From Creation to Copyright Export... Supporting Solo and Small Publishers

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will support individual and small publishing companies. It plans to actively support the entire process from improving production and marketing environments to global expansion.

On the 15th, the Ministry announced support measures containing these details, stating that they are "to systematically support the recovery and growth of the publishing industry." It emphasized that the measures reflect opinions gathered from the publishing field through various occasions since the ‘K-Book Vision Declaration Ceremony’ in June. Minister Park Bo-gyun said, “We will systematically support the dreams, passion, and determination of individual publishers and small publishing producers to create books and bring them to the market despite difficulties,” adding, “A win-win council involving creators, the industry, and the government will also be launched to expand the global growth of web novels.”

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Bo-gyun is presenting the K-BOOK vision at the K-BOOK Leap Vision Declaration Ceremony held on the morning of the 7th at the Songpa Book Museum in Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Key measures include supporting infrastructure such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in the early stages of startups and providing programs to strengthen capabilities in discovering publishing content. In particular, regarding digital promotional content, full support will be given for production, publishing IP export contracts, and consultations. For picture books, overseas library distribution and a Korean picture book translation contest will be conducted.

For web novels, a professional workforce training program will be established, and translation services for overseas expansion will be provided. Additionally, a ‘win-win council’ serving as a communication channel among creators, the industry, and the government will be activated. By August, the formation of a public-private joint council will be completed to discuss basic policies supporting creators and the industry, including reviewing the introduction of standard contracts for web novels and eradicating illegal distribution of web novels.

The ‘K-Content Illegal Distribution Eradication Measures’ announced last July will also be strongly implemented. Through the ‘K-Content Illegal Distribution Eradication Interdepartmental Council,’ detection, review, and blocking effectiveness of illegal sites will be enhanced. The Ministry emphasized the operation of a collaborative system involving the Publishing, Printing and Reading Promotion Division, Copyright Protection Division, Korea Publication Industry Promotion Agency, and Korea Copyright Protection Agency.

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