Seoul Station turns into market for independent publishers
Kang Moon-sung, 33, a writer and independent publisher, who published “30-something Jobless Bum's Diary” based on his many years without a job, sells his books at “Publisher's Table,” an independent book market held at the Culture Station Seoul, Sunday. He is one of many independent writers who have sprung up in recent years. / Photo by Park Jin-hai
By Park Jin-hai
Kang Moon-sung, 33, a long time “jobless” loner who has been writing his little thoughts on his blog, debuted as a writer last year.
His book, titled “30-something Jobless Bum's Diary,” published under his pen name Kim Bong-chul in February 2017, on his own expenses, is a compilation of his blog writings.
“I have been a loner and social misfit. When I was young, my family was stern and I was bullied at school. After long years staying home without a job, I started writing about my dark, jobless life with some wit. People showed unexpected support and love for my writings and I thought that it might be great if I could publish my story into a book that can give some hope to those hopeless people,” said the university drop-out who was selling his book during “Publisher's Table,” an independent book market held at Culture Station Seoul 284, Sunday.
Kang is one of many independent writers who have sprung up in recent years and he was also selling other authors' books such as Jung Ha-soo's "Sun Is Smile, Moon Is Tear," a collection of writings of an institutionalized schizophrenic for over 30 years, at the book fair.
The former Seoul Station building was transformed into a market for independent book makers and sellers. During the three-day event, between May 25 and 27, neighborhood small book market owners and independent publishers displayed their books and shared their business tips. Various famous independent bookstores including Dasi Bookshop and other specialized book publishers participated in the event.
One of major trends in the current local publishing industry is the rise of “small books.” Not only the volumes of those books are small, their content is targeting small groups of niche readers and often published by single-person independent book publishers.
According to the 2017 survey by the Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea, the number of independent bookstores rose to over 54,000 in 2016, from 44,000 in 2013. That translates that each year some 3,000 new independent publishers started their business. Among them, those that only publish between one to five books a year take an account of 9.2 percent of all publishers.
Some independent publisher's books are unique in many ways. Kim Seo-ul's “Umulz (Cultural heritages)” is written by a university student studying conservation of cultural heritage on museums and heritages. Looking at a pair of golden decorated royal shoes, the writer compares them with Crocs' rubber shoes, for instance. The independent book has gained great support from readers and more editions have been printed by a small-sized local publisher Conan Books.
The industry experts say the rising number of independent book publishers is good in terms of diversification, but they warn that it could be a telltale sign for local publishing industry diminishing.
“After the long-lagging slump that hit the local publishing industry, most publishers are downsizing their personnel. Among independent publishers, some of them are those old editors who lost their jobs,” said Park Jeong-hyeon, editor of a local publisher Mati Books.