agents ...... 22 Children’s Literature ...... 23 Conclusion...... 24

Appendix: Contacts in Korea ...... 25 Publishers ...... 25 Agencies ...... 27 Booksellers / Distributors / Wholesalers...... 28 Publishing Related Organizations and Government Bodies ...... 29

The Korean Context

South Korea is the only country to increase in status from developing country and foreign aid recipient in the early 60s to member of the OECD and foreign aid donor at the turn of the twenty-ﬁrst century. Korea’s 50 million inhabitants (nearly 2 million of them foreigners) now have an advanced lifestyle which to some degree—as with smart phone penetration and urban style—is setting trends around the world, and attracting considerable cultural attention.

Korea’s journey to become the world’s ﬁfteenth largest economy has not been easy. It is marked by 30 years of extensive government direction, and the heavy hand of the state continues to be ever present. Korea can be characterized as a land of giant conglomerates, known as chaebol, that have established a substantial global market share. These conglomerates, which include Hyundai Motors, Samsung, and LG, make exports the major driver of the country’s economy.

Korea was badly hit by the Asian crisis of 1997-98, but was consequently well prepared for the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-9. The crisis yielded little direct ﬁnancial impact in Korea; however, the Korean won weakened against the US dollar and exports slipped, pushing the country into a recession. Despite the recession, the country managed to retain marginally positive economic growth. The Korean economy bounced back in 2010, and grew by 3.7% in 2011.

The domestic economy in Korea has been steadily worsening since mid-2011. This has affected private expenditure as inﬂation has outgrown wages and household debt is at an all-time high since 1998. This is demonstrated by decreasing monthly expendi- tures on books and other cultural commodities, which are taking a hard hit during these periods.

This section extracted from the guide Selling Canadian Books and Translation Rights in Korea (Livres Canada Books, 2012). 2 | the korean context

Table 1. Key economic indicators, 2008-2012 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 (est.) GDP (₩ trillions) 1,026,452 1,065,037 1,172,803 1,215,023 1,251,473 GDP growth (%) 2.3 0.3 6.2 3.6 3.0 Private expenditure growth (%) 1.5 0.1 4.2 2.4 2.1 Unemployment rate (%) 3.2 3.6 3.7 3.4 N/A Exchange rate (₩/C$) 1,038.31 1,100.24 1,125.68 1,119.61 1,122.65 Population 49,540,367 49,773,145 50,515,666 51,121,854 51,530,829 Households 19,005,339 19,261,292 19,865,179 20,132,485 20,403,388 Monthly household spending on books (₩) 22,638 21,211 21,902 20,570 20,690 Bookstores 3,519 3,009 3,111 2,962 2,920 Source: Statistics Korea, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Korea, Korea Publishing Marketer Conference (KPMAC).

After many achievements in the pre-industrial age, Korea has since suffered through colonization by the Japanese and then from a state-controlled system which simpliﬁed national diversity to a few stereotypes. Only in the last 20 years has Korea’s culture become vibrant and creative. While English is taught as a second language from an increasingly early age, many still use “Konglish” (English words or words derived from English with the same meaning in Korean context) rather than correct English. Students tend to have a passive knowledge of the language. The oldest generation’s second language is Japanese.

Korea’s population is aging. There are fewer young people of school and university age and a rapidly growing cohort of Korean baby boomers in their 50s and 60s (For Korea the baby boom generation came a decade later than in North America, and after the Korean war of 1950-53). The old-style, economically active population (defined as 15-64 years of age) will peak in 2017, however recent trends show strong employment growth of people in their 50s and 60s and unemployment among young Koreans in their 20s. The latest 2012 figures from the Hyundai Economic Research Institute reflect a reality where 1.1 million Koreans in their 20s are unemployed and 70.5% of them have given up looking for work.

Although families are smaller than in the past, Korean families are great consumers of books, particularly children’s books. However, it should be noted that once past kindergarten, Koreans are more likely to be reading online rather than off-line. The Korean system of education is intensive; Korean students spend more hours studying in both formal schools and after-school private institutes than do students in any other nation. English is being taught as a compulsory subject from kindergarten on, and young Koreans have a much better command of it than their parents.

Koreans are renowned for the length of hours that they study, and their aptitude scores in mathematics reﬂect this. The life of a Korean child from about the age of three, until taking the university entrance exam between the ages of 17 and 18, revolves around study at school and then putting in time after school at private institutes. The private reading trends | 3 institutes attempt to re-teach students the essential skills which should have been taught at school. The number of school children is shrinking however, as the population ages. This means that classes are smaller, and smaller schools are subsequently threatened with closure.

Despite this intense education process, many Koreans feel unsatisfied with the Korean system—which tends to favour learning by rote—and seek at enormous cost to send their children (and often one parent) to an English-speaking country for part of their education. According to The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, out of a total of 289,288 Koreans studying abroad in 2010-11, 5% chose to study in Canada, with 24.9% and 21.8% choosing to study in the United States and China respectively. Children who have spent more than three years abroad are eligible to attend one of 165 prestigious Foreign Language High Schools in Korea, where approximately 100,000 students study in English.

The number of bookstores in Korea has been steadily declining over the past decade. The vast majority of these are independent bookshops. Many of these shops were dependent on the sale of school textbooks, which are officially approved and frequently revised. It is the opinion of major publishers that the decline in bookstores will have minimal effect on future sales as big retailers, like Kyobo and YP Books (Young Poong), pick up the slack. Buying online from big bookshops has also become convenient and quick, with books delivered inexpensively overnight or even the same day. Contrary to the decline in bookshops, the conversion of video stores into bookstores that lend books and comic books—rather than videos or DVDs—is a remarkable phenomenon.

Korea is generally considered to be a difficult market in which to do business, where local expertise will be required and although the country and ways of business are changing, it is still a culture in which relationships are considered important. For this reason, agents continue to be essential go-betweens between foreign publishers and Korean publishers.

Reading Trends There is a general consensus in Korea that you will succeed in your later life if you manage to get into one of the top four universities, known by the acronym SKY— Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University (plus Ewha Women’s University). Korean students are pressured by parents to read and study intensively, in order to get into a good university. This would explain the year-on-year increase of average books read by students. A rising number of students aim to study abroad, with the goal of attending an Ivy League university.

Readership is uncharacteristically low compared to the EU average for the 40-54 and 55+ age segments. One explanation for this might be that these people grew up during, and right after the Korean War when resources were scarce and the environment shaped the mindset of that generation. 4 | the korean context

Table 2. Reading rate by age group (%) 15-24 25-39 40-54 55+ Average Korea (2010) 90 73 62 41 67 EU 27 (2007) 82 72 74 63 71 Source: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Republic of Korea, Eurobarometer

The same proportion of adults and children read to learn something new, but more children ﬁnd it a joyful habit. Adults tend to read for peace of mind and to pass the time.

