[Publishing Industry Upheaval] ⑤ E-books → Paper Books → Video... Winds of Change in Publishing

Increase in Cases of E-books First, Then Paper Books... Paper Books Reflect Reader Communication
More Cases of Writing with Video Adaptation in Mind... Video Experts Participate from the Writing Stage

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo Mideum] Hwang Boreum's ‘Welcome to Hyunamdong Bookstore’ (Clayhouse), Kim Young-ha's ‘Farewell’ (Bokbokseoga), Kim Cho-yeop's ‘The Greenhouse at the End of the Earth’ (Giant Books)….

These books all share the commonality of having ranked high on bestseller lists and being widely loved by many. Although works by both new and mid-career authors are mixed, they share the characteristic of being first published as e-books and later released as print books.

‘Welcome to Hyunamdong Bookstore’ was first introduced as an e-book on Millie's Library. Although access was limited as ‘original content’ on Millie's Library, it received an explosive response from members, leading to a print publication and great success. To date, 160,000 copies have been sold across 18 print runs. The print book released last January still ranks within the top 100 at major bookstores.

Kim Young-ha's ‘Farewell’ follows the same pattern. It was first released as an e-book on Millie's Library, and after gathering reader feedback, a revised print edition was published. Kim Cho-yeop's ‘The Greenhouse at the End of the Earth’ also followed the e-book first, print book later approach.

Publishing as an e-book has several advantages. First, the production time is shorter than that of print books, allowing content to be presented to readers more quickly. Production costs are also lower than print books, reducing financial burden. Additionally, communication with readers is the greatest strength of e-books. In fact, as conditions for direct communication with readers via SNS and other platforms have expanded, cases of incorporating reader feedback into creative work have increased. ‘Farewell’ also underwent content revisions and cover changes after its initial e-book release in 2020, before a new print edition was published in 2022.

A representative from Millie's Library stated, “We expect the trend of publishing e-books first followed by print books to expand further. There is a growing number of authors who want to communicate with young readers through SNS and various channels, and e-book pre-publication fits this trend.”

They added, “To discover talented authors, Millie's Library is conducting various contests with multiple partners. This year, we held the ‘SF Audio Story Awards’ with the publisher Dasan Books, the ‘Series Contest’ with Studio Genie, and the ‘Re:Novel Contest’ with CJ ENM-Happy Books to You publishing house, and these works will be sequentially introduced as e-books on Millie's Library.”

Although detailed data disclosure is difficult, they mentioned that the number of publishers wishing to pre-publish as e-books has significantly increased this year.

More publishers are preparing publications with video adaptation in mind. At the 2022 Busan International Film Festival, which opened on the 5th, fourteen publishers including Red Dog Publishing Group, Munhakdongne, Minumsa, and Banknamu participated in copyright contract discussions through the ‘Copyright Center’ established by the Korea Publishers Association. A representative from the Korea Publishers Association explained, “The success of films like ‘Parasite’ and the series ‘Squid Game’ has greatly increased interest from overseas production companies.”

Some publishers begin writing with IP (intellectual property) development in mind from the start. Safe House is collaborating with authors such as Cheon Seon-ran, Duna, and Shim Neoul to promote video adaptations. Shim Neoul’s ‘Thanks God, It’s Friday,’ which is in its 6th print run, is currently negotiating a secondary rights contract, and Lee Kyung-hee’s ‘That Day, There’ is undergoing video adaptation work with Dexter Studio, famous for the film series ‘Along with the Gods.’

Gozneok ENT has even assigned a dedicated video expert (PD) to work alongside authors during writing. This is to assist authors unfamiliar with video grammar in creating works that can be immediately adapted into video. So far, they have signed video (film, drama, webtoon) rights contracts for 30 works and achieved about 40 export deals. Among them, Joo Jin’s ‘Jikpil’ and Joo Young-ha’s ‘Happy Battle’ have confirmed drama productions scheduled to air next year. Kim Cho-yeop’s ‘The Greenhouse at the End of the Earth’ has been confirmed for film adaptation through the agency Blossom Creative.

Yoon Seung-il, director at Gozneok ENT, explained, “As the reasons for expanding IP have become clearer, demand for works that can be adapted into video has increased recently. Not only rights transactions but also joint planning requests have grown, and recently we started ‘chat novels’ composed of dialogues that are easy to adapt into video.” He added, “Since rights are traded at a minimum of 40 million KRW to 100 million KRW, participation from not only emerging authors but also so-called literary authors who debuted through new writer contests has increased.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.