Exports of Korean fairy tales gaining impetus
While moving in the prince’s golden coach, Gerda met a group of robbers in the forest. “Now this coach is ours.”
‘Young parents want high-quality premium books’
Song Jun-sik, CEO of Owall Communications, poses with fairy tale books his firm publishes aiming at overseas markets. / Courtesy of Owall Communications
By Park Si-soo
Korean publishers of fairy tale books, desperate to cope with an increasingly tough survival game, are now turning their eyes to overseas markets.
Their biggest challenge lies in the country’s low birthrate undercutting their customer base. Another threat is that more young parents prefer buying books for children one at a time rather than in a package, which has led to a sharp drop in sales. Making the situation worse is the intensifying onslaught of imported books.
Against this backdrop, an increasing number of domestic publishers of children’s books hope to make inroads into foreign markets, especially China, and South East Asian countries where birthrates are still high and personal income is growing.
Song Jun-sik, CEO of Owall Communications, is among the growing number of outward-facing publishers.
The 50-year-old, who is also a former creative director at an ad company, is seeking to hit the jackpot in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand with what he considers a “premium” 30-book fairytale series.
The English version of the books is set to be released soon. His firm is also in talks with a Czech sales agent to export animations based on the series to the European country.
The premium series has so far cost Song’s firm 1.5 billion won ($1.38 million), which is large considering that the value of Korea’s children’s book market is estimated at merely 1 trillion won.
It’s unlikely the books will appeal to customers purely for their content as they are all based on well-known classic Western fairytales, such as Snow White, Gulliver’s Travels and Cinderella. Song said he will soon publish another series based on little-known Asian fairy tales, including Korea’s.
The publisher called the project a “risk-taking adventure” with a high possibility of failure but stressed it is a task he should bear to ensure the company’s consistent growth.
“I wouldn’t have taken such a huge risk if the primary target for sales were only domestic consumers,” Song said in a recent interview, referring to the bleak outlook for the domestic publishing market. “I have sought distribution in overseas markets from the beginning of the project.”
He said the domestic children’s book market is fully matured so publishers have to endure cut-throat competition for survival. The market in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and other major East Asian countries still has room to grow, he said.
Increasing awareness and loyalty to Korean products in these countries, driven by the international boom in Korean pop culture, will make it easier for his company to make profits there, Song said.
All of the pictures in the books were painted by a team of award-winning professional illustrators.
“We have teamed up with 23 professional illustrators to make every single picture as lively as possible” he said. “These high-quality pictures were also used in making animations whose story line is based on the series.”
Music for the animations is also available for listening using the company’s self-developed smartphone application and CDs.
He said the days are gone when people were tempted to buy mass-produced, mid-quality books at reasonable prices; instead, he said, they look for high-quality premium products despite their relatively high prices.
“Nowadays it’s hard to find a family with more than two children. It has led to a shift in spending patterns where parents spend lavishly on children’s education and prefer premium and high-quality products,” he said. “We need to take advantage of this.”
The same shift is taking place in China, he said, adding that his target customers there are the top 10 percent of income earners.
“One package of the series will go on sale at the price of 2,000 yuan or 450,000 won ($415),” Song said. “Korean products are widely perceived as premium in China. Though the price is set relatively high, there will be no problem with sales.”
The firm targets sales of 150,000 book units or 5,000 packages in the domestic market this year.