Table 3. Motivation for reading (%) Reason for reading Adults Children It is a joyful habit of mine 6.0 13.0 To learn something new 30.2 32.7 For peace of mind 10.7 6.3 To pass the time 12.6 8.5 Source: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Korea

Women and those with college degrees read signiﬁcantly more books per year on average.

Table 4. Average number of books read per year (2010) Gender Education Average Male Female Middle High Degree 10.8 10.3 11.4 2.5 6.4 16.5 N = 1,000 Source: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Korea

The Korean Book Market There are some questions about the size of the Korean market and the way the Korean Publishers Association and Statistics Korea estimate the total market size. The total market size in 2011 is estimated to be ₩4,970 trillion (C$4.4 billion). This means that the market value of the Korean book market has risen by about 25% over the past decade. It is estimated that the market will grow 1.94% to ₩5.066 trillion (C$4.5 billion) in 2012.

The market size for books translated from Korean to English and French in 2011 is estimated to be ₩477 billion (C$422 million), approximately 9.59% of the total market (market share for translated works increases to 26.6% if Japanese and other languages are taken into account). This is a lower percentage than the estimate of 33% in 2002. The translated market size is expected to grow 1.97% to ₩486.468 trillion (C$430 million) in 2012. the korean book market | 5

Figure 1. Korean book market by category, 2012 (estimated)

New books 25%

Ebooks 7% Untranslated Imports works 0.13% 0.125% Existing books 68% Translated works 0.004%

Source: Korea Customs Service, Statistics Korea, Korean Publishers Association, Korea Electronic Publishing Association (KEPA).

A signiﬁcant proportion of translated books originate from Japan. Geographical and cultural proximity are the reasons behind this trend. More than 90% of comic books read in Korea originate from Japan. Canada is well situated linguistically as it can tap both the French and English translation markets.

Koreans consider that they have a natural afﬁnity towards the French language. Apart from holding an idealistic and romantic view of the language, Koreans believe it trans- lates very well into Korean, maintaining emotion, feeling, and national sentiment.

Figure 2. Market share by language, new titles

German Japanese 0.6% 11.6% French 2.0% Other 4.9% Other 15.0% English Korean 7.5% 73.4%

Source: Korean Publishers Association. 6 | the korean context

Discrepancies appear when comparing the share of translated works vs. total market. Translated works are strongest in the children’s and literature/poetry segments, while textbooks on the sciences provide strong returns given that the educational market is competitive, but quite stable in Korea.

Figure 3. Market share by genre, new titles (2011)

Other 20% Children’s Language 28% 3%

Technical 8% Social Literature/ Science Poetry 14% 13% Education 14%

Source: Korean Publishers Association.

Figure 4. Market share by genre, translated titles (2011)

Other Children’s 25% 28%

Philosophy 9% Literature/ Social Poetry Science 22% 16%

Source: Korea Customs Service, Statistics Korea, Korean Publishers Association, Korea Electronic Publishing Association (KEPA). trade, pricing and royalties | 7

Trade, Pricing and Royalties Korea is still a country that likes to make regulations and therefore the Korean market is more like the way book markets used to be in many developed countries when Recommended Retail Price (RRP) restrictions applied. Legally, the maximum discount for newly released books is 10%. Older books can be sold with discounts of 25-40%. It is normal for wholesalers to purchase books from publishers at 47-55% of the RRP. The average price of all books for 2011 was ₩13,010 (C$11.50). Children’s books were the least expensive (C$8.70) while science, art and history books were priced in excess of ₩19,000 (C$17).

Publishers pay a royalty of 5-10% of the gross retail price and agents earn 10% of the royalty paid to rights holders.

Table 5. General pricing model by channel, 2011 Offline Share (%) Online Ebook (full RRP) (32% disc.) (35% disc.) Publisher 55.0 80.9 87.5 National wholesale 10.0 12.0 Regional wholesale 5.0 Delivery (fixed cost) 2.0 Retail margin 30.0 5.2 12.5 Consumer 100.0 100.0 100.0 Source: Interviews with publishers.

Table 6. Average price of all books published by category, 2011 ₩ C$ Generalities 18,932 16.70 Philosophy 16,883 14.90 Religion 13,778 12.20 Social science 19,855 17.50 Pure science 20,916 18.50 Technical science 21,647 19.10 Art 19,928 17.60 Language 16,710 14.80 Literature/Poetry 10,887 9.60 History 19,666 17.40 Education 10,314 9.10 Children’s 9,813 8.70 Subtotal 14,459 12.80 Comics 4,541 4.00 Total 13,010 11.50 Source: Korean Publishers Association The Adult Trade Perspective Gillian Fizet, House of Anansi

Paju Book City On our first official morning of the mission we set off with an interpreter to Paju Book City, a self-contained city that houses hundreds of publishers, printers, literary agencies, design firms, and distributors. About an hour or so outside of Seoul, Paju is a cultural complex located close to the border with North Korea. Administered by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, Paju Book City was built about 20 years ago. I’ve heard all sorts of theories as to why—my favourite is the one in which, the South Korean government wanted to start moving more and more people towards North Korea so that if unification between the two countries were to ever take place, the region would already be populated with a bustling industry. A more accurate theory is that the South Korean government wanted to cultivate a one-stop publishing cultural hub. If you visit the official Paju Book City website (www.pajubookcity.org/english/sub_03_01.asp) you’ll learn that the Book City is “The City to Recover the Lost Humanity”; it is a project seek- ing to recover common values after the confusion and disorder that was brought on by Japanese colonial rule, a chaotic liberation period, the Korean War, and the invasion of Western culture into Korean society.

As I soon learned, not all book-related businesses are in fact run out of Paju. Many publishers and distributors have offices in downtown Seoul in addition to having a base in Paju. This way they can benefit from the convenience of being centrally located, yet also collect Paju Book City tax credits from the government. We were struck by how the “city” had very little infrastructure, barely any signage, and clearly very strict building and design guidelines. No one lives in Paju—it’s essentially a ghost town in the middle of an open space—, there are very few restaurants (we saw only one), no one walks around and everyone just stays in their building and works. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of an industrial complex. Despite having hundreds of people come to work there every day, there is apparently only one bus that you can catch from Seoul to get there. I noted showers in most of the buildings we visited and wondered if employees are often obliged to sleep at the office if they can’t make the last bus. It was sweltering hot, and every building we went into felt and smelled like a sauna.

Our ﬁrst meeting in Paju was with a buyer from the Kyobo Book Centre, one of Korea’s largest bookstores. It was established 32 years ago, out of a life insurance company whose CEOs wanted to boost the country’s national reading score. Today Kyobo has 30% of the market share. They stand out against the other major players in the industry paju book city | 9 by being the most digitally-focused bookseller, and by their recent involvement in print-on-demand business. They were quite keen to talk to Brian MacDonald (UTP), and in fact were already familiar with some University of Toronto Press books. They were familiar with Indigo and its gradual tendency to sell fewer books and more lifestyle items—also unavoidable in South Korea as we later saw for ourselves. We learned a bit about Kyobo’s English language books section—the majority come in through the US and UK. If they carry any Canadian-authored books at all, they will have likely come into the country via American and British distributors. They are packaged in a format called “international paperback” which is essentially a very small and thin pocket book. Importing is expensive and to make a proﬁt they mark up the books to about 20% from the US or UK list price.

Our next meeting was with Jakkajungsin Publishing, a literary house specializing in literary fiction and non-fiction for adults and children. Although they were expecting us, the Jakkajungsin staff were somewhat puzzled by our visit and didn’t really understand why we would want to meet with them. However, once Arnaud Foulon noticed the big Korean Life of Pi movie poster and reminded everyone that Yann Martel is Canadian and that HMH had also published the book, the mood improved. Their marketing manager explained to us how crucial online marketing has become for their business. In the 90s Koreans went to bookstores to browse and choose their books based on what they saw or what was recommended to them. Nowadays, with the rise of the Internet and social media, the online bookselling business is huge—according to the staff, more than 40% of their business is now done online. When asked how a smaller press like Jakkajungsin can get their books into the hands of Koreans, we were told that major promotional campaigns are the best bet. Apparently, the CEOs of major Korean information technology companies, such as Samsung, will put their names and their company’s brand behind books they believe in. Movie tie-ins are also huge. Life of Pi, for example, was virtually unknown in Korea until the movie came out. This was also the first meeting where we first started to hear of the recent push to preserve and promote Korean culture. More and more companies are looking to build Korean talent and to invest in Korean authors, and as a result, are buying fewer translations rights.

Our next meeting in Paju was with the Korea Electronic Publishing Association (KEPA). One of the things I found to be most startling about the South Korean publishing industry is how behind they are with electronic publishing. In a country where information technology is so advanced, one would assume that ebooks would have taken off. But publishers are against ebooks and view them as direct competitors. As a result, the current market share is very small (1% depending on who you talk to) but everyone you talk to will admit that things are starting to grow. According to KEPA, 40,000 books are published in print per year but only about 5,000 to 10,000 ebooks are available. There are more than 20 distributing channels, the major players being Kobo (newly arrived to Korea), Google Korea and Amazon. Samsung is also trying to penetrate the market. Ebook pricing is ﬁxed across all channels and discounting is not allowed. From what I could see, the majority were being sold anywhere from ₩4,000 to ₩10,000 (C$4 to $10). 10 | the adult trade perspective

After hearing from KEPA we were introduced to the founder and designer of a new, open market ebook publishing software called uPaper. A simple, one-stop ebook publishing program, uPaper is not only for book publishers and booksellers, but for writers as well. The entire process, from uploading your ﬁles, to designing a cover, inputting metadata, and choosing which distributors you want to sell your book, takes less than an hour. uPaper is launching in the United States in September 2013 and is already available in China, Japan and Germany. They attend the Frankfurt and Beijing book fairs.

The National Library of Korea After leaving Paju we had a meeting at the National Library of Korea with their acquisitions division. It was a very strange place—institutional, sterilized, stuffy, and everyone appeared to be wearing a uniform of light blue, white or khaki. This meeting was set up with the intention of ﬁnding out more about how we can get Canadian books into Korean libraries. The national library system has a budget of ₩2 trillion (C$2 billion) and carries about 9 billion books, of which 1.1 million are foreign books from the West. When asked what kind of books they are looking to acquire, the following priorities were listed: 1) Korean language books; 2) books by Koreans; and 3) books on anything related to Korea. There is very little interest in Canadian books, in English or French, and unless there is a direct relationship with the library’s agent, the likelihood of them considering a Canadian book is extremely low. Kyobo was the library’s agent for 2013. The agent works with a series of subagents from around the world who essentially recommend books to the acquisitions team. The acquisitions team then places an order through Kyobo who handles everything from there. Our meeting felt rushed and we walked out feeling somewhat defeated. We talked about it later as a group and agreed that the most proactive approach would be to look into organizing a Canadian collec- tive effort and make inroads with an agent who could then promote Canadian books to the National Library’s agent.

Meetings with Publishers and Distributors We took the majority of our meetings with publishers and distributors on the Canadian stand at the Seoul International Book Fair. The stand was run by two staff members from the Canadian Embassy—the lovely Hye-Shin Kang and her colleague Soo Hyang Kim. The booth looked fantastic with all of the books Canadian publishers had sent to the embassy in advance of the fair. There was a lot of trafﬁc on our stand, and people were certainly curious to see a bunch of friendly Canadians continuously switching between French and English, holding court. Hye-Shin and her colleagues, with Christy Doucet from Livres Canada Books, were also responsible for setting up our meetings and they all did a tremendous job.

The fair itself was much smaller than a major international book fairs but deﬁnitely as busy. It was open to the public and there were masses of people there, especially families, out looking for cheap books. All the major Korean publishers were there selling books and taking meetings. India was the guest of honour and had an enormous stand meetings with publishers and distributors | 11 with oddly, very few books on it. Saudi Arabia and France were also there, and there was a small delegation of Brits from the London Book Fair and the Booksellers Association— Korea will be the market focus country for the 2014 London Book Fair. Otherwise, there were very few international publishers. The Seoul International Book Fair an event for industry members to conduct local business and open their doors to the general public.

At the fair we met with a number of children, adult and academic publishers. Below are notes from our meetings with adult trade publishers:

Munhakdongne Publishing Group With 20 imprints, Munhakdogne is Korea’s number one literary publisher. Among many others, they publish Haruki Murakami and Junot Diaz. Half of their list is made up of international translations, and the other half consists of Korean books. Their bestsellers right now are all from local authors—it was again brought up that Koreans are more and more interested in supporting Korean talent. We learned that they rely heavily on the opinions of their New York and UK scouts when considering foreign language works, as well as international and domestic sales ﬁgures and accolades from the originating publisher. They made a point in telling us that they are not just looking for big-name authors, but that they are in fact keen to acquire debuts as well. Munhakdongne opened a café called Café Comma a few years ago—it’s located very close to their ofﬁce and an in addition to selling their books there, they also use it as an events space for book launches. Apparently, several Korean publishers have followed suit and opened up similar businesses.

Tongbang Books Tongbang Books is a business specializing in importing English language books for children since 1985. They order approximately 30,000 books every two weeks from the United States and would be interested in bringing some Canadian books in as well. They were familiar with Kids Can Press and Groundwood Books and keen to learn about other Canadian companies. CD and book compilations are in high demand right now.

EunHaeng NaMu Publishing EunHaeng NaMu publishes 40 to 50 books a year, of which half are international translations. They are the Game of Thrones publisher in Korea and are only looking for international bestsellers. They prefer to work with agencies than to go direct with publishers.

Changbi Publishing Publishing over 100 books a year, Changbi is one of the biggest houses in Korea. They specialize in art/culture, children’s books, history, literary ﬁction, periodicals, social sciences, and textbooks. Oddly, they’ve only ever bought one international title—this years’ Bologna Ragazzi Award winner. 12 | the adult trade perspective

Sigongsa/SigongJunior Another big publishing house. We only met with a representative from their children’s division, SigongJunior (see Arnaud Foulon’s report), but Anansi has worked with them for adult books and I’ve included their contact information at the end of the report.

Gilbut Publishing A large non-ﬁction house comprised of three imprints: Gilbut (IT-business, investments, management), Eztok (language books), and Gilbut School (educational, English books for children). They publish over 300 books a year and are looking for practical books. They have worked a lot with Canadian teachers in Korea but have yet to buy anything from Canada.

Bookmecca Imports English language books via wholesalers and then sells to 10 English books stores, to online booksellers and to Korean bookstores. They are interested in doing business with Canadians.

Mirae N One of Korea’s major publishers, they were established following the Korean War and began by publishing textbooks, with a specialty in business books. They eventually started up a literary magazine and from there grew to be one of the most signiﬁcant trade publishers, publishing Stephenie Meyer, Khaled Hosseini, Suzanne Collins, and Sheryl Sandberg.

Seokwangsa Publishing A mid-size press specializing in philosophy books for children and adults. For adult books they are interested in works on ancient to modern philosophy. They mainly sell to universities and private reading clubs and they’re willing to work directly with Canadian publishers.

Minumsa Publishing Group Another huge Korean press consisting of five imprints that range from literary fiction and non-fiction to children’s books and language. They used to publish primarily international books but less so now. Recent acquisitions include works by Zadie Smith and Gary Shteyngart. They also publish J.D. Salinger, Carlos Fuentes, and Jack Kerouac. They are happy to consider non-fiction works that are not very commercial.

Open Books A small press specializing in foreign ﬁction with a very large graphic novel division. They publish a number of Canadians including Dany Laferrière, Jimmy Beaulieu and Jeff Lemire. They also publish Umberto Eco and Paul Auster, who were previously big sellers but not so much anymore. They are a small press of about 25 employees. Gregory Limpens, the editor with whom we met, was born in Montreal and grew up in Belgium. He has been living in Korea for eight years and is ﬂuent in Korean. He is lovely and is happy to work directly. bookstore visits | 13

Meetings with Subagents (Rights Agencies) Over the course of the week we met with four agencies: the BC Agency, the Eric Yang Agency, the Korea Copyright Center (KCC), and the Imprima Korea Agency. These meetings were probably the most informative and useful for us in terms of learning about the Korean publishing industry and its current trends. Here are some of the key things we learned and heard repeatedly throughout the week: • Koreans do not recognize borders in the English-language publishing market. US, UK, and Canadian books are all seen as coming from one place. • Foreign fiction is not an easy sell unless the work is a huge international bestseller or has won major prizes. • Non-fiction is an easier sell, although accolades and good sales figures still help. Psychology, business, IT, management, self-help, meditation and healing, and science books are the most in demand. • There is concern that South Korea might be going through an anti-reading phase. In one meeting, a subagent provided us with a detailed chart analysing why reading is on the decline—the recession, smartphones,* the London Olympics and the South Korean presidential elections were all listed as contributing causes. • Korean publishers are buying fewer translations from English markets and more and more from Asian markets. • Korean publishers are publishing more and more Korean writers. • Readers are looking for content that they can relate to, whether it’s fiction or non- fiction, they want a Korean experience that they can identify with. • There is a national movement growing to promote and preserve South Korean culture and heritage. • The bestseller lists mainly have Korean-authored books on them, with a couple of European, US and Japanese translations. It is a relatively new development that there are so many Korean books making these lists. • The young adult market is geared at a much younger age group because teenagers who would normally be reading YA books don’t read. They study. As a result typical YA books like The Hunger Games and Twilight are marketed as adult books. • The humanities market is growing, especially in the areas of philosophy and sociology. • Movie tie-ins are very popular and do very well. • Like in many markets there is a huge polarization between the bestsellers and the rest of the books being sold in the market. • We were told repeatedly throughout the week that this is a very difficult period for the industry.

Bookstore Visits Our last outing as group took place at the main Kyobo bookstore in downtown Seoul on a Saturday afternoon. I think it’s safe to say that we were all shocked by how many people were inside the store and how many books they appeared to be buying. Someone remarked that it felt as though there were as many people in the store as there had been

* The average person will read for only 30 minutes a day, but will play on their smartphone for two and a half hours. 14 | the adult trade perspective at the fair. There were people at the cash with baskets full of books; whole families camped out in the largest children’s section; rows of chairs set up for reading. There was of course a huge stationery and leather goods department, a digital and technological gadgets department, a food court—it really was something. That said, I don’t remember the last time I walked into a store and saw so many books! There was also a book launch taking place outside the store. A famous baseball player was promoting his book and the amount of fans he had was impressive. All to say, after visiting a few bookstores in Seoul and having similar experiences to the one in Kyobo, it’s hard to take people seriously when they complain about the state of the industry.

Recommendations for Trade and English-Language Publishers The Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea (KPIPA), an organization whose mandate is very similar to Livres Canada Books, has 38,000 member publishers. According to KPIPA, there are 9 million books out in the market. Evidently, it’s not an easy market to penetrate. A week before we arrived, Haruki Murakami’s newest novel had just sold in a very competitive auction for over 3 million dollars, and the winning bidder was working to translate and release it within the next month so as to coincide with the Japanese release. Just as we were leaving, the Korean edition of Dan Brown’s Inferno hit the stores. Several trade publishers I spoke to were very nervous about these two developments—they feared that all other books in the market would be overlooked and fall by the wayside.

With this in mind, if there’s one thing I walked away with from this scouting mission, it’s the conviction that it is absolutely essential to have someone on the ground promoting your company’s list. In fact, the majority of publishers will only work with foreign publishers through an agent—it’s efﬁcient for them to have someone who is familiar with their tastes and who will present them with relevant projects and then negotiate a deal on their behalf. And let’s not forget how much easier it is to conduct business with someone who speaks and writes ﬂuently in both languages. Although most Koreans speak English, language barriers are certainly a concern. Unless you happen to have a major blockbuster on your list, it is very unlikely that your books or company will be on a Korean publisher’s radar.

After meeting with several agents, I concluded that it’s preferable to work with only one agent on an exclusive basis. Several agencies are happy to work nonexclusively, but in my experience, and after discussing the matter at length in our meetings, there’s no denying that it’s in a company’s best interest to give a subagent exclusive handle over their list. The business is extremely competitive and if you grant exclusivity to one agent, they will prioritize your books and work much harder at promoting them to Korean publishers. Many publishers will pay a membership fee to agencies and in return receive weekly emails with news on books from foreign territories. One agent told us that they send out an email to over 100 publishers every week and follow up with updates. recommendations for trade and english-language publishers | 15

The majority of the deals Anansi has done in Korea have occurred thanks to subagents and scouts. All the major Korean publishing houses have New York and London scouts working on retainer for them, to help them discover the next big international bestseller. I recommend to all Canadian trade publishers to start a scout mailing list and send information on your titles to these scouts, the way you would with subagents. Scouts are always happy to hear from you, and the more information you can provide on a book that is doing well for you, the more they will have to present to their Korean clients.

In terms of exporting English-language books to Korea, I don’t think there is much opportunity unless you have a warehouse in the United States and the importer is interested in taking a large quantity. Bookstores had signiﬁcant English-language sections; however, the majority of the books on sale were classics or major commercial bestsellers. Looking into the print-on-demand business model, especially for non-ﬁction, appears to be a much more practical and less costly option.

Throughout the mission it began to dawn on me that South Korea and Canada are not all that different. We were asked more than once about what makes Canada unique, and I realized that this is something that Koreans also spend a great deal of time thinking about. We’re both concerned with distinguishing ourselves from our neighbours, and coming up with innovative ways to preserve our culture and heritage. The very strange Paju Book City development is a perfect example of this.

In closing, like Canadian publishers, Korean publishers work in a somewhat insulated environment. The Korean industry is certainly changing and the market is not an easy one to break into. Now with the shift in focus on building and supporting homegrown talent and buying more from their Asian neighbours rather than English-language territories, I am not optimistic that Canadian trade publishers will be able ﬁnd major business opportunities in South Korea. That said, with the right resources, such as subagents and New York and London scouts, the market is not without potential. The Scholarly Perspective Brian MacDonald, University of Toronto Press

Book Market Approximately 40,000 paperback titles are published each year in Korea and 40% of book sales are made online. The focus of the book market is on bestsellers. Currently, book publishing is a bit of a slump, caused by a number of different factors: economic uncer- tainty, an anti-reading trend arising from the spread of smartphones (e.g., commuters are playing games and texting rather than reading books on the subway), and a public distracted by major events such as the presidential elections and the London Olympics.

Like here in Canada, the success of a book title in Korea is heavily influenced by the fame of the author. Thus, new authors are difficult to promote in Korea. Examples of popular foreign non-fiction authors include Alain De Botton, Jeremy Rifkin and Joseph Stiglitz. Jeremy Rifkin became well known by coming to Korea for a promotional book tour. In the top 100 bestseller list right now, approximately 30% of the titles are foreign titles. However, foreign authors are not doing as well as they used to in the Korean market. Korean publishers are now publishing more Korean authors as the book market has shifted to favour local authors over foreign authors.

In terms of non-ﬁction, readers are interested in various subjects in the humanities and social sciences. Books on current affairs, history, philosophy, economics, and popular science are relatively popular right now. Currently successful non-ﬁction books in Korea include Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, originally published by Penguin, and Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, originally published by Knopf. Regarding business books, the book market is moving away from simpler books to more advanced, serious business books. Self-help books or books on “healing” are also rather popular right now.

Ebooks The market share for ebooks in Korea is only 1%. Korean publishers have been resisting the transition to ebooks. The top e-reader device in Korea is the smartphone with 70% market share. Kobo and Google have just launched in Korea. Unlike Canada, ebook pricing is ﬁxed—uniform pricing across all resellers—with no discounting. The EPUB ebook format is used in Korea too. higher education in korea | 17

Retail Market The largest bookstore chain in Korea is Kyobo. Founded in 1980, Kyobo has 10 stores in seven cities, with the flagship store located in Seoul’s central business district. The bookstore features large English-language sections including fiction, non-fiction, and children’s books. Kyobo also has 10 university campus stores and serves as a wholesaler for library customers including the National Library of Korea and the National Assembly Library of Korea. They currently have a 30% market share in Korea.

For foreign-language publishers, Kyobo is the key bookstore to sell to in Korea. I understand Kyobo also offers a print-on-demand service, which would be an excellent solution to address the high costs of shipping print books to Korea. Kyobo gets its metadata from Ingram and Baker & Taylor.

Other Korean booksellers that sell foreign language books include Bandi & Lunis and YP Books. We visited each of these bookstores and we were very impressed by the qual- ity and design of the bookstores as well as the high customer trafﬁc we observed in the stores.

Libraries The National Library of Korea is located in Seoul and was established in 1945. It holds over 6.5 million volumes, including over 1.1 million foreign books. They are interested in acquiring books on Korea as well as other scholarly books in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Currently, Kyobo serves as their agent for purchasing books. However, the sales agent changes from year to year as the business is put out to tender. They receive their metadata on foreign books from Nielsen.

Another major library is the National Assembly Library of Korea. University libraries tend to buy directly from university presses or through wholesalers such as Kyobo. A local sales rep is likely the best approach to sell Canadian scholarly books to these libraries.

Higher Education in Korea Higher education is taken very seriously in Korea. Out of a population of approximately 50 million people, there are 3.8 million undergraduate and graduate students. Currently there are more than 370 ofﬁcial South Korean higher education providers, including 179 private universities and 43 national universities. South Korean undergraduate programs typically last four years. The academic year starts in March, but many universities admit new students twice a year, in March and September. The Korean study year is divided into two semesters, with a summer break from July to August, and winter break from December to February.

According to the 2013 QS World University Rankings, the top universities in Korea are: Seoul National University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 18 | the scholarly perspective

Yonsei University, Korea University, Sungkyunkwan University, Kyung Hee University, Hanyang University and Ewha Womans University.*

University Presses in Korea I was able to meet with one Korean university press: Sungkyunkwan University Press. This press was founded in 1975 but the university itself was founded in 1398. They publish approximately 70–80 books a year and have a backlist of over 700 titles. The focus on their publishing program is on philosophy and religion, especially Confucianism. Among their list, 70% of their books are in the humanities and 30% are in the natural sciences.

Seoul National University Press was established in 1961. After serving simply as an in-house printing house in the early days, publishing of academic works got underway in 1981. By 2012, the press had published some 2,100 titles, including professional academic works in Korean or foreign languages and textbooks.

Ewha Womans University Press, the nation’s ﬁrst university press, was founded in 1949. During its early years it was focused mainly on publishing and distributing university textbooks, but by the mid-1970s the press began to diversify its scholarly publishing program.

Other university presses in Korea include Yonsei University Press and Korea National Open University Press.

Sales Representation Local sales representation is critical to getting your books in stores and adopted in courses in Korea. One option for scholarly publishers is ICK (Information & Culture Korea), a sales representation agency run by Se-Yung Jun ([email protected]). They represent many scholarly presses including Chicago, Yale, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, NYU, Johns Hopkins, Routledge, and Ashgate. This company was started in 1994 and has three employees.

Course Adoptions The process to get your books adopted for university courses in Korea starts with the professors or instructors. More than 30% of all university classes in Korea are taught in English. I was told that almost any subject might use English language books in their classes.

Translation Rights Selling translation rights to Korean publishers is another excellent way to sell your content to the Korean market. The best way to sell translation rights in Korea is to work with a local agent since publishers tend to prefer working with an agency rather than

* See www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/asian-university-rankings/2013. local print-on-demand suppliers | 19 dealing directly with a foreign publisher. Most agents work with a variety of different books including fiction, non-fiction, scholarly, and children’s. In terms of scholarly books, they are interested in a number of different subject areas including philosophy, sociology, psychology, business, and religion/theology. Examples of popular scholarly authors include Marshall McLuhan, Carl Sagan, Karl Popper, Umberto Eco, and Mieke Bal. There are many agencies representing foreign books to Korean publishers including Eric Yang Agency, BC Agency, Korea Copyright Center, Imprima Korea Agency, and rMaeng2 Agency. Most of these agents are available to meet publishers at both the Frankfurt and the London book fairs.

Local Print-On-Demand Suppliers A good option to consider for getting your books to market quickly and with lower shipping costs is local print-on-demand (POD). Global POD providers such as Lightning Source have not yet set up operations in Korea but I found two local POD providers:

Kyobo Contact: Bora Kim, Digital Publishing Team, [email protected]

Korean Publishers Cooperative Contact: [email protected] The Children’s Book and French-Language Perspective Arnaud Foulon, Groupe HMH

For a number of years, French and English-speaking publishers in Canada have sold rights to many children’s titles but very few adult titles to Korean publishers. With this in mind, the mission’s objective was to give us a ﬁrst-hand look at the French-language book market in South Korea.

In a country with an aging population (as in Quebec), where the number of school-aged children is declining, what is the status of Canadian children’s literature? More to the point, in a country where English is clearly the second most important language (or at least the ﬁrst non-Asian language) and the major bookstores in Seoul like Kyobo, Bandi & Lunis and Young Poong (YP Books) all have huge displays of English books, what is the potential for francophone books? We found very few copies in bookstores, only dictionaries, grammar and language-teaching books, all published in France.

In light of South Korea’s well-developed high tech industry, led by Samsung, the mission also sought to examine the potential of new digital technology for exporting French- language titles. Let us begin by examining this aspect.

Digital Technology Very early in the mission, we had an interesting meeting in Paju Book City (just a few kilometres from North Korea) with the Korea Electronic Publishing Association (KEPA) and the uPaper ﬁrm, dedicated to developing digital publishing. Surprisingly, according to them, this market only represents about 1% of the publishing market. Traditional publishers are very protective of the print market and extremely reluctant to embrace new technology. According to KEPA, publishers have still not grasped the full potential of this market and view it only as a competitor to traditional publishing. This being said, other publishers we met such as Minumsa and Better Books described the digital market as approaching 7%. From this is can be deduced that, just as in Quebec, the digital market relies heavily on available bestsellers that tend to raise the average. In this case, calculating the median would be more appropriate and probably quite close to 1%.

During our meeting with the major bookstore chain Kyobo, controlling about 30% of the retail book market in South Korea, they conﬁrmed that ebooks formed a large part of their business as they do for the major Canadian chains. However, the market share publishers | 21 of digital books was never revealed. That said, we saw little sign of ebook promotions in the bookstores we visited.

Another unique feature of the digital industry is that 70% of reading in South Korea is done on smart phones whose formats are larger than our Blackberries, iPhones and Samsung devices. There are few or no e-readers yet. The market is almost totally dominated by Samsung; Apple appears to be a very small player on the cellphone scene in South Korea. Most South Koreans carry telephones the size of mini tablets (like the Samsung Note II) and they all carry their phone in their hands, not in their purse or pocket (understandable in this case since their phones are often larger than their pock- ets!), like a status symbol. Using a phone to read books is almost non-existent.

As for the various players in the digital market, Kobo is beginning to take hold in Korea, Samsung has been present for some time, Apple is a relative newcomer and remains a very minor player, and Amazon has not yet arrived on the scene.

For all these reasons, the sale of ebooks appears to be in its infancy, as small a market as in French Canada and much smaller than in English Canada. A meeting has been arranged at the Beijing International Book Fair between the Korea Electronic Publishing Association and the ANEL-De Marque digital platform.

Publishers Most of the some 30 meetings that were organized—and I would like to thank the Livres Canada Books team and particularly Christy Doucet for the incredible amount of work that was done, as well as the team at the Canadian Embassy in Korea, particularly Hye-Shin Kang and assistant Soo Hyang Kim—involved Korean publishers and agents. Without listing every meeting, we met the major publishing houses: • Minumsa, who have just paid an advance of close to 2 million dollars for Haruki Murakami’s new novel and who have also published Margaret Atwood. • Mirae N, publishers of the Hunger Games series who publish about 500 titles a year. • Changbi, one of the most important publishers in Korea. • Munhakdongne Publishing, a group that includes some 20 publishing houses and publishes over 400 titles a year. • Gilbut Publishing, primarily an educational publisher, with around 300 titles a year.

We also met with smaller, less general publishers, often with well-deﬁned publishing mandates: • EunHaeng NaMu Publishing, publisher of the Game of Thrones series established in 1997, publishing around 50 titles a year, half by Korean authors and half foreign. • Better Books/Greensticks & Press, who have bought several children’s titles from Orca. • Open Books, specializing in foreign literature, the twentieth most important publisher in the country and very receptive to French-language literature. 22 | the children’s book and french-language perspective

• Book 21, who publish nearly 300 titles, including a vast number of Asian comics. • Jakkajungsin, primarily a children’s publisher but who also publish a few international bestsellers, such as Life of Pi. • Seokwangsa Publishing, specializing in philosophy. • SigongJunior (Sigongsa), exclusively a children’s book publisher, with around 80 titles a year; one of its picture books won the prestigious Bologna Ragazzi Award.

These meetings revealed certain general trends in the Korean market. First of all, although foreign authors dominated the publishing scene in the years 1990–2000, publishers are now turning their attention to Korean authors. Thus, companies whose lists included two-thirds foreign authors are now publishing half foreign authors and half Korean. For some publishers, Korean authors are more important. Some publishers are also attempting to translate titles by Korean authors into French and English for the Canadian market. Korean publishing houses want to export their literature.

In terms of the foreign market, the French language is a major barrier and several chap- ters, if not the entire book must be translated into English in order to penetrate the Korean market. In this respect, this is not very different from other countries.

Almost all publishers work with agents in Korea, except for Open Books, the only company to choose their own titles; one of their publishers is from Belgium. Agents regu- larly solicit publishers through weekly info-letters on the international new releases they represent or authors who are internationally recognized. Agents read and pitch books to Korean publishers. Publishers develop a rapport with certain agencies based on past successes. However, Korean publishers, like publishers everywhere, are always on the lookout for the big international bestseller and so the number of copies sold should be the ﬁrst information presented, followed by the number of countries where rights sales have already been negotiated.

Naturally, we had six or seven meetings (including with Jakkajungsin and Seokwangsa) facilitated by interpreters, since the publishers spoke neither French nor English. This makes rights negotiations even more difﬁcult. On the other hand, a few rare publishers, such as Open Books, Sigonsa (SigongJunior) and Minumsa have French readers on staff. However, because their general academic background and education is based on French culture, these readers tend to be looking primarily for classic titles for the educational market. And in this respect, Quebec literature has made no inroads.

Agents Agents are essential for selling books in Korea. During our mission we had the opportunity to meet all the major agencies at the Seoul International Book Fair: BC Agency, Imprima Korea Agency, Korea Copyright Center (KCC), Eric Yang Agency. We also met Bestun during the networking reception at the Canadian Embassy on the fair’s open- ing day. children’s literature | 23

While all these agents concur that exclusivity makes their job easier, they do not make it an essential condition and work with numerous publishers on the Korean market. All are looking for titles or series with good potential that have already been sold in other countries and particularly titles with strong sales in Canada. Some agents noted that literary prizes, especially from France, were an added bonus, but few thought they were a major factor.

For francophone publishers, it is worth knowing that the Bestun, BC and Imprima agencies all have at least one representative who speaks and reads French, increasing their receptiveness to literary titles.

Some agencies, such as Eric Yang, also work in other Asian markets in neighbouring countries, a fact that could be of interest to a number of Canadian publishers.

For agencies, the percentage of foreign titles tends to diminish as the number of Korean authors represented by the agent increases, a trend that closely mirrors that of Anglophone agencies in Canada.

All these agents attend the Frankfurt Book Fair. The major agencies such as Eric Yang, BC and Imprima also attend the Beijing International Book Fair, and those who have a large children’s literature list also attend the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Opportunities for meetings are plentiful.

Children’s Literature In terms of children’s literature more specifically, the Korean market that was once a thriving market for translations of Canadian children’s books has now slowed considerably. Today, picture books and junior novels are a more difficult sell in Korea. Publishers and agents told us that they are looking for more non-fiction children’s titles. Michel Quintin’s Savais-tu? collection was relatively successful at the fair and several publishers showed an interest in it.

In the case of novels, the market has been saturated recently with fantasy books, pirates, and wizards; agents are reluctant to represent them. In return, interest is growing for young adult novels as well as a return to more classic narratives and real-life stories. Korean edition of Harvey, published in Quebec by La Another slowly developing trend is that of the graphic Pastèque and by Groundwood novel. Japanese manga is an important market for book- Books in the rest of the country stores and the aim is to offer a different approach to the comics from Japan. We noticed that bookstores were 24 | the children’s book and french-language perspective displaying the Korean version of Harvey, published in Quebec by La Pastèque and by Groundwood Books in the rest of the country (see photo above). It is amusing to note that the Korean publisher has retained the mention of the Governor General’s Award on the front cover. Although this would mean nothing in Korea, the award seems to add to the value of the book.

Conclusion While Korean publishers complain about the slow- down in the book market, this is no different from comments heard in Canada, France and many other countries. However, it should be noted that during a Saturday afternoon visit to a bookstore, the crowded stores amazed all three Canadian publishers on the tour. Many customers carried baskets loaded with books (see photo of the Kyobo bookstore at right), a sight I have never seen in Canada except perhaps on December 23rd!

In terms of the French-language market, recent rights sales have been largely destined for the children’s literature market and then redirected to the school market in Korea, a market that seems to be slowly disappearing, Crowds of shoppers inside the while non-ﬁction and young adult novels are growing Kyobo bookstore on a Saturday in popularity. afternoon in Seoul

Although several Canadian how-to books and manuals have been translated in Korea, it is surprising that very few adult French-Canadian bestsellers have been translated. No Kim Thuy, no Gil Courtemanche, no Pierre Szalowski, no Gaétan Soucy or many others. Much remains to be done by publishers to establish relations with Korean agencies and publishers. There is no reason why these literary works, already translated into many other languages, should not succeed on the Korean market. In our view, it seems to be a dynamic market, receptive to world literature.

Finally, I would like to once again thank Livres Canada Books, Francois Charette and the entire team, particularly Christy Doucet, for organizing this mission. We hope it will lead to a stronger presence for Canadian publishers on the Korean market. Appendix: Contacts in Korea

PUBLISHERS

Better Books / Greensticks & Press www.betterbooks.co.kr Editor/Rights Manager: Sangmee Kim, [email protected]

Book 21 www.book21.co.kr Rights Manager: Joe Dong Shin, [email protected]

Catholic Publishing House www.cph.or.kr Rights Manager: Lydia (Eun-Ha) Kim, [email protected]

Changbi Publishers www.changbi.com Rights Manager: Soon-Hwa Lee, [email protected]

EunHaeng NaMu Publishing www.ehbook.co.kr Editor: Na-Ri Park, [email protected]

Ewha Womans University Press www.ewhapress.com [email protected]

Gilbut Publishing www.gilbut.co.kr Manager: Ukhee Jung, [email protected]

Gimmyoung Publishers www.gimmyoung.com Rights Manager (adult): Jin-Hee Cha, [email protected] Rights Manager (children’s): Sun-Ha Park, [email protected] 26 | appendix: contacts in korea

Grisim Publishing www.grisim.biz President: Kyung-Hye Cho, [email protected]

Jakkajungsin Publishing www.jakka.co.kr President: Jin Sook Park, [email protected] Team Manager: So Ra Yun, [email protected] Team Manager: Jong Suk Kim, [email protected]

Korea National Open University Press http://press.knou.ac.kr [email protected]

Kumsodami Publishing (DreamSodam/Sodam Publishing) www.dreamsodam.co.kr Chief Editor: Hyun-Sook Cho, [email protected] Editor: Woo-Hyun Chung, [email protected]

Minumsa Publishing Group www.minumsa.com Rights Manager (adult): Chae-Ah Kim, [email protected]

Mirae N www.mirae-n.com Deputy General Manager: Kyung-Ho Lee, [email protected]

Munhakdongne Publishing Group www.munhak.com Rights Manager: Kate Han, [email protected] Rights Manager: Hailey Park, [email protected]

Open Books www.openbooks.co.kr Rights Manager: Gregory Limpsens, [email protected]

Seokwangsa Publishing www.seokwangsa.co.kr Manager, Foreign Copyright and Sales Department: Han Geun-bea, [email protected]

Seoul National University Press www.snupress.com [email protected] agencies | 27

Sigongsa / SigongJunior www.sigongsa.com Acquisitions and Foreign Rights Senior Manager: Jungha Song, [email protected] Foreign Rights Manager: Amélie Choi, [email protected]

Sungkyunkwan University Press www.press.skku.edu Marketing Manager: Jeong-Soo Park, [email protected] Manager: Ian In-Keun Yu, [email protected]

TheBookinMyLife Editor in Chief: Rosa Han, [email protected] uPaper www.upaper.net Director: Lee Byoung Hoon, [email protected]

Yonsei University Press www.yonsei.ac.kr/press [email protected]

AGENCIES

BC Agency www.bookcosmos.com Foreign Rights Agent: Chloe Lee, [email protected] Foreign Rights Agent: Elva Seo, [email protected]

Bestun Korea Agency www.bestun.com [email protected]

EntersKorea Agency www.ekagency.co.kr Agent: Lauren Kim, [email protected] Agent: Sungwoo Ahn, [email protected]

Eric Yang Agency www.ericyangagency.co.kr Senior Agent (English adult): Henry Shin, [email protected] Agent (English children’s): Ally Bang, [email protected] 28 | appendix: contacts in korea

Imprima Korea Agency www.imprima.co.kr Manager: Seohee Shin, [email protected] Foreign Rights Coordinator: Sura Lim, [email protected]

Information & Culture Korea (ICK) Managing Director: Se-Yung Jun, [email protected]

Korea Copyright Center (KCC) www.kccseoul.com Vice-President: Lee Rock-Young, [email protected] Director: Kyung-Hye Kang, [email protected]

PubHub Literary Agency Contact: Nahyun Kim, [email protected] rMaeng2 Agency www.rmaeng2.com President: Hosung Maeng, [email protected]

Yu Ri Jang Literary Agency Foreign Rights Manager: Jinhee Park, [email protected]

BOOKSELLERS / DISTRIBUTORS / WHOLESALERS

Bandi & Lunis www.bandinlunis.com

Bookmecca Manager: Kevin Park, [email protected]

Collins Language Representative: JD Jung, [email protected]

Kyobo Book Center www.kyobobook.co.kr Deputy General Manager: Shon Hae Young, [email protected]

Tongbang Books www.tongbangbooks.com Clerk: Irene Lee, [email protected]

YP Books (Youngpoong Bookstore) www.ypbooks.co.kr publishing related organizations and government bodies | 29

PUBLISHING RELATED ORGANIZATIONS AND GOVERNMENT BODIES

Chungnam National University Professor and Chair: Sukyong Choi, [email protected]

Embassy of Canada to the Republic of Korea www.canadainternational.gc.ca/korea-coree/ Tel. +82 2 3783-6000 Fax: +82 2 3783-6147 Minister-Counsellor (Commercial) and Senior Trade Commissioner: Michael Danagher, [email protected] Second Secretary and Trade Commissioner: Paul Norila, [email protected]

Korea Electronic Publishing Association (KEPA) www.kepa.or.kr Director: Ki-Young Chang, [email protected]

Korean Publishers Association www.kpa21.or.kr Vice-President: Won-Seok Yang, eunhee.kim@@kpa21.or.kr Director: Seung-Hyun Moon, eunhee.kim@@kpa21.or.kr

Korean Publishers Cooperative www.koreabook.or.kr

Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism www.mcst.go.kr National Assembly Library of Korea www.nanet.go.kr/english/

National Library of Korea www.nl.go.kr Deputy Director, Acquisitions Division / Librarian: Cheol Guen Kim, [email protected] Acquisitions Division / Librarian: Kim Hyun Ju, [email protected] Acquisitions Division / Librarian: Park Sang-Hyeon, [email protected] Acquisitions Division / Librarian: Hye-Min Seo, [email protected]

Paju Book City www.pajubookcity.org 30 | appendix: contacts in korea

Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea www.kpipa.or.kr Chairman: Jae Ho Lee, [email protected] Secretary General: Jin Soo Nam, [email protected] Department of Publication Promotion, Overseas Business Team Manager: Yun Hye Jeong, [email protected] Department of Publication Promotion, Overseas Business Team Staff: Sookbin Han, [email protected]

Québec Government Ofﬁce in Seoul www.mri.gouv.qc.ca/coreesud/ Administrative Assistant: Yunhee Lee, [email protected] Representant: Chungroll Yoo, [email protected]

Seoul International Book Fair www.sibf.co.kr

1 Nicholas Street, Suite 504 • Ottawa, Ontario K1N 7B7 • CANADA Tel. +1 613 562-2324 • Fax +1 613 562-2329 [email protected] • www.livrescanadabooks.